Wait a minute! This is the future
The future will surely be an interesting place to live in. The tech industry surprises us with something new almost every day. One of the latest “surprises” is Augmented reality. When I played Pokémon go a few years ago I did not think augmented reality would evolve to what it has become today. Suddenly, the applications of this new field seem limitless. The use of augmented reality in digital marketing is already here with us. IKEA has proved that augmented reality can just be what you need to hit your sales target. When I told my aunt about IKEA’s augmented reality app last year, she never thought much of it. Things, however, changed when she finally got to use it in my phone this year. With the whole Covid nightmare going on, how else would you “try-out” furniture before buying without stepping out of the house?
IKEA Place
IKEA launched IKEA Place a few years back as an augmented reality application that allows users to test IKEA’s products in real-time through Apple iOS 11’s ARKit technology. It is unbelievable that the app is free. I guess that’s the trade-off for digital marketing. The application features are realistically rendered, true to scale 3D products. It is amazing how the app automatically scales products based on room dimensions with such accuracy. To visualize a product within a space, the application will simply scan the expanse of the room through an iPhone or an iPad camera. The user is then at liberty to browse through over 2000 IKEA products on an online database to make their selection. Once you have chosen a product, all you need to do is point the device to the desired spot in a room then drag and drop the selected product onto the space. Amazing, right? I use it all the time. It’s not like I buy furniture all the time. Sometimes I just want to fantasize how my room would look like with that “new” sofa.
You have to agree that IKEA place is a fantastic marketing idea. It has certainly helped the company brand achieve its marketing objective. It is more like “trying out” a new dress before you buy it, except it’s a huge sofa. IKEA strives to create a better everyday life for many people and this application seems to do just that. By “trying out” furniture before they buy, customers would certainly make the order. I know I do. The company’s marketing objective of making more sales has certainly been met through this application.
Retain as much “reality” to connect with digital.
There are many reasons why I was intrigued by how IKEA is using augmented reality. Sure, I had seen Pokémon go use it as a game product but I had not seen it being used in digital marketing. This was new to me. The company has found a way to use augmented reality in bringing the customer, the product, and their spaces all together in the same place. To achieve this with such precision and all for free to the customer is absolutely amazing. I think this is the future of digital marketing. I believe this trend will not fade and is absolutely here to stay. Augmented reality is a relatively new field with new inventions added to it every day. It gets better every day. The future is a world where almost everything will be digital. This means that we will strive to retain as much authenticity and “reality” to it while still being digitally connected. Augmented reality does exactly this. Its applications in digital marketing are simply endless.
