HoloLens in Digital Marketing
Before explaining in what way is HoloLens being used in Digital Marketing, let’s first understand what HoloLens is and how it works.
Microsoft has a vision for the future, and it involves terms and technology straight out of science fiction. HoloLens is a flashy headset with transparent lenses, shown in the picture below. With it, you can see the world around you, but suddenly that world is transformed with 3D objects floating next to you, virtual screens and virtual characters running around you.
Wikimedia
HoloLens is not producing 3D images that everyone can see, this is not the “Star Trek” movie, but they are actually reproducing 3D images which the only wearer can see. Everyone else in the room will only be jealous of your cool glasses, but wouldn’t know what you see through them.
The best part of HoloLens is that when you wear them, you still see the world in front of you and you are aware of everything that surrounds you, so you do not have to worry about bumping into walls while moving around.
Many people mistake this kind of reality with virtual reality, but this is actually called augmented reality. The problem with virtual reality is that you completely lock in consumer’s attention and they escape to an entirely different world of the brand’s making. They are not aware of anything around them, they are in a completely different world. While being in that world, they cannot hear or see anything from the real world.
HoloLens has the ability to keep a consumer’s attention in this world, which is valuable. Augmented reality is not used for consumers to escape to an entirely virtual world, but to stay present in the real world with the ability to see individual virtual objects laid on top. This is what makes HoloLens relevant in today’s marketing. Augmented reality advertising gives us the possibility to transform any static object into a 3D experience.
Now, let’s see how is HoloLens relevant in digital marketing? We all know how people in marketing are very creative with a lot of dreams, so they immediately saw HoloLens as an opportunity to enhance digital storytelling. Let’s look at what this means and what Microsoft’s headset could do to change the face of company marketing in the future.
Every year marketing is becoming more personal for consumers where businesses are trying to nurture real relationships with them. Competition has increased so much, so everyone is trying to have a different and original approach. Marketing is using HoloLens for storytelling to connect emotionally and realistically with customers. The best part of HoloLens is that people can wear them and at the same time hold conversation about what everyone is collectively seeing.
There are multiple ways in which you can use HoloLens for marketing.
With holographic effects that look very real, you can create various scenarios that target directly your customer base. For example, pain points are a frequent focus in marketing when you are using storytelling. HoloLens now make it possible to create those problems to seem even more real and demonstrate how you solve them in 3D. This gives customers a real-world view of the products that you are selling. Demonstrations of products that are being sold have never been easier because you do not have to attend trade shows and worry about people won’t get a real-world sense of product online.
With HoloLens holographic, the demonstration could change the game on consumer perceptions.
It is easier for consumers to relate to the product when they are experiencing problem-solving demos. But actually, storytelling does not have to keep only on demonstrations, you can even create more elaborate content or even include short movies that immerse consumers into more elaborate situations.
Augmented reality is a way to better engage with buyers and provide a bridge between physical and digital experience. It invites the audience to participate in your storytelling and be part of it. This type of advertising is less intrusive and more fun for buyers. It is one thing to tell customers what you offer, but completely other to actually be able to show them in real life.
One of the good examples in which HoloLens could be used is a furniture store. Just create an app that will allow customers to see products in their own house. You could just put HoloLens and see how will furniture look inside your room in 3D without having to measure anything or imagine how it would look. The same thing is with makeup and clothing trailers or car dealerships…
There are not many brands doing this yet, because it has not yet become mainstream. It is still considered a novelty and because of that, it could even make it more memorable for your target audience at the moment. Good thing is that some major brands are investing in the platform and it is improving rapidly. One of the biggest brands, Apple, for the first time started investing in AR technology.
