AR spending expected to reach $45.1 billion by 2022

Modern marketing has predominantly focused on scientific and technological ways of attracting a customer, commonly known as a ‘left brain approach’. Postmodern marketing aims to appeal to the emotions of the consumer and companies are attempting to build emotional connections with their customers as well as portraying the more scientific aspects. This is seen to be a much more effective and scalable way of attracting a customer.

Augmented reality allows brands to offer unique and immersive digital experiences to engage consumers in a memorable way. Digital agencies are starting to create tailored AR campaigns for clients, creating apps and experiences that attract audiences and gets people talking about the brand.

How is AR improving consumer engagement?

The Drum reports that experiences such as augmented reality (AR) can capture people’s attention for over 85 seconds, increase interaction rates by 20% and improve click-through rates to purchase by 33%.

For now, augmented reality (AR) is still largely a novelty – AR’s newness alone contributes to its ability to surpass print, online, and television advertisements in terms of shock-factor. However, as AR becomes more mainstream, brands will find it harder to compete. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has said that AR will one day be as important in our everyday lives as “eating three meals a day.”

AR’s first major inflection point, Pokémon Go, taught tens of millions of users how to use their phones to interact with virtual objects in the real world. Brands such as IKEA, Disney, Lacoste, Tesco, Kate Spade and the New York Times are all taking advantage of AR.

New York Times

The NYT’s AR app for the newer versions of tablets and iPhones can be used for view sports like figure skating and ice hockey. A star figure skater, for example, could pop up on the screen to explain how he or she executes certain skating manoeuvres to the viewer as they’re watching the event live.

Kate Spade

Kate Spade wanted an innovative way to generate buzz around the opening of its first brick and mortar location in Paris, France last year. The result was an AR app called My Little Paris Tapage, which takes users through a virtual walking tour of Paris, combined with fun AR enabled surprises like flamingos appearing along the Seine river as visitors take their virtual tour.

Disney

Disney has launched a Disney Parks app, which includes games that families can play while they are in line at Disney theme parks. Players can use the app to trigger real-world events, for example, while standing in line near the Peter Pan’s Flight ride, players can make Tinkerbell appear inside a lantern.

The future of AR marketing

Brand marketers in search of the ‘next big thing’ have decided that augmented reality fits the bill, and spending on the technology is skyrocketing. Worldwide spending on AR is expected to reach $45.1 billion by 2022 according to ARtillery Intelligence.

With the right strategy in place, and ambitious marketers behind it, AR can elevate the way we engage with our audiences and how we advertise our products.