Adidas turned Originals
sneakers into a game control device by adding an AR code on the shoe’s tongue. When held in front
of a webcam, the code provides access to a number of different interactive
games on Adidas website which the players can navigate with their shoe.
Ben & Jerry’s iPhone app with the Moo
Vision augmented reality feature generates images related to the flavor you’re
scanning which you can click on to find out more info and share with your
friends on social networks.
Toyota topped off its
digital campaign for the 2011 Scion tC with an AR game on scion’s site. The user prints an
AR marker that is used as a steering wheel to race with the new tC, (and potentially
win a spot in the global top 100 high scoreboard.)
In November, Airwalk used
an augmented reality app from GoldRun
to launch invisible pop-up stores, which sold a limited edition of the Jim shoe
in New York and LA. To access the invisible store, customers had to use the app
to locate virtual Jim shoes at dedicated locations and take a photo of the shoe
to gain a pass code to the Airwark e-commerce site. Airwalk reported that since
then its e-commerce site has witnessed the most traffic in the company’s
history.
Volvo and EuroRSCG 4D teamed up for the promotion of
the Volvo S60 by organizing five secret parties in Berlin, London, Paris, Milan and Madrid. In order to get
an invite one had to find one of the code cubes, hidden in “naughty” locations
around the city. The project was in collaboration with hand picked lifestyle
bloggers and blog readers were given clues to discover the hidden cubes by
using the Layar Augmented Reality browser.
Toyota enabled car
enthusiasts to create a virtual track, by printing off special markers to place around, and take a
virtual Toyota Auris for a virtual test track. They also could record their
test drives and share the clips on social networking sites, as well as the
Auris micro site. Toyota offered
a prize for the most innovative track with the winner receiving a super-deluxe
home entertainment system to encourage a larger participation.
By printing off a special
symbol BMW fans could drive their own BMW Z4
around their desk and colourful designs with its tires. The videos and images
taken could then be shared on social networks.
Yet another virtual test
drive, this time transforming the user into a rally driver,
making it more like a race car game, rather than a regular test drive ride. The
user can then share his lap time with friends on Facebook.
Nestlé
Kit Kat Augmented Reality Gig
Agency Skive Digital of London created an Augmented
Reality campaign for Kit Kat UK.
Holding one of the special AR Kit Kat “4-Finger” bar packages in front of a
webcam unlocked
a one-off Scouting for Girls performance. The special packs also offered
consumers the chance to win one of thousands of £100 Ticketmaster vouchers
through Kit Kat Music
Break.
Virtual mirrors: Created by IBM
and EZFace.
The special kiosks were placed in stores in North and South America, Europe, and
Asia, covering major cosmetics brands like L’Oreal, Maybelline, Covergirl and
Revlon. The shopper can take a picture and virtually try on makeup, while the
“mirror” takes into consideration such things as skin tone, facial features,
and product colour. The mirror can make recommendations and allow the consumer
to share a virtual makeover image with friends online.
Unilever created an interactive ice cream machine that asks consumers to share a smile on Facebook to get a free
ice cream.
Neuvo, a collaborative company from
Montreal has created a free “try it before you buy it” iPhone app, which
connects to Neuvo’s website and on-line store.
Olympus created a viral product demo with which you can virtually explore the camera’s features and
also allows you to take pictures and using the camera’s various filters. Afterwards
you can share your pics and videos with friends online.
H&M used Goldrun’s app to enable shoppers in New
York to try on virtually the clothes it features in its shop windows. The shoppers
this way gained a discount code and share their looks with their Facebook
friends.
As part of their back to
school campaign, Seventeen and J.C. Penny launched a virtual dressing room through which teens could “try on”
clothing using a webcam, and shop their items of preference through the J.C.
Penney website.
Through its website Tissot lets users print and
cut out a paper strip in order to try on virtual watches. Tissot showcased the
application with an interactive Selfridges window display.
This reportedly
resulted in increasing in-store sales at Selfridges by 85%, while the YouTube
views of the campaign have surpassed 70,000.
Swiss watchmaker Hublot
launched an iPhone application that allows consumers to view the Hublot collection,
design their own models and digitally trying them on.
Girard-Perregaux: Yet
another watchmaker that created an iPhone app
that allows users to “try on” watches.
The French jewelry house
lets potential customers virtually try on products with use of their webcams by
downloading an application from its website
developed by Holition.
US real estate agency
ZipRealty through its iPhone application HomeScan allows its
potential customers to look through their phone and instantly discover which
homes near them are for sale (or recently sold). Homescan provides info like
the asking (or sold) price, photos and distance from where the user stands.
For the promotion of Iron
Man 2 Paramount and Marvel invited Iron Man fans to take a look inside the
Iron Man’s head. Through the movie’s website
and a webcam, fans can try on Iron Man’s helmet take photos to download or
share over Facebook and Twitter.
The Dutch government
placed augmented reality billboards in Amsterdam and Rotterdam to raise awareness
about violence against public service employees. The billboards augmented a
live street view with a violent altercation, making onlookers realize the
impact of their inactivity against violence.
In an effort to raise
awareness around the plight of the Siberian tiger, WWF printed special t-shirts and distributed them online and to key stores in Moscow,
with placed AR video mirrors that would instantly active the AR experience the
moment a WWF t-shirt was detected. The idea was to simulate what a Siberian
tiger experiences when it gets shot.
Fashion brand Forever21 installed an augmented reality billboard in Times Square this past June, in which a model
dressed in Forever21 clothes seemed to interact with the crowd by taking photos
of the passers by or selecting people, picking them up and throwing them into a
Forever21 bag.
Museum of London’s iPhone app
overlays specific locations around London with historical photographs mixing
past with present. The app guides the user to these locations with the use of
map or GPS.
Condé Nast Traveler spiced
up its iPhone apps by adding an augmented reality feature, which allows the traveler to discover nearby
attraction simply by scanning the area around with the iPhone camera.
Hotels.com created Virtual Vacay that enables users to take a
virtual tour of ten US cities and find out information about local events and
hotels in a fun way. The virtual tourists can even send personalized post cards
from their virtual travels to their friends.
IBM’s Seer application helped its users navigate Wimbledon 2010. The users
could find information about the closest cash machine’s location; the wait time
for certain services and even sees live video from the matches, through their
iPhone or Android camera.
Our favourite 2010 AR campaign? H&M’s Augmented Reality Campaign (using GoldRun) because
it combined several technologies at once; augmented reality, geo-location and
mobile apps. The GoldRun app is designed to drive traffic to physical and
online destinations, increase product sales and enhance brand engagement within
a certain geographic location for a predetermined amount of time, in this case
– 10 days in New York City. In 2011, we should see more brands combining AR and
QR Codes into their Geo-location Marketing strategy and campaigns.
More from GoldRun:
The key to developing
successful AR campaigns that provide customer engagement as well as translate
to sales will be making sure that they support the local communities. Campaigns
that combine these technologies in ways that take the online consumer offline
and make the transition of that experience seamless will have nailed it. The
best way to predict the future is to create it. Need some help adding
branded utility using Augmented Reality (AR) to your brand? Goodbuzz can help. Contact info@goodbuzz.ca to get started.