Augmented Reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified to enhance one’s current perception of reality. For any of you (luddites) who still haven't seen some of the things brands can do using AR, we've compiled a few examples below.
The first example isn't really AR at all. It is however the first example of mixed/ augmented reality in the midst of an otherwise formally conventional feature film, but also in relation to the recent proliferation of text treatments in motion graphics work. The overlaying of text on screen in this scene from David Fincher's Fight Club bears an uncanny relationship to recent experiments with information graphics in augmented reality research. It also offers a clever and self-reflexive meta-commentary on the conventions of product-placement that is increasingly common in contemporary feature films. (See below)
Virgin Mobile is attempting to gain over one million Facebook likes with a contest to become an official VIP tour blogger for Lady Gaga's next tour - Portfolio
The Old Spice Case Study (by Wieden+Kennedy) talks us through the insight around targeting men & women at the same time to generate buzz around body wash - More.
Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Kraft Foods' Oreo brand have all shown steady growth on their Facebook pages due to engagement, interest, and constant connection with their fans. - eMarketer
Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) 2011 Digital Marketing Outlook - Report
Remember the Harlequin Romance? The brands new site (www.patentyourkiss.com) breathes new life into the brand by letting you patent your kiss. Also integrated with FB - http://on.fb.me/gby7Gh
Mobile brands Samsung and HTC are looking to broaden their social media efforts by going global and experimenting with new platforms for social media campaigns. - BrandRepublic
Coors Light’s (by Razorfish) used SnapTag technology (by SpyderLynk) to allow consumers to interact with branded tags using their mobile - More
Chili's promoted a coupon for a free brownie sundae on their Twitter and Facebook pages that did not require customers to like their fan page. - ClickZ
Mutual-fund companies Putnam Investments, MFS, and Vanguard are using Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to build brand loyalty, educate investors, and help with customer service. - The Wall Street Journal
Kellogg's Crunchy Nut cereal debuted in the U.S. with the world's biggest cuckoo clock comedy event. Fans were encouraged to follow the action, interact with the performers, and watch streaming videos of the event on Kellogg's Facebook page. - Drinks Media Wire
By combining Microsoft's Surface with this new Apple iOS app, Razorfish's latest innovation that change the way you share and interact with digital content - http://vimeo.com/18859503
NPR's Facebook page's success is driven by the 1.4 million fans who comment and share stories regularly. - Nieman Journalism Lab
We had to add this - A QB telepresence robot that allows you to roam the halls of your empire and bark orders - no