Blog Post

It's cool...but how would I use it?

Someone recently told me that "people don't pay for cool". While I did agree with him in the context of our conversation, there are indeed situations where "people will pay for cool"! Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are experiences that are un-deniably cool, even when only considering the technological side of things and not the actual experience itself! The technological coolness isn't the only reason why people would pay for it!

So...it's cool...but how would I use it?

Basically, information is no longer scarce and you have to engage your consumers/clients in ways that move beyond that which can be simply Googled, compiled, analyzed and compared. You can learn almost anything about any thing in about ten seconds with a simple search. So having someone find your website or be successfully navigated to your website should not be considered the end game. The common path for most marketing and advertising is to direct consumers/clients to the website, or direct them to the Facebook page. While this may seem like a great thing at first blush it completely negates one amazingly important thing...context!

Context is important insofar as it allows you to interact with your consumers/clients at the initial or intended point of engagement. That can be a magazine ad, billboard, bus bench sign etc. The importance lies in the ability to provide the consumer/client what you want and what they need at that point and not force them to go somewhere else for information or a pitch!
So here are some cool reasons why companies/individuals should use Augmented Reality:

  • Immersive and interactive experience without leaving the ad space.
  • Increases the ad space by overlaying digital content such as video, 3d models, images, sounds etc.
  • Engaging and more dynamic digital content for static media like print.
  • Digital overlays for static environments/locations and obects.
  • Full analytics for print media (postcards, posters, magazine ads, billboards etc.).
  • Widespread usage and continued adoption of smartphones and tablets capable of augmented reality experiences.
  • Juniper Research postulates mobile augmented reality apps will grow in revenue to $5.2 billion by 2017.
  • Research by Hidden Creative shows a 135% increase in buying tendency when an AR version of a product was available.
  • Hidden Creative also observed an increase in value perception amongst buyers who valued products with AR 33% higher than those without.
  • Augmented Reality target market group between 20 and 45 years old with no regard to gender or background. The target group is widening with more and more content developed for younger and older consumers.
  • Click Through Rates (CTR) are up around 87%.
  • The experience is really, really cool!

While I agree that "people don't pay for cool" in the general sense, I hold firm that Augmented Reality has significant returns on investment that are immensely beneficial to all those who utilize it in marketing/advertising campaigns...and its really, really cool!