Why Brands Should Use Augmented Reality For Marketing To Create Immersive Experiences

Brands are always looking for new technologies and ways to connect with their audience, and using augmented reality for marketing is something that is giving them desirable results. As the average user's attention span decreases, it becomes increasingly difficult for businesses to see the same results that traditional advertisements gave years ago. But when it comes to using AR campaigns, the audience not only gets to have an engaging experience; the brand also gets to promote its products or services better.

What is Augmented Reality for Marketing?

Augmented reality (AR) for marketing refers to campaigns that take digital content like videos, animations, 3d models and bring them to the physical world by making use of hardware like smartphones, smart glasses, or interactive kiosks. These experiential activations are used by brands to promote their products or services in a way that gives the audience a unique way to experience them. What makes these installations so special is that AR allows customers to interact with them; thus, it increases the engagement that isn't possible when traditional presentations or advertisements are used.

Different Applications of AR that can be Used for Marketing

Augmented Reality Out-of-Home (AR OOH) Advertising

One of the oldest and most reliable methods of marketing that brands have used for a while has been billboards. Be it a static billboard where they put up a poster of their product or service, or use a digital billboard to run an ad. But with the advancements in technology, AR OOH is no longer a possibility and is something that brands like Pepsi or organizations like NHS Blood Donation have already used. To advertise Pepsi Max, Pepsi decided to turn a regular bus shelter into an "Unbelievable Bus Shelter" on New Oxford Street. They installed a camera and a display where the user could see past the screen like a normal see-through glass. But the screen would randomly add animations like UFOs invading the street, a monster's tentacle coming out of a manhole and grabbing a person, a tiger chasing someone, and more. This made for a fun experience, especially since it isn’t something that they see during their everyday commute.

Virtual Try-Ons

This is one of the best uses of AR, especially in the retail industry. The basic goal of virtual try-ons or try-before-you-buy campaigns is, as the name suggests, to give buyers a way to virtually try out the product that they are interested in buying. This saves them the trouble of having to visit a store physically and trying out clothes or other accessories, and instead they could just use a web-based or app-based AR solution that the brand is offering them.

For example, Lenskart offers its customers virtual try-ons where the user has to align their face to the designated area, after which they can virtually wear the different glasses before making a purchase. What this does is place a pair of glasses on their face in the reflection they see on the app or the website. It makes use of your laptop or computer's webcam or smartphone's front camera to scan the face and accordingly aligns the glasses in a way that, when the user moves around their face, they get to see whether the glasses suit them not just from the front but also from other angles and sides.

Spatial Visualization

Spatial visualization is a great use of AR that is often used by brands that sell large or space-consuming products such as sofas, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and more. Traditionally, a buyer would have to take the measurements of the available space and settle for an appliance that fits their space. While this is still true for the most part, what changes with AR is that they have more freedom to compare the options. They can simply select the furniture or appliance that they want to install in their home. Then use AR on their smartphone to virtually place it. It helps them make a better-informed decision; for example, if a buyer wants to place a large vase in their living room. Using AR they can select a vase that matches their wallpaper and can decide the best placement so that it goes along with the rest of the home decor.

What Industries Can Benefit from Augmented Reality Marketing?

Gaming

Gaming is an industry that has been one of the first adopters of Augmented Reality. One of the main goals of games is to give players immersion, and AR is a technology that can help with exactly that. Pokemon GO is an excellent example of what AR can achieve for gaming. This is a popular game where the player uses their smartphone to go outside and catch Pokémon virtually in the real world. It makes use of their phone's camera, GPS, and even gyroscope to incorporate the game's location-based AR experience. Such games are great for bringing players together, as not only can players play it alone and catch and raise their own Pokémon, but it also offers community events where they have to work with others to take down the raid bosses (raid Pokémon), which improves the player experience.

Retail

The next industry that can greatly benefit from AR is the retail sector. Several large brands like IKEA, Sephora, and Lenskart are already using them to improve their in-store and online purchase experiences. Some examples here include the AR-Powered interactive mirrors by Sephora. Here, the customer can try out different cosmetics like lipstick, eyeshadow, blush, and more. Once they are done, the makeup is applied to their reflection in the smart mirror. They can even move around their face to see how their new look would look from different angles. 

Real Estate

In real estate, AR has several different use cases like interactive floor plans, off-plan sales, virtual staging, and more. They are extremely useful when a physical showflat is available, and a buyer is looking to customize it. Thus, a developer could offer virtual staging using augmented reality, which would allow them to personalize their future home by placing furniture like sofas and beds or home decor objects like vases or wall art and more to decorate their home. Thus, a buyer gets the tangibility of a physical show flat but also gets the immersion with technology that lets them take a general-purpose show flat and turn it into something that matches the vision of their future home.

Automotive

Automotive is another industry that has recently been seeing applications of AR and has been integrating it into their marketing process or vehicle features. For marketing, AR in automotive can be used for campaigns by setting up 360-degree virtual showrooms. Here, buyers get to check out newer or existing versions of vehicles that may not be physically available at the showroom yet. The best part is that since these cars exist digitally, the customer even gets to change their colors, inspect them from various angles, and check out how certain features work.

When it comes to using AR as a feature, automotive brands could offer vehicles that support Augmented Reality Heads-Up Display, or the AR HUD. What this does is display different information, like the speed limit of the area a car is in, a map and directions to where the driver is headed, the car's current speed, and more, directly on the windshield. This can make for a seamless driving experience, as all of the important information that a driver needs is made available on the windshield itself, preventing them from looking around and getting unnecessarily distracted.

In conclusion, augmented reality for marketing has advanced to a degree that most businesses have already adopted it for their campaigns. This technology offers all kinds of applications, like AR Out-of-Home advertisements for marketing on a large scale, to virtual try-ons, and spatial visualization, which is more useful for individuals in day-to-day scenarios. The best part is that brands from various sectors like gaming, retail, automotive, and more can benefit from this technology.

Looking to use AR for marketing your brand next?

Ink In Caps is the MarTech agency that has years of experience working with interactive technology and helping brands create immersive campaigns. And AR is an area where we have worked on several projects, like the Great AR wall of Amazon Smbhav and Interactive Tech Zones with AR for IndusInd Bank. Book a demo now!