For marketers, AR literally represents a new dimension in consumer engagement and brand storytelling. The main effect of being able to communicate in three dimensions, rather than the two offered by the screens we are surrounded by today, is that it brings audiences closer to the stories being told. They can become physically and emotionally immersed in the narratives, and perhaps even become a part of the story themselves.
The lesson marketers are learning is to treat AR as a creative tool like any other: be strategic and focus on the experience, not the technology. First decide what you are trying to achieve, and only then see how – and whether – AR can help you achieve it.
If users can access the same digital content on the internet, then there is little point in offering it in AR. Users should be rewarded for their engagement with an experience that can only be fully appreciated in AR.
Example: The Glenlivet CodeConsumption of typical digital content is passive; we watch, listen or read. AR is at its most impactful when it is interactive, turning users from audiences into participants and giving them an active role to play in the experience.
Example: Yorkshire TreeViewing 3D digital content is often exciting because it is new, but novelty alone is not enough to sustain an experience. Effective AR feels ‘real’ even though we know it’s not, and this is best achieved by blurring the lines between the physical world and the digital experience, to the point of true seamlessness.
Example: Music Walk of FameWe keep the audience’s critical gaze in mind at all times. The question “would anybody actually do this?” is a simple but effective challenge that helps ensure the experience is worthwhile. Valuable AR educates, entertains, challenges and rewards users, and to be truly effective it almost always needs to be fun.
Example: Burn That Ad A Vixen’s Tale poster campaign – read more here
Every successful immersive technology project starts with a clear challenge. Whether yours is amplifying brand purpose, driving path to purchase, elevating OOH engagement, fostering loyalty, leveraging packaging as a storytelling medium, supporting a cause, enhancing the visitor experience to an event or installation or anything else, do what marketers do best: start with a precise, clear brief, and stay focused on your strategic goals at every step of the way.
So – what’s your challenge?
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