The Change of Marketing: Augmented Reality
Companies spend a lot of money in their classic marketing, but the future will offer them many different opportunities for investment in their public image such as Augmented Reality. Thanks to this technology virtual environments allow products to be, for instance, visually moved.
Communication via classical media: Is it old school? Well, it would be premature to make any assessments at this time, because by now the gross advertising expenditure for advertising in TV and newspaper is overrunning the internet advertising spending by about five times. Traditional advertising still plays a dominant role within retail communications, but a big change is coming. The world gets more and more digital and there is another sector coming up and growing fast that might supersede classical media: Augmented Reality (AR)!
What Does Augmented Reality Mean?
Most people believe AR means adding something to the real world that is not the thinking of millions of players who spent over $1 billion collecting Pokémon Go eggs on their phones. But AR can be used in different ways and gives many opportunities to subtract items from view and help consumers focus on specific retail products lost in the panoply of visual clutter.
Shopping Is Getting Easier
Imagine walking down a well-stocked grocery aisle and seeing only foods that are sugar-free or that fit your new keto diet. Or think about halal or non-GMO foods being highlighted in your vision while other packaging would fade into the background. If you wanted to try a new recipe you saw on Facebook that morning, your AR glasses could show you the exact ingredients to purchase and even suggest wine or food pairings.
Walks Are Becoming Merchandise Experiences
Beyond the grocery aisle, automotive companies can transform a walk down any street into an unforgettable merchandising experience with each and every vehicle able to communicate its most salient features directly to the AR-wearing pedestrian. Appliance and furniture manufacturers are using AR to reduce returns by allowing potential customers to visualize items at scale in their homes. Retailers are adding virtual inventory to their shelves without increasing physical inventories while shoemakers are even letting sneaker-heads customize their favourite models at virtual pop-up stores near sporting events. If the smartphone revolution empowered the masses to be able to reach any piece of data on the go, digital reality holds the promise of providing perceptible context to abstract database information.
Marketing Is Developing
AR is going to change the way the always-connected consumer works, shops and plays. Once contextual marketing seamlessly transitions to commerce, it will be trusted brands – and the savvy marketers who manage them – that help consumers augment their world with tailored experiences to enhance their daily lives. On one hand this can be scarifying, on the other hand it is a useful tool to catch the attention of the costumers on point.
Do you imagine other areas, where Augmented Reality will change our lives?
