10 Killer Virtual Brand Experiences
Brands redefining and reinventing classic experiences with AR & VR technology.
With the recent announcement by Apple’s CEO Tim Cook of augmented reality (AR) now being mainstream, and a predicted 40.4 billion dollar virtual reality (VR) software and hardware market size by 2020, we’re beginning to see brands really take notice.
This no longer only applies to the tech-savvy businesses. Brands of all ages and sizes are throwing in their two cents to be a part of this exciting and world-changing technology.
Let’s take a look at 10 recent initiatives launched by brands spanning several industries, and get a taste for just how many different applications of AR and VR there are already for novel brand experiences.
1. Live Gigs In Augmented Reality
Firstage wants to remove the barriers between music artists and their fans with the help of augmented reality technology.
The app is developed for bridging a gap between emerging artists and their fans by offering a virtual stage to artists. Artists can sign up free of cost on the app, and are offered augmented reality stages anywhere across the planet.
Users can browse and select the artists they want to listen to, and the app then scans the room and the artist appears in augmented reality performing a “live” gig.
In the future, the company is planning to launch a “live AR concert” option. Audience members can “tip” artists, in turn earning some fan points which can be used for unlocking more content and incentives provided by artists.
LHBS Insight
This use of AR is not only creating a cool, novel experience for fans, but changing how we think about experiencing a concert. It’s making live music experiences more accessible and more personal, creating a new kind of connection between artist and fan.
2. Augmented Reality Game By NBA
The new game called NBA AR has been designed to bring a basketball experience into fans’ surroundings.
To play, the app scans the users’ surroundings and installs an “authentic” NBA basketball backboard and hoop. Users need to just make a “flick” motion with their devices to throw the basketball, with the goal of scoring as many shots as possible in 30 seconds.
“We’ve always said that basketball can be played virtually anywhere — and today that takes on an expanded meaning,” said Melissa Rosenthal Brenner, NBA Senior Vice President, Digital Media.
“Augmented reality presents a variety of fascinating engagement opportunities, so we hope our fans download the app and try out their skills wherever they might be.”
LHBS Insight
NBA are one of the brands beginning to realize that AR is taking the restrictions off experiences in the sense that no matter where you are, you can still do what ever you want to do.
In this case, you could be a school, at work, walking your dog, and you can still play a game of basketball if you fancy it.
3. KLM Virtually Upgrade Passengers
Passengers flying with budget airlines can don a pair of cardboard VR glasses to pretend they’re flying with KLM.
In an effort to let passengers of budget airlines see exactly what they’re missing from paying to fly with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, they gave away cardboard VR glasses to people waiting for their budget flights at airports, and also made them available for free on their website.
Users can download the KLM Flight Upgrader app and put their mobile into the cardboard box glasses to get the experience. They’re able to see the food and the films they could have access to (included in KLM’s ticket prices), and essentially “escape” their budget flight experience.
LHBS Insight
“Here’s what you could have experienced.”
Immersing customers in a virtual experience of your best service, but without the ability to really enjoy everything they’re seeing in reality is possibly a rather cruel temptation, but an incredibly powerful way of giving them the feeling of what it could be like.
Next time they have to make the choice, it’s very likely they’ll remember this feeling rather than simply being told they could get this, this and this.
4. Mastercard And Swarovski’s VR Shopping App
Users can now shop Swarovski’s home decor line in virtual reality, and pay with Mastercard’s digital service, all in an app.
By simply downloading the new app and putting their phones into a compatible VR headset, people are able to shop within a 360° virtual home consisting of five rooms displaying home decor items from Swarovski’s new line. They can also discover more about the brand itself, and have insights into the manufacturing process of products and thoughts from the designers.
A partnership with Mastercard means shoppers are able to select any desired items and pay with Masterpass, Mastercard’s digital payment service, which doesn’t require payment details to be added for a more seamless shopping experience.
LHBS Insight
A completely new way to shop. While many brands are experimenting with enabling consumers to explore their collections through VR, this is one of the first to also integrate an advanced payment process to make this experience a complete one, and a seamless one.
It’s a glimpse into the future where experiences really can be replaced by a virtual one, with no crucial steps missing but with all of the added value of convenience and customization.
5. Amazon Shopping In AR
Amazon have launched AR View, a feature within their iOS app for shoppers to see products in their homes before buying.
Amazon’s Augmented Reality (AR) View feature allows iPhone users to virtually view a range of Amazon products in their homes before deciding to buy. The feature revolves around Apple’s ARKit and so it’s unlikely it will be available for Android in the near future.
The products that can be viewed virtually via this new feature include kitchen appliances, toys, electronics and more.
LHBS Insight
Industries are seeking to reduce wasted time, materials and manufacturing efforts. One way to do this is actually eliminate the high number of returns, to increase buyer confidence and also gather more of an understanding as to what consumers really want.
AR is achieving this. This is a great example by Amazon of AR technology doing all these things. Shoppers can be much more sure about things like size and color, and have a feeling of “testing out” items which will increase confidence in their purchase.
