Hi, it’s me again, Chris from Until Dawn. This time, no data on this stage. Remember, last year Pokémon Go went all the rage as an augmented reality (AR) smartphone game and even became a worldwide pop cultural phenomenon. This year, both Apple and Google rolled out their brand-new flagship smartphones featuring all-round AR technology.
Dat means…? Augmented reality is not predicted as a trend, but becoming a trend this year.
In @DMUD, every time we try to pick insights out, discuss together, and now it’s AR’s turn.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality is using technology that superimposes digitally generated sensory input to alter the way how we see the world. It makes users’ current surroundings as a digital interface like graphics, sound and location by positioning virtual objects in reality. The application tools of augmented reality are usually recognised as 3 types – 3D viewers, browsers and games without new hardware equipments such as Virtual Reality headsets.
AR works only with your smartphone’s camera at a real environment and discover something digital inside it. It naturally adds graphics, sounds, and even smell to the world as it exists. We found console games and apps in smartphones are the vehicle of developing of augmented reality as we saw what the tech giants are doing. Besides entertainment industries, digital marketers become a great fan of augmented reality technology, and try to involve it into their budget.
Now, we’re going to see how Toys R Us and Patron Tequila utilised this hot technology in their marketing campaigns.
#1 Toys R Us launched AR app to optimise in-store user experience
Toys R Us released a new mobile app, Play Chaser on both iOS and Android platform by utilizing AR to add greater interactivity to the in-store shopping experience. Geoffrey, the brand's giraffe mascot, appears in the app to virtually greet and provide app instruction guide for customers. Users can follow the instruction signs in the shop to show the toys they want to appear on the screen.
The AR function on the Play Chaser app are one of interesting and innovative ideas to trigger the combination between technology and retail spaces as a real O2O campaign from new platforms like Apple's ARKit. Kids can now have more things to do in Toys R Us, such as employing a virtual environment of placing different toys in different area with creativity and imagination.
#2 The Patron Experience - AR-inserted app debuted by Patrón Tequila
In a bid to show customers how its products are made, Patrón Tequila rolled out a mobile app developed with Apple's new ARKit - "The Patrón Experience” adopting AR technology to make the whole stuff lively. Users can engage in virtual tequila-making from the first step through the app, being projected against a wall via the iPhone camera. Amid all stages of the app experience, users are guided by a bartender on the screen offering a detailed explanation on wine tasting and spirit barrelling.
We can see how AR technology leverages the quality and extensiveness of a marketing campaign by overlaying virtual images over the reality via smartphone screens. Shown by the two cases in two different industries, brands can make good use of AR technology to contribute to more interactions with audience in such a lively way thanks to this technology.
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