What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality (AR) is a virtual experience that interacts with real-world components. AR is highly beneficial in marketing as it creates an immersive experience for the consumer. The gap between brand and client is crossed as they can engage with the brand in a completely new way. As an Augmented Reality Agency, we specialise in creating AR promotions that use the full potential of AR to enhance brand awareness.

Key Considerations for Set Up and Costing

Once you have decided that an AR experience promotional is something you would like to implement, the mode and prizes must be decided on. These prizes can be tangible or digital and are usually rewarded for consumer interaction. As we know the bigger the prize fund, the more entries you will get.

As an Augmented Reality Agency, we can help you decide on the perfect format. There are many different options for example: scannable packaging, games, portals, treasure hunts, and face filters. We focus on creating something fun that people will want to use by leveraging the unique strengths of AR.

We also have to build it in such a way that makes it easy to receive people’s details and run prize draws in line with your T&Cs.

Once we have established the prize fund and a compelling AR experience we can make a very engaging and memorable promotional mechanic.

Integration:

The AR campaigns work best when they are integrated seamlessly into a brand’s wider communications strategy and promoted to the right audience.

Understanding where and how people will access the experience goes a long way towards ensuring that the promotional is tailored to the brief, target market and context.

Here are some other considerations:

What is the role of AR?

Augmented reality has many benefits such as increased brand awareness, increased purchases and amplifying existing comms.

What is the business problem that AR will solve?

AR can solve many problems that may arise in marketing. For example, AR can allow a consumer to sample a look or clothing before purchase. Furthermore, it provides an excellent product and experience visualisation complying with the “show don’t tell”  technique. It allows for an immersive experience and can easily be added to the packaging.

Who is the target audience? 

This is important so we can understand where they will discover the experience. For example, should we include the AR on packs, through email, in-store, at an event, or through comms/ads?

Why will they care?

It is often helpful to include a persuasive element to encourage engagement such as discount codes, shareable content, or filters.

What is the Call To Action?

A key point to consider is how consumers will be able to access the experience. There are many different options such as: ‘click here to access’ or a QR code.

What creative assets are available?

As an augmented reality agency, we judge how best to curate a creative AR to meet brand goals. There are many aspects to this such as 2D/ 3D components. We can also ascertain if we have any existing assets to reduce costs.

What platforms?

It is important to decide what platforms will be the most effective. This is dependent on the file size, mobile signal, wifi requirements and shareability.  Once this is decided we can start creating a great AR promotion.

Key Benefits of Augmented Reality

As an Augmented Reality Agency, we are passionate about the many benefits of AR.

Augmented Reality makes existing media work harder and provides an interactive, immersive layer to print, packaging, OOH, social media, TV and email.

It provides an immersive way to remotely/digitally sample products, experiences and services.

It improves brand awareness.

These experiences are memorable and shareable and thus highly effective.

Augmented Reality is relevant to younger shoppers and consumers, especially ‘Generation Z’.

Types of AR experiences

There are two main avenues of AR experiences.

Tracked or as a digital overlay on something defined. For example your face, packaging, your car etc. In this case, consumers point their camera at the object and can then access the AR experience. We created an AR digital overlay for Ballymaloe Foods and had great results.

or

Magically appear in your worldview. In this format, the AR appears in your world naturally when a camera is opened for example on your kitchen table, in the sky, or on the ground in front of you.

In terms of formats they tend to take the form of:

Games/Mini Games: In this case, a 3D game is created using the world around you. One option is using packaging as the canvas

Portals – Portals are 3D events where consumers can walk into something immersive.

Try-ons – This allows consumers to sample something before buying for example L’Oreal Cosmetic Filter or the IKEA furniture visualisation.

Packaging experiences – Shoppers scan packaging, logos or QR codes to experience a game or competition experience.

3D objects – Products can be experienced or sampled in 3D. This is especially effective for watches/jewellery, and product walk-throughs.

Visual search – This is where shoppers scan products to learn more and unlock rewards

Retail assistance – Similar to visual search but where shoppers use AR to navigate the in-store environment.

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