6. Michael Jackson’s New AR Release
The record label of the legendary artist are releasing a new package of greatest hits, along with an AR experience for customers.
The newest release of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits, along with several new mixes of his classics will be launched by Epic/Legacy Recordings. This will include a “spooky” global augmented reality experience, which is brought to customers via the Shazam app. This is the first time Shazam has been combined with mobile AR technology, and will be promoted via posters and billboards throughout major cities around the world.
Customers will receive a glow-in-the-dark vinyl LP, and the album cover artwork reveals an AR experience with their smartphones. This entire campaign has been named “Michael Jackson Scream.”
LHBS Insight
This is a great example of how AR can be used to create an additional level of value to a classic experience.
It’s a new way to experience the common activity of buying a record. It’s giving the customer more value and enjoyment through enabling them to interact with the content, or at least the feeling of interacting with it, something which — combined with the rather vintage product — seems very futuristic.
7. Ritz-Carlton Offer WSJ Readers A VR Experience
Ritz-Carlton’s 360-degree virtual reality campaign invites readers of The Wall Street Journal to explore new neighborhoods.
To promote their rewards credit card, the luxury hotel chain Ritz-Carlton are advertising on The Wall Street Journal homepage with a 360-degree and virtual reality advert. Readers of the online journal are invited to explore nine neighborhoods around San Francisco, New Orleans and other cities by moving their mobiles around in the virtual locations.
They can interact with the experience by tapping elements to learn about the histories of each city and visit landmarks, as well as discovering more about the hotel brand itself. The Ritz-Carlton partnered with technology company OmniVirt to develop this campaign, named “Inside the Moment.”
LHBS Insight
One great possibility of VR is the ability to travel. The Ritz made this possible in this campaign, and, similarly to the KLM virtual upgrades, it gives the consumer something more powerful than any text or photo could do — it gives them a feeling.
With VR, they’ve been as close as they can to a place without actually going. This feeling of coming so close to this amazing place, then taking off the glasses or closing the browser and it’s gone is again a very powerful way to tempt someone into trying the real thing next time they have the choice.
8. Designer Uses Mixed Reality To Focus On Wearer
Martine Jarlgaard used mixed reality for her latest brand experience, putting the user in focus instead of the collection.
The initiative was launched at a tech festival in Copenhagen and dubbed “Meet Yourself”. Users could stand face-to-face with a life-sized 3D version of themselves, dressed in pieces of the designer’s new collection.
The installation was designed to challenge self-perception and to present a new perspective to provoke a new psychological and emotional setting. Jarlgaard highlights mental health in the digital age where seeing yourself from the perspective of others is “both necessary and healthy”. The project was also aimed at giving new value to garments and challenging the way they are treated as disposable.
LHBS Insight
The most important person to me, is me. When it comes to clothes, food and any other item, doesn’t it make sense that in a perfect world, every advertisement features me? I’m the one who they want to be wearing it, eating it, using it, so why not market directly to me?
One fashion designer has done just that here. She’s tapped into that classic human trait, all with the power of mixed reality. It’s a powerful move, and an experience everyone is bound to remember.
9. Microsoft HoloLens For Flight Attendants
Air New Zealand and Dimension Data have collaborated for using Microsoft HoloLens headsets by flight attendants during flights.
The HoloLens equipped flight attendants can identify the passengers through facial recognition and the gadget will let them know about travelers details around the destination, allergies, and also the time since they had their last beverage.
Along with that, the gadget will also detect the traveler’s mood through ‘visual and audio’ clues. At the moment Air New Zealand is testing the gadget in pre-designed scenarios, as the project is still in beta testing.
LHBS Insight
‘The customer experience is the next competitive battleground.’ — Jerry Gregoire (DELL CIO).
This use of AR lenses for cabin crew could be an incredible asset to customer-facing staff in almost every industry. To already have their information — from name to their current emotion — readily available means a more personalized and empathic experience immediately.
It could also help staff provide a consistent experience, helping to give the brand more of a staple personality and image.
10. Lancôme Shoppable AR App
A partnership between Lancôme and Perfect brings a new app allowing users to try on products in AR, buy as well as watch live streams.
Lancôme Paris partnered with developer Perfect Corp. to launch a new mobile app experience. Users can experiment with various makeup products by Lancôme via augmented reality on their live selfie, as well as also make in-app purchases when they find products they love.
Lancôme are also using the app to communicate with users by showing live stream demonstrations on how to create popular looks using their products.
Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer of parent company L’Oréal said that “The Perfect Corp. L’Oréal partnership accelerates on building omnichannel services to enhance the consumer experience at every touchpoint. Virtual make up, livestreaming, augmented reality shopping are key features in a modern beauty journey that mixes online and offline.”
LHBS Insight
While we’ve seen many AR apps for trying out make-up, here we see it becoming less of a standalone feature, and more of a “normal” experience. Lancôme have begun running content through the app to create more value and give customers more of a reason to use this one over all the competitors.
Is it now about integrating this rather “mainstream” feature into the regular shopping experience better and more seamlessly than their competitors?
