When reality is combined with virtual reality, augmented reality is born.
R+VR=AR.
The next step on the drawing board, called mixed reality (MR), will achieve, integration of virtual objects in the physical world with such precision that users won’t be able to distinguish them from the real ones, as we’ve written here.
While talk might be cheap, this guy is worth listening to and he’s a big believer. Thought leader Gary Vaynerchuk likely needs no introduction to this audience, and the intro would be too long for this post anyway. Gary was recently asked by Jim Rome, What do you think this world’s going to look and feel like, and how different will it be in 20 years from right now? Without hesitation, Vaynerchuk said, Our reality will be mixed reality. I think everybody will be wearing contact lenses, and some of what you’ll be looking at is virtual reality, and some of it will be real life…Everybody has to get ready for a totally different world. The whole podcast is fascinating, and the topic turns to AR/MR at about the 3:30 mark.
What are the implications of augmented reality for advertising? They’re already coming to fruition.
Augmented Reality and Advertising
Investor’s Business Daily reported late last year that Research firm IDC ¦predicted that 30% of consumer-facing companies in the Forbes Global 2000 will experiment with AR and VR as part of their marketing efforts in 2017.
In its report, International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that, By 2020, 50% of the Global 2000 will see the majority of their business depend on their ability to create digitally-enhanced products, services, and experiences.
The shift and heavy investment it will require is part of the continued emergence of the 3rd Platform that is cloud-based, supported by big data analytics, mobile and tied into every social platform. The process is part of the digital transformation (DX) that is revolutionizing business to the point IDC calls it the dawn of the DX Economy.’
The IDC report is must reading for anyone in advertising and marketing that wants to stay on top of trends and how they’ll shape careers in these fields in the next years “ heck, in the days and weeks ahead!
Leading the way in the integration of digitally augmented advertising are several giant brands. Kellogg’s New Zealand, for just for fun reasons, printed cereal boxes with lenses to create cheap Google VR players that could be used to watch three outdoor action videos with the NG Bolt app.
Ikea has a more functional purpose for its foray into AR. It is partnering with Apple to create an AR-based app to enhance the shopping experience for customers and assist them in making buying decisions by virtually placing IKEA products in their home or office space. When shoppers find the item that suits their style and space, it’s purchased with a single click. The app is on track for a Fall 2017 launch.
Budweiser, Lego and McDonald’s have also ventured into augmented reality, and thousands more companies are developing their AR marketing campaigns as you read this. It’s no surprise that Facebook and its massive advertising platform is going big into AR. “Facebook is so much about marrying the physical world with online,” FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told BuzzFeed. “When you can make it so that you can intermix digital and physical parts of the world, that’s going to make a lot of our experiences better and our lives richer.” If you didn’t before, now you know why Facebook was happy to drop $3 billion to acquire Oculus VR and $1 billion for Instagram.
We asked the question: Augmented reality “ the future of advertising? With a quick look at the players involved, there is no mistake that DX and all it involves, including AR, is a major force shaping next generation advertising. It might be a decade or more until we know whether we’re watching a short-term fad that might embed a few traits in ongoing advertising or whether it’s a revolution that will change the game in the long-term.
What About Old Forms of Advertising?
This is the harder question to answer. Here’s our perspective on the future of top current advertising platforms:
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Television: It will come to be strongly influenced by AR and VR, though how rapid the change unfolds and whether it lasts isn’t yet clear.
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Radio: Large-scale changes are happening to the radio, but it’s more evolution than revolution, and AR/VR are not currently part of the change.
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Promotional products: Folks still drink coffee from real mugs, keep real rain off their real head with a real umbrella, don clothing, write (for now), use USB drives (again, for now), look at real calendars (hard to believe, but some do), squeeze real tension-relief toys, don genuine shirts and caps and leave restaurants with leftovers in real bags. Augmented reality will change what promotional products are used more than it will put an end to them.
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Social media: It’s here to stay, of course, and it will be tremendously impacted by augmented reality with Instagram as the vanguard.
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Print: There are many reasons including sustainability, the impracticality of integrating digital with print and ubiquitous mobile devices to believe that print is a dinosaur on life support.
Trickle Down AR
The technologies behind AR are expensive. The movement started with innovative tech firms like Oculus and then was adopted by deep-pocket tech companies like Google and Apple. Large retailers and the biggest social networks are investing in it on a global and national scale. In time, the use of AR might trickle down to the local advertising level as the technologies become more affordable and accessible. Whether your favorite local hotel or pub ever creates a VR tour or the auto-body shop down the street creates an app allowing you to see what your car will look like when repaired largely depends on whether we’re watching a fad or a revolution. With the amount of money being invested versus huge hurdles yet to overcome, starting with widespread adoption of personally worn VR/AR devices, it’s by no means a decided point. This should be very interesting to watch.
