12 Examples of Using Augmented Reality in Marketing

Technology is reshaping the world in many different ways, with Augmented Reality (AR) being one of the most staggering examples of the digital revolution. According to the research, the global AR market should grow to more than $200 billion by 2022.

At the same time, business analytics revealed that over 60% of customers believe AR brings them shopping benefits. Big brands acknowledged this fact immediately and decided to provide consumers with the new type of marketing.

They designed AR-based campaigns to grab the customers’ attention, setting a cornerstone for the entire wave of similar attempts worldwide. In this post, we will show you 12 interesting examples of using AR in marketing. Let’s check them out!

IBM Shopping App

IBM decided to improve the in-store experience of its customers by creating an image-recognition app. With this AR tool, consumers can learn more about the product while shopping by simply taking a photo of the shelf. This sort of AR tool allows users to explore product-related information such as ingredients, the number of proteins, prices, shelf dates, etc.

According to retail specialists at the essay writing agency, IBM shopping app takes the consumer journey to the whole new level because it enables customers to make data-driven purchasing decisions in the real-time environment.

LCST: Lacoste AR Retail Campaign

Engine Creative designed an innovative AR solution for the LCST SS14 retail campaign. Touted as street style with added bite, LCST is the urban-savvy younger brother of Lacoste. As a brand LCST is all about ‘bringing the color’, a vision statement which demands a vibrant and innovative communications campaign to match.

The campaign enabled users to discover the color-fuelled virtual world of LCST. Users simply scan trigger images available in-store to quickly try on the whole product range and interact with additional LCST content.

Next for Nigeria

Although it seems hard to believe, the Nigerian presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari actually used an AR strategy to reach out to the country’s youth.

Buhari and his marketing team realized that traditional TV appearances won’t impact the attitude of the young audience, so they developed the app with a few basic features.

The most valuable option for young people was to interact with Buhari by posting answers and comments on his speeches, leaving their own ideas and political suggestions.

Thomas Cook: Try Before You Fly

Thomas Cook is the UK-based travel agency that utilizes modern technology to enhance the experience of their customers.

Consumers begin their journey in the cockpit of a Thomas Cook plane and can jump to separate videos filmed in economy and premium classes.

The purpose of the campaign is to allow users to check out new airplanes and popular destinations before deciding where to go. It’s a simple but perfect example of how AR should be used as a marketing tool.

The Walking Dead Scary Shelter: Zombies Attack

The team behind the Walking Dead series used a tram station in Vienna as the venue for their AR trick. They promoted the fifth season of the TV show by superimposing a video layer over the station’s glass wall.

The result was sensational – people could almost feel what it’s like to face a zombie, thus showing strong emotional reactions. It’s a memory of a lifetime that makes people remember the Walking Dead forever.

IKEA AR Catalog

The 2014 IKEA catalog gives users the opportunity to place virtual furniture in their homes with the help of AR. The only thing you need to do is to scan the selected page from the catalog using the IKEA application.

After that, you can simply place the printed IKEA catalog where you want to put the furniture in your room, choose a product from a selection of the IKEA range, and see how it will look in your home. Now that’s the furniture testing at its best!

Volvo Test Drive

Volvo created an AR experience in a YouTube masthead unit, allowing users to play the Augmented Reality Driving Game with their phones, from within the banner.

This campaign brought the car to life on the YouTube homepage and generated significant buzz in the media.

It earned the 9.6% interaction rate and almost 200 thousand clicks of engagement on the masthead unit, while Volvo increased the official website traffic by nearly 300%.

The brand itself is not as popular as Mercedes Benz or Ferrari, but they definitely outdid competitors with this campaign.

Converse: The Sampler iPhone App

The converse is yet another giant that exploited the benefits of AR to provide users with a sensational shopping experience. The Sampler app enables consumers to try on Converse classics and other collections virtually.

After browsing the collections and picking your favorite model, you just need to position your mobile camera towards your feet and scale the shoe to fit over your foot.

Absolut Vodka AR App

Successful brands don’t just sell items but also educate consumers. Absolut Vodka made a big leap forward in that respect by creating an AR app that explains the history of the brand.

Namely, consumers who bought bottles with neck hangers could scan it and then virtually visit the village of Ahus.

It’s the birthplace of Absolut Vodka and all ingredients come from over there. Besides the visit, consumers could take a look at the production process and get some useful drink recipes free of charge.

The North Face

The North Face mixed AR with the real-world effects to promote the new line of winter coats. Sales reps invited visitors to try on winter jackets and that’s when the magic starts happening.

Using AR effects, The North Face took customers to the hiking tour through Yosemite National Park as well as Nepal. It’s an ideal solution for adventurous consumers who require more than simple quality to make the purchasing decision.

The Dutch Lady’s Flying Farm

The Dutch Lady’s Flying Farm app is an AR mobile-based application designed to support this milk brand during the 2015 summer campaign. Their goal was to inspire kids to interact and engage with the brand.

By scanning the milk pack, children were transported to the virtual Dutch Lady farm with all sorts of amusing features.

However, they had to collect 30 different packs to unlock all option. The app was a huge success, collecting over 40 thousand downloads and increasing product sales by 19%.

American Apparel Color-Changing App

American Apparel offers a wide range of colorful products, but it’s not so easy to choose the one that suits you best. That’s why the company designed this AR app to enable color-changing tryouts.

Store visitors can simply scan the product to see it in different colors and read reviews by other customers who have bought that item. It’s not a complicated AR project, but it works well and fulfills the purpose.

Conclusion

Augmented Reality can add new layers of information to the local environment and make our world data-rich, entertaining, and educational.

Big brands were the first to realize this potential, so they designed AR-based campaigns to attract new customers.

In this post, we showed you 12 outstanding examples of using AR in marketing. What do you think about these examples?

Do you have other interesting cases to share with our readers? Feel free to let us know in comments – we’ll be glad to hear your opinion about this topic!

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Author Bio: Laura Buckler is an ex-social media marketer with experience beyond her years. She uses her previous career in social media marketing to write with authority about content writing, digital marketing, and social media.  Follow her on Twitter.

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