AR in advertising and e-commerce
“True” AR technology based on rich 3D graphics was introduced to the advertising market only recently, but has already yielded a genuine interest from the customers all over the world.
A number of domain experts expect the augmented reality to become the main advertising method in the near future, and this is not hard to believe as AR hardware and software becomes more and more sophisticated and the price of AR solutions plummets.
Here are just a few types of AR applications which can be directly or indirectly used for advertising purposes:
- AR Browsers for smartphones. Augmented Reality Browsers work by gathering information from online sources and placing it on the smart phones screens. In effect, they label the real world. The browsers use a smartphone's camera, compass and GPS information to locate the user and then retrieve information based on those geographical coordinates. The information and graphics are then overlaid onto the camera view. Such applications are particularly well suited for businesses that need to attract customers to their locations. Instead of picking up a restaurant guide for a city, the user can simply start AR application on his smartphone, point the device to a building or a landmark and instantaneously receive context information about a bar, a restaurant or a shop without even stepping over its gate.
- AR Games for smartphones. AR gaming is the hottest new trend in entertainment marketing, with an avalanche of products coming into the market in the next couple of years. The games use markers to trigger their augmented graphics and require players to interact with their environment in order to perform certain actions on the screen of their device. It is a perfect way to promote a brand or a product - either by including some advertising information into the name and context of the game or by using some virtual objects related to the company products in the plot-line.
- QR advertising. So–called QR advertising is also becoming increasingly popular all over the world. The user points a web camera to a special code printed in a magazine and instantly sees the 3D image on the PC screen or via 3D googles.
- AR fitting modules for webshops. AR can be very useful for a webshop selling apparel, watches, jewelry or any similar category of products. An eshop visitor only needs a regular webcamera to see himself with a piece of jewelry or a costume, and the in-browser AR software shows him the overlay image of how the product which “fits” on his body.
- AR objects can also attract visitor’s attention in such open spaces as conference halls, train stations, and shopping malls. When a passer-by steps into a pre-defined area of the hall, the system reacts to human presence and displays virtual objects on a screen as if they were located near the visitor.
