Augmented reality demostrates the ability for industrials not only to conceive complex technologies but also to make them accessible and intuitive for customers. Brands are getting to use it more and more in order to diversify their communication.
But what is exactly “augmented reality” (AR) and in which way should it be used?
As its name says it all, augmented reality combines real and virtual world. It defines a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery. With this technology, the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally usable. After starting on computers, AR navigation has now arrived on mobiles.
AR can be a very powerful marketing tool. Marketers use it to promote products via interactive AR applications, and it creates a whole new experience for the customer. For example, users with a webcam can interact with the product in 3D.
Since last year, a lot of big brands have given it a try. Like Mini Cooper in Germany who recently created a magazine cover with an AR code. When put in front of a webcam, a virtual Mini Cooper car was appearing on the customer’s screen. Go interactivity !
There are tons of successful applications. Google Googles, available on the Android smartphone, is one of them. You can make a research by simply taking a picture of something with your mobile and Google will give you the informations related to that picture.
AR is also a great applications for online stores. Now you can try the products without moving from your computer! You can try a dress through your webcam or evaluate if the new furnitures you wanted to buy fit with your apartment. It creates a new experience for the customer that is really convenient.
AR can either rely on traditional medias or come through new downloadable content, in both cases it is a spectacular way for a brand to reveal a new product and its options.
AR is giving a whole new importance to the packaging.
By reinventing the use of an object that had become banal, the web cam, brands are conceiving the advertising of tomorrow.
Tagged as: augmented reality, brands, mobile, online marketing
