Augmented Reality: Just a fad?05/04/11
Is Augmented Reality (AR) a gimmick or will brands and advertisers find a long-term use for the technology? Looking into the future of fashion retail as well as the use of AR by other brands, TJ’s Andrew Davison delves deeper, and gives Warc, the world’s leading online and print publication for Marketing professionals, an insider opinion on the latest trend.
This month I was interviewed for Warc about the recent surge in brand’s use of AR. I’ve written about this subject before when I looked at how packaging would benefit from AR integration. A second chance to speak about the subject prompted me to think more about the wider commercial applications for the technology and address the main question, “How can AR evolve from being just a short-term gimmick?”
One of the areas where I foresee the largest growth in the next two years is the retail industry. For e-commerce in particular, AR can yield an extra dimension to the experience allowing customers to explore products they are interested in, in a more personalised way. When deployed well it can shorten the gap between discovery and purchase.
The fashion industry has taken some of the biggest strides forward. Recently Taiwan technology company Ya de Li Technology worked with the Citizen watch brand, to deploy software that allowed customers to virtually try on watches. This could be done via a piece of downloadable software and a webcam at home or at dedicated kiosks in department stores. The resulting images could then be shared on Facebook, bringing all important social validation into the mix, exposing the brand to more people and allowing Citizen to capture use data for future marketing activities. Despite less than perfect visual quality it’s easy to see the direct value of this technology, especially for driving purchase intent online. Citizen declared the campaign a success; after two weeks more than 36,000 had used the service and 3,000 shared pictures on Facebook, although no sales figures have been released.
Some technology companies have even grander ambitions. Swivel, a platform developed by FaceCake, launched at the DEMO 2011 conference. Essentially it is a while label virtual fitting room solution that can be used by clothing retailers to recreate the in-store fitting-room experience for those purchasing online.
Unfortunately, it is at this point where the wheels start to fall off. As can be seen in the video, the outfit overlay is crude and no amount of improvement in visual quality will address the bigger issue; trying to fit a virtual garment to the nuances of people’s body size is near impossible with current technology, particularly when dealing with the limited hardware of the average consumer’s PC. Jennifer Van Grove makes this point in her review of the technology on Mashable. In a comment on the article Matt Szymczyk, CEO of a similar platform Zagura, was quick to point out that these platforms are intended as a “visualization tool to help determine style and colour – not fit.” However for online retailers who are keen to find ways to lower the rate of returns, this isn’t a selling point likely to get them excited.
Also worth considering is the use of AR in experiential marketing. Delivered via kiosks with customised graphic setups, a much higher visual quality can be achieved. A recent example is the campaign run by Lynx in the UK. A marker was placed on the floor of London Victoria train station which encouraged people to look up at the big screen above. When they did an angel would appear alongside them on the screen and would interact with them as they moved around. While simple and perhaps still quite gimmicky, as a concept this sort of activity stops people in their tracks and encourages them to talk to each other, something that brand reps on the ground can take advantage of. In some cases, footage of the event can be incorporated into subsequent TV adverts increasing the scope of a campaign and reducing overall costs. A great example of this, albeit minus the AR, is the recent T-Mobile flash-mob campaign.
Another interesting variation of this model is using AR to create virtual shopping locations. An example of this comes from Y&R New York who created ‘invisible’ pop-up shops for Airwalk shoes. Like a traditional scavenger hunt, consumers travelled to predefined locations and were able to view a pair of trainers at a set destination, via an app downloaded to their smartphone. Taking a photo of these trainers gave them instant access to a discount voucher to be redeemed at the Airwalk online store. The campaign was a success and they reported their busiest weekend for visitors to their online store.
Popup stores in major cities are a popular choice for a number of high-end brands at the moment but costs and availability of space can be a major limiting factor. GoldRun, the technology company that worked with Y&R on the Airwalk campaign, provide a solution that allows brands to recreate some of the pop-up experience. What’s also interesting is that these campaigns tap into another marketing trend which is gaining popularity; location-based gaming. By encouraging users to collect items and interact virtually with brands in exchange for rewards there is an added thrill to taking part. If users can be encouraged to share this activity on their social graph brands benefit in the same way as Citizen; increased brand exposure, social validation and the ability to collect user data.
Like any broad new technology medium it will take some time and a lot of experimentation to find the correct balance between providing a meaningful experience and developing ways to make money from it. An explosion in the number of companies and applications being created to take advantage of AR and heightened venture capital interest, to the tune of $5.5 million in the case of AR technology company Total Immersion, could be taken as a sign of an impending gold rush. In a fight for market share we will almost certainly see increased collaborations between the companies that develop the hardware and software and the studios that deliver the creative solutions in an effort to mature the technology. If advertising agencies continue to take risks and experiment on behalf of their clients it would not surprise me if in 18 months AR features as regularly in brands marketing mix as iPhone/iPad apps is today.
As CGI experts, Taylor James, is investing in R&D to be able deliver creative material that takes quality and interactivity onto new levels and we look forward to working both internally and with our clients to deliver some fantastic campaigns.
You can read the article in full next month on www.warc.com/