Augmented Reality- Attain the New Reality of Marketing (Part 3/3)
What you imagine, can reality depict it visually?
AR is no myth now, with its many overlays permeating real-life as well as pop culture. Hyperrealism, or illusions of reality, is a particular style in the visual arts and conjecturally, the theoretical base for augmented reality.
Surrealist maestro Salvador Dalí’s painting Nature Morte Vivante (Still Life-Fast Moving) heralded the germination of hyperrealistic techniques quite ahead of its time. One can say that it was the perpetrating point of enhancing the real-life, in a visual context.
Considerable time has elapsed ever since. The world bears testimonies of massive changes; welcome to the digital landscape.
Conglomerates and industries are now the raconteurs of new-age solutions.
What drives them to function?
Us, users.
How, then, should brands reach out to the masses?
A way to connect emotionally and a deep dive into the technology of the day, i.e. augmented reality.
This assertion, however, is not arbitrary like sudden comet showers.
Humanity still gets riveted to elements that transcend the mundane- the regular and ordinary. Based on this simple aspect of human psyche, augmented reality in marketing leaps beyond videos to establish a factor of engagement, wonder and purpose among consumers.
Dalí’s signature psychedelia found expression in Pepsico’s grand spectacle for the startled but pleased public eye.
Businesses are taking the high road paved with augmented reality technology in order to garner a pleasantly intrigued customer base. After all, who would say no to this foray away from the physical reality, dwelling in it at the same time?
Augmented Reality in Marketing:
Sir David Attenborough has, undeniably, a gripping narratorial voice. BBC Worldwide show, Planet Earth II, was replete with an immaculate cinematography and astounding camerawork, bringing forth wildlife with a wonderful storyline.
However, its popularity was preceded by its discreet augmented reality advertising campaign, a masterstroke in the field of augmented reality marketing and advertising.
Partnered with Blippar, a leading tech company, BBC sketched a strategy (coalescing augmented reality and marketing campaign) that catapulted the show further into the sanctum sanctorum of fame.
By the Blippar mobile app, nondescript, everyday objects such as fruits, flowers, spectacles, etc., could be ‘blipped’ (scanned) which thereby led to extraordinary realms, all hail to augmented reality in marketing. Once scanned, users unlocked an AR experience that led them to a digital foray into the world’s flora and fauna. Facts about diets and habitats appeared, revealing the relation between the object and wildlife.
AR does possess that potential to provide an impetus to brand visibility. How?
● Personalized Customer Experience-
Customers, before buying and vouching for a product, want to know what they’re dealing with. Free samples and car test-drives are extremely old-school now. AR has an upper hand when it comes to marvelling the general audience; augmented reality marketing ideas flow with the gusto of Old Faithful.
‘Try-on’ features are not exclusive to shopping malls now. Ray Ban’s tool enabled users, a great use case of augmented reality integrated marketing, to virtually try on shades after shades before buying a product. Gucci uses the same concept for shoes which aimed at instilling a sense of transparency to its enviable oeuvre; try before buy.
● New-age, New-edge-
Like a game-changer in a Scorsese classic, augmented reality in marketing escalates the verve of advertising to dizzying heights.
Statistics have confirmed that digital advertising will reach US $355,784m by the end of 2020. Considering all of us have smartphones, by the virtue of advertising, AR installations on mobile will reach upto 3.5 billion by 2022. To state a couple of augmented reality examples:
- IKEA’s yet unclichéd campaign set an augmented reality marketing trend where print catalogues when scanned by an iPhone, virtually blossoms into the particular piece of furniture on screen.
Who said physical environs can’t adapt to augmented reality marketing and advertising?
- Zara had changed the semantics of window-shopping with its augmented reality application. The experience was stretched across the worlds, spanning 120 stores. Users would point their phone cameras at the storefront and o presto! Models Léa Julian and Fran Summers appear, moving and posing with the studio collection in short sequences. Extremely life-like, this mode of advertising is a few notches above video formats.
● User Engagement-
Whether it is a small-scale business or a giant conglomerate, AR is beneficial for all. Cutting-edge technology as it is, the scales tip in favour for those who conceive augmented reality marketing ideas for their business processes.
The façade which AR creates is magnetic, no less. It provides an ecstatic experience, and not merely product-selling. The notion of interactive communication sets it apart from other branding procedures, thus, customer loyalty becomes irreversible.
Consider Coca-Cola’s ties with WWF on the Arctic Home campaign at the Science Museum in London. It presented a virtual ambience in real-time where visitors could interact with polar animals. In the wake of global warming and the subsequent melting of the permafrost, this campaign was to make people aware of the repercussions.
Emotional marker? Check.
Brand consciousness? Check.
Brand impact? Checkmate.
Honestly, there are too many use case scenarios of augmented reality in marketing. So myriad, that it will take an altogether different reality to say about all of them.
