Augmented Reality in Marketing (Social Media)

Augmented Reality is the midification of reality, replacing the real world with a simulated one. Why is this important for marketers?

The answer to that is quite obvious. The explosion of Smartphone sales worldwide has challenged the imagination of creatives to come up with marketing ideas that will combat the technological clutter. If you can’t beat them, join them. Although augmented reality ideas my be residing in the backs of many marketing heads and agencies right now, it is the way of the future and this new technology will provide numerous benefits.

According to the figures from ABI research, the market for Augmented Reality in the US alone is expected to hit $350m in 2014, up from about $6m in 2008. Augmented reality is exactly what marketers have been waiting for, hitting customers with the WOW factor. Not only this, but it is entirely unique, original, provides excelent personalisation, virality (as consumers wish to share their experience), Interactivity, and the content material.

My favourite example of this by far, is the Lynx ambush in London.

other examples include the following:

1. The Toyota Scion tC Take on the machine : an AR game on scion’s site. The user prints an AR marker which is used as a steering wheel to race with the new tC and win a spot in the global top 100 highscore board.

2. Subject 60: Volvo and EuroRSCG 4D teamed up for the promotion of the Volvo S60 by organizing five secret parties in Berlin, London, Paris, Milan and Madrid. In order to get an invite one had to find one of the code cubes, hidden in “naughty” locations around the city. The project was in collaboration with hand picked lifestyle bloggers and blog readers were given clues to discover the hidden cubes by using the Layar Augmented Reality browser.

3. Kit Kat Augmented Reality Gig: Agency Skive Digital of London created an Augmented Reality campaign for Kit Kat UK . Holding one of the special AR Kit Kat “4-Finger” bar packages in front of a webcam unlocked a one-off Scouting for Girls performance. The special packs also offered consumers the chance to win one of thousands of £100 Ticketmaster vouchers through Kit Kat Music Break.

4. IBM Virtual Mirrors: Created by IBM and EZFace. The special kiosks were placed in stores in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, covering major cosmetics brands, like L’Oreal, Maybelline, Covergirl and Revlon. The shopper can take a picture and virtually try on makeup, while the “mirror” takes into consideration such things as skin tone, facial features, and product colour. The mirror can make recommendations and allow the consumer to share a virtual makeover image with friends online.