Augmented reality enhances the user’s perception of reality by taking a live view of a real, physical environment and then augmenting it with sensory input like video, sound, graphics, and more to alter the user’s experience. Over the years, augmented reality has come a long ways but it is the future of AR that really has techies and marketers everywhere excited about its advancements.
Let’s take a look at some recent examples of how marketers are using augmented reality:
Buffalo Wild Wings: The restaurant launched a mobile app that included an augmented reality game to kick-off fantasy football season. Buffalo Wild Wings app encourages consumer foot traffic, as the full version of the game can only be accessed in restaurants and allows users to compete for prizes and keep track of top scores. Big Shot 2.0, as it’s named, augments the tabletop displays to allow fans to “kick”, or rather flick, a football into uprights.
IKEA: The furniture giant developed an augmented reality catalog app that allows users to view a room in their home in real-time while the app drops in furniture they’re considering adding to the room. This allows consumers to get a real feel for how each piece of furniture would look in the space and, more importantly, how it would fit.
Häagen-Dazs: The ice cream company developed an app called the Concerto Timer that uses augmented reality to display a musician to play a “virtual violin concerto.” If you point the camera of your mobile or tablet device at the lid, the app will launch the musician which will play for two minutes. Häagen-Dazs insists that this is the perfect amount of time to let the ice cream thaw to a delicious consistency for eating and hopes to entertain consumers while they wait.
What augmented reality campaigns have you found effective in terms of marketing?