Superimposing digital content on real spaces is the first postulate of augmented reality technology. Moreover, an ambient, magic-like interface and awe-inspiring graphics promote more user interaction. Well, as discussed, interaction is the way to increase brand loyalty as well as revenue. Other than businesses, an individual can make the most of AR as well, for making an indelible mark on people.
There is a scope for unleashing tremendous possibilities using AR filters and templates; they are in the vanguard of popular augmented reality marketing plans.
Templates de là AR- The Next Video:
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat are leviathans of the social media which facilitate immense growth of different augmented reality filters. They help achieve mass appeal and are the principal choice in augmented reality marketing.
What are AR filters?
AR filters or templates are in the vanguard of their interactive domains. They are enhancements of the visual reality, what a cellphone’s camera sees. The computer-generated imagery can be elephantine ears on your face or as grand an effect as a museum tour. One has to acknowledge their popularity and the palpable influence they have over people. They appear out of nothingness, like the Nebraskan Black Ghost, albeit with a positive vibe, like what Phantom brings. AR filters
- Engage
- Entertain, and
- Encourage a pattern of interaction.
In terms of augmented reality marketing, companies and enterprises implement these augmented reality filters for a more prevalent recognition. Inculcating brand awareness is their basic function. If one wants to scoot further into unanimously-granted popularity, the kind what L’oreal did with its MakeUp Genius app, is how innovatively AR templates can be used as a marketing ruse.
What if an establishment does not want to pool in for creating a professional app? Again, what if one doesn’t like to download an app for enjoying AR?
WebAR is the answer! A great alternative to apps, it deletes the imminent trouble of downloading one. A company, miniscule or huge, can start off a campaign without having to resort to app building. Not to mention, the process becomes faster and cheaper.
Without the hassles of an app, is an exhilarating dive into the depths of AR possible? That’s where Superfan rises, dispelling the darkness. Be it an individual or an institution, Superfan caters to all.
A quick catch-up on the efficacy of filters in an augmented reality marketing strategy, for you influencers and brands:-
● Creates ineluctable brand awareness; users can identify specifically, just at a glance
● Boosts engagement by virtual trials
● Spreads networking by encouraging to tag on social media
● Initiates uniqueness with flexibility of content and technology
● Breaks away from traditional video form and elicits consumer interest
● Makes it a fun ride
The Superfan insignia is suffused with all the aforementioned factors. Based on these, Superfan has created and promoted a vast opus of AR filters, across multifarious sectors, setting new augmented reality marketing trends.
Food- Spreading love, we have created an AR lens for the Valentine special Cadbury Silk Heart Pop’s marketing campaign in India.
Education- For the University of California, Riverside, Davis, and Santa Cruz, we imbued with AR the convocation celebrations of their graduates. The pandemic has crushed the red-letter day for students. Why not give them an amicable spurring for the future?
Tourism- With Spotify and Snapchat, Superfan, a forerunner among augmented reality companies, has breathed life into the Gateway of India, which shakes and swings in a flourish of colors, to upbeat music.
Footwear- What can be more apt than creating an AR game for Puma, the most sought-after international brand for sports aficionados?
Movies- If making a film is onerous, then its promotions are definitely Herculean. The marketing strategies behind them can get a positive stimulus if AR is integrated. We have created AR filters for biggies like Dabangg 3, Sanju, Robot 2.0, etc.
There are other sectors as well, for which Superfan imparts the ultimate augmented reality experience combined with augmented reality marketing ideas.
Specializing in converging augmented reality technology, to make it flexible enough to reflect across various platforms, Superfan has created a rather convenient vessel called oneAR. You can generate a single link and QR code, which can be used to deploy your AR-inscribed media across various platforms, be it Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or the web.
It goes without saying that the radical usage of augmented reality filters is definitely a silver lining for brand managers in augmented reality marketing,
It’s immersive, right from the point of play where an AR effect is invoked on the digital screen. To be able to use it as a part of an advertising event, an influencer’s campaign, or simply to satisfy an eager one’s fantasy, immediately revs up the spirit of engagement.
Why don’t you try one yourself? Enjoy the experience.
The world is going through the toughest phase of our generation. Amid such distress, the curves rise high to a more digital mode of existence. There is a lot of scope of AR to flourish like a desert rose among thorns. In the wake of the digital boom in India, there is a tangible rise in the adaptation and adoption of AR and such new world technologies.
Bryan Alexander, author of The New Digital Storytelling, writes, “…use of AR involves visualizing neither historical events nor places, but focusing more radically on present-day people.”
We aim to make augmented reality an emancipating technology. AR can extend that democratizing essence to everybody. Superfan is precisely that isthmus between the ‘present-people’ and tech of the future.
AR is a change this world is adhering to, for when it’s completely void, augmented reality companies can make even hope appear out of nothingness.
