Augmented Reality in Brand Marketing an overview

AR enables customers to visualize how things fit in their actual consumption contexts, enabling them to judge product fit before purchasing. The physical environment is kept as a backdrop to the virtual elements.

For instance, Ikea’s “Place” software employs augmented reality to show buyers how furniture will look in their homes without taking any measurements. Similarly, L’Oréal and Sephora are utilizing augmented reality to give customers a realistic glimpse of how they will look when wearing or attempting various cosmetic items.

Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 epidemic has increased investment recently due to the increased necessity for businesses to strengthen client relationships through digital platforms.

In the realm of marketing, augmented reality enables businesses to provide distinctive and immersive digital experiences as well as memorable consumer engagement.

Why do brands use AR?

• It helps in raising brand recognition. When you use augmented reality (AR) in your marketing efforts, you create a “wow” factor that encourages media coverage of your marketing campaign and, as a result, your brand. Although most customers no longer find AR a unique experience, it still has the power to stun and surprise.
• It contributes to a better client experience. Using augmented reality (AR) in your marketing campaigns may speed up the sales process and provide less intrusive information about the product to potential customers.
• Conversion rates are aided by it. Customers are more likely to commit to a product and make a purchase decision without doubt when they have a positive customer experience since they have access to additional product information. Also, AR technology allows brands to wrap the CTA message into an engaging, interactive experience. Shopify claims that compared to ads without AR/3D elements, and AR ads generate 94% greater conversion rates than standard display ads.
• It promotes greater user involvement. One of the main problems for programmatic advertising is ad blockers. And it’s possible that individuals of your target audiences still aren’t impacted by digital ads even if they aren’t actively resisting them. Over 50% of Internet users claim they never click on banner advertising because they find them distracting and intrusive, according to data from Mobile Marketer.

Augmented reality marketing examples

Walmart is reportedly exploring AR for stock.

Walmart stated in October 2020 that it would convert four of its physical retail stores into “test stores” to test out new technology (to enhance all stores to become both physical shopping destinations and online fulfillment centers).

Inventory management is a key component of these establishments, and one trial used an app that shortens the time it takes to move things from the backroom to the sales floor. Instead of scanning every box, the program employs augmented reality to enable staff to hold up a mobile device, highlighting the items that are ready to be shipped.

Snap — City Painter

Snap presented “City Painter” in London’s Carnaby Street in October 2020. The augmented reality tool allows users to paint murals above the shops on the street digitally. The fact that “City Painter” is a shared augmented reality experience, meaning any modifications a person makes are viewed in real-time by others using it, is one of its most distinctive features.

“City Painter” is the first significant example of Local Lenses, Snap’s goal to map famous sites to create a shared virtual world. The business states in a promotional video that it can create a digital picture of the real world by “using diverse sources of data, 360-degree photographs, and community snaps.”

ASOS’s “See My Fit”

Asos is no stranger to mobile innovation, having added visual search to its incredibly user-friendly mobile app in the past. By 2019, Asos had fully embraced augmented reality. To aid app users in visualizing 100 Asos Design goods, Asos has introduced an experimental augmented reality tool called Virtual Catwalk.

Asos decided to increase its usage of “See My Fit” technology, which employs augmented reality to “digitally fit” goods onto models. The pandemic struck in 2020 and drove models and photographers to work from home.

The video game Pull & Bear

The creator of the e-commerce company Pull & Bear, Inditex, has released “Pacific Game,” an augmented reality game associated with Facebook’s “Creative Shop.” Users move their heads while playing the game to avoid obstacles and gather points as they travel virtually from California to Tokyo.

The game, primarily created for social media, may be played on Facebook, Instagram, and the retailer’s website. Users can experiment with Instagram’s front camera feature particularly.

The Olympia Pop-Up by Burberry at Harrods

After the pandemic, retail firms reinvent AR experiences to entice shoppers back into their stores. One such instance is Burberry, which recently unveiled a pop-up augmented reality (AR) experience in Harrods to coincide with the release of its new Olympia bag.

Customers may see the Elphis statue move around in their surroundings and take pictures or videos to share with friends by scanning a QR code they can find in-store.

Although this kind of experience has undoubtedly been done before and serves to add a small amount of immersive thrill to the shopping experience, in the wake of Covid-19, AR has gained new significance for both marketers and consumers.

Benefits of augmented reality in marketing

Here are just a few of the many advantages of implementing AR in marketing.

Make your brand easier to find

Global smartphone usage is expected to reach 6.6 billion users by 2022, representing nearly 83% of the world’s population. By 2027, that number is anticipated to increase to 7.7 billion, and by 2031, the global mobile phone industry is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 6.8%.

The great majority of consumers now have access to AR capabilities thanks to the quickly expanding smartphone industry, which allows people to take advantage of immersive brand experiences from the comfort of their homes. Customers may access your products and content from anywhere worldwide, enabling brands to become truly global.

AR content can help you become viral.

In a Camera IQ survey, 78% of respondents indicated they were likely to tell their community about an augmented reality experience from a company. In comparison, 53% claimed they had already posted AR content to social media.

It’s a terrific method to increase brand awareness and trust while exposing your business to hundreds, if not millions, of potential clients. The advantage of utilizing augmented reality in marketing is the originality of the material you can provide, such as immersive events and experiences. Compared to more conventional sponsored material, this can help you stand out.

Inform your clients

Attempting to comprehend a complicated product can easily become confusing and overwhelming, increasing buyers’ likelihood of rejecting a sale.

With augmented reality (AR), you can simplify even the most complex information into digestible digital bites that will better assist clients in seeing the value of your goods. This shortens the sales cycle because clients will spend less time attempting to understand your products and more time recognizing how they can benefit from them.

Increase client involvement

While its immersive and interactive features can boost engagement and enhance the entire customer experience, AR content’s novelty can assist firms in cutting through the clutter of other marketing efforts.

Because AR technology is so adaptable, it can be incorporated into digital assets and physical marketing materials, promoting interaction both online and offline. For users to interact with 3D material in AR on their phones, apps like JigSpace, for instance, may generate QR codes that can be printed onto brochures, product packaging, signs, and more.

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