AR and Social Media: The Future of Advertising
I have a strong feeling that world is not ready for proper and mass VR/AR even though it is more than affordable at the moment. Ok, maybe it’s not super cheap, but for around 300$ you can get a VR headset from Sony to play VR games on your PlayStation or you can actually use your smartphone for VR games with a 10 dollar headset and for AR with just an app from Google or Apple app stores.
If you do not mind, I will leave VR aside and will talk about AR today. Just in case — AR stands for augmented reality and makes the usual things look different without the actual need to travel to virtual worlds. One of the best and newest examples is an update for Google Maps that allows you to navigate the actual streets of the city you are in. Check out the video to get what I mean. This video also proves that AR is a lot more affordable and real than we think.
So, AR and advertising. This is something that makes me curious the most. The thing is that at a certain point AR will become more and more popular. There are two thing that kind of slow it down at the moment:
- Infrastructure
- Lack of necessary gadgets
Luckily, both of those factors are not critical and do not require too much effort to make the magic happen. Let’s investigate.
Infrastructure is more developers dependent and does not require the actual physical interference. No need to build new buildings or create something from the start — a simple combination of your smartphone’s camera and software like Google Maps, for example, makes us closer to the AR timeline. Here’s an example:
You take your smartphone, open Google Maps and via camera watch the navigation, follow the guidelines. That is something you can do right now. Though, when you point your smartphone at the building, it shows you in AR what that building is, who lives here, is the shop at the first floor open and what deals it has. That is not hard to make — the only question is the info and how it will transfer from the owner to you (for example, store owner will have to update his Facebook page with new prices so that search engine could scrap the data and provide you with the freshest info). Not the hardest thing to do but requires attention. Again — opportunities are pretty endless here and info provided can differ based on what is needed and who is watching. And that is the next thing.
AR would be the best for local, targeted advertising, making the world of promoting products and selling stuff super interactive. Again, another example for better understanding:
You are in another city, walking around, enjoying the views, taking pictures. After 2 hours, your smartphone tells you: ”Hey, you’ve been walking for 2 hours already and you burned so many calories, how about you grab a snack now cause your bus leaves in 2 hours and you still need time to get to the bus station and might not have enough time for another food stop. I know a great place around the corner that serves amazing Chinese food and based on your last travel to China, you loved it a lot”. The next thing you know — you gadgets shows you the way to the place and you are standing in front of it, looking at the AR menu. It offers all the good stuff, pointing out things you like and best offers. But what is really important, two months ago Pepsi came to this Chinese restaurant and offered them to promote Pepsi over other drinks. So, whenever you look at the menu and choose dishes for a closer look, there is always a Pepsi can popping out next to it. That is called — targeted advertising.
I know — that is, probably, the simplest it could get but there is so much more for AR and advertising. By walking the city you would see hundreds of commercials, offering to buy stuff, sell stuff and spend as much money as you can. And all that in AR and all that just for you. It’s like a page in your browser without AdBlocker but in real life. The only thing missing here is the AR gadget. There are some options but they are not great for everyday use. Besides, without the infrastructure, it is pretty useless. But, give it some time and AR will become more than real.
With this kind of progression, freelancing in particular will be in need for AR Ads specialists and will open a new door for new reality. Are you in?
Original Post: AR and Social Media: The Future of Advertising
Author: Oleg
Discover more at: yolofreelance.com
