Could Augmented Reality be the ‘next big thing’ for advertisers in 2010?
by Julian Gratton
Imagine walking down any street and holding up your iPhone… what you see on the screen is a view of the street yet there are lots of Zombies running towards you that you then have to shoot. Or imagine walking up to a wall and touching it… just for the wall to then display the view that is on the other side of it…. This is the world of Augmented Reality and it’s a world that looks like it’s going to be very big indeed.
Put simply, Augmented Reality blurs the line between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. It adds graphics, sounds, and smell to our world… and through a normal pair of glasses or display screen, informative graphics appear in your field of view, and audio coincides with whatever you see. These enhancements are then refreshed continually to reflect the movements of your head and the world around you.
Believe it or not… this isn’t something that’s come from the pages of a Philip K Dick novel. It’s something that’s already happening around us and several advertisers have already embraced this new technology with some incredibly interesting results.
Placing graphics in the real world is nothing new
For those of you who have seen films like Top Gun or episodes of Airwolf… placing computer graphics over what we are seeing is not exactly new… fighter pilots have had Heads Up Displays (HUDs) since the 80s…. which is essentially an early version of Augmented Reality. And if you’ve ever watched any Premiership football on Sky, you’ll be used to graphics being displayed on the pitch to show tactics and goal trajectory.
The difference with Augmented Reality, however, is that no matter what your perspective, you’ll be displayed with real-time graphics that you can also interact with. To understand what I mean, take a look at the video below:
The video game industry has also been quick to investigate the power of Augmented Reality with some quite fun interactive games… check out this Zombie shooter that can also double up as a great advert for Skittles!
How marketers have begun to exploit Augmented Reality
It can’t have escaped you that James Cameron’s new movie Avatar has broken new ground with regards 3D technology. The innovation hasn’t stopped with the movie though. McDonald’s will use augmented reality to promote its Big Mac to young adults and to entice kids to request more Happy Meals through “Pandora’s Quest,” a series of online games that use a combination of a home PC’s webcam and Augmented Reality.
Coca-Cola hopes the film can promote Coke Zero and has plastered AVTR (the name of the pic’s military program) on 140 million cans and 8 million refrigerator packs in the U.S. alone. When these cans are held up to a webcam, a Samson helicopter takes off onscreen that can be controlled by moving the can.
And to give its toys a high-tech twist, Mattel has created a line of action figures, vehicles and alien creatures that come with an i-Tag, created by Total Immersion, that reveals special content when shown to a webcam.
You don’t need a big budget movie to use Augmented Reality
To promote the new Z4, BMW allowed computer users with a webcam to get behind the wheel of a virtual car and create their own expression of joy on their desk. By printing a 3D symbol, downloading some software and pointing a webcam at your desk you could drive a miniature car around in front of you and create a desktop work of art.
And to combat a decline in Baseball Card sales, manufacturer Topps has created a line of Augmented Reality cards that when placed on the palm of your hand and held in front of a webcam, come alive and show the player in action… going forward Topps are even looking at using these animations to create simple games that are controlled by the movement of the card or by the keyboard.
An Augmented Reality Baseball Card
So what’s the future of Augmented Reality?
As with all new technology the early days are always expensive and take-up is slow. But as costs come down and more and more Brands and people discover the benefits of Augmented Reality it won’t be long before we see it taken up in a big way.
The possibility for applying Augmented Reality into every day life is endless. No longer would you have to look down at a small TomTom screen in your car when you can see the guiding lines on the road ahead… and we could even see a whole new world of adverts and signs that are only visible to people wearing Augmented Reality glasses… signs and messages that are not constrained by the restrictions of billboard and advertising frames but that can float in mid-air and appear to interact with an individual or object.
Tags: Advertising Agency, Augmented Reality, Avatar, Award-Winning Advertising Agency, BMW, Coke Zero, Design Agency, Direct Marketing Agency, Direct Response Advertising Agency, Future Marketing, James Cameron, Mattel, McDonald's, Multimedia Marketing Agency, Online Marketing Agency, Total Immersion, Z4
