AR is the Next Video (Part 1/3)
The shift from a frozen snap to the video has helped pioneers reach a new zenith and a more enthralled customer base. This particular awe dates back to 1878, when Eadweard Muybridge used a sequence of cabinet cards (a style of a photograph) to depict the movement of a horse, named The Horse in Motion. Of course, the galloping horse can be seen as the world’s first GIF and served as the source code for films. Also, it revolutionized the concept of viewership. Now, as the 21st century is progressing with more and more technological wonders and new dimensions in video marketing, Augmented Reality can take up the mantle of being ‘the next video.’
One might ask,
How does that happen?
Just a classic instance of cause and effect. -
Care to explain?
Well, AR is basically the cause for digital marketers to weave something out of thin air, so beautifully unreal within the boundaries of reality that inevitably, creates an entrancing effect on the consumers/viewers.
Hence, the impact AR can create on people, surpasses that of videos.
The Visual Shift
Access to multiple platforms and screens has enabled brands to diversify their outreach to the target audience. However, the eclipse of television has given rise to the online medium which has tremendous potential of propagating ideas through videos. Statistics of online video trends predict that by 2025, half of the existing viewers below 32 would vouch for an online platform.
Images vs. Videos
What then, is the picture of the social media advertisement?
Well, in the tussle between images and videos, the latter bears the upper hand. User engagement is the mantra for advertising and marketers have asserted that video ads, say on Facebook, garner most ad clicks. A vertical video format, as one scroll up the news feed, brings in more user interest than a static image. It goes without saying that the subject and content must be interesting enough for the average user to stop that swift scrolling we are all aware of.
What images couldn’t achieve, videos did so.
Commenting on video marketing being superior to images, Dan Patterson, Digital Platform Manager for ABC News Radio, writes, “Humans are… inherently curious beings. Humans are also incredibly visual and powerful, moving images help us find meaning… [and] video helps capture and contextualize the world around us.”
Nevertheless, with the ever-changing ebb and flow of time and tide, technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. The inception and use of AR have put every other mode into perspective. Although video-formats fly high, it is conceivable that AR shall transcend video ad concepts, just like it transgresses reality.
Augmented Reality over Videos
Consider the Instagram video ad of Artgrid. It is simply engrossing with a breathtaking view of wildlife and an equally catchy copywriting. The visual aspect immediately appeals to general viewers and at the same time, reaches its target audience of content creators.
Now, that one technology that goes ahead of the curve is AR. It superimposes images onto a user’s view of the real world, by the dint of the multiple online platforms he/she uses, and enhances the quotient of reality. Of course, the result is imbued with visual treats and it goes without saying that one would be riveted to an advertisement of such kind.
Ponder a bit on the marketing campaigns adopted by titanic brands based on AR. Pepsico’s mind-boggling use of AR in a bustling London bus-stand or Manchester City’s AR-fuelled stadium tour had shown how the general populace is susceptible to such wondrous effects. Consequently, more companies are adopting AR either as the stepping stone in their branding or executive actions culminating in apps.
Snapchat’s integrated use of AR lenses for creating videos is principally about interaction. The variety of images and filters is not only limited to be applied to photos but videos as well.
Getting a user into an immersive AR environment revs up the senses and in turn, businesses are graced with a great deal of engagement.
Therefore, what values does AR marketing entail for a brand?
● An engaging audience who normally ignore banner texts and images
● Extending more relevance to the products
● Eliciting significantly more responses and reactions
● Experiencing more flexibility in voicing their content
● Erasing the context and probability of a boring subject matter
Fantasy within reality- What pleases the eyes, pleases everything
However, where videos face a dearth of functionality, AR can fill the gaps. Augmented Reality does have that element of surreal bewilderment which can make people gape wide-eyed and wide-mouthed. What even a well-made video ad can’t achieve, a simple tactical application of AR can do so, owing to the fantastic ocular experiences it promises.
For our camera-instigated and mobile-using generation, AR is the storehouse of inlays having various prototypes and images that do create a feeling of self-fulfillment. Moreover, what is striking is the possibility of a customized experience brought about by AR.
In the context of marketing, augmented reality allows companies to:
● Invoke viewership
● Instigate awe
● Inculcate uniqueness
● Immerse audience
● Increase engagement
Almost a century has elapsed ever since Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks had created animated cartoon sketches called laugh-o-grams which served as pathways for the reign of ultimate Pixar vistas. Transitions from image to video was a huge leap that completely mesmerized the visual context of art and advertisement.
Having said that, the shift to Augmented Reality is nothing less than a renaissance, a rebirth, where AR is irrefutably the next video.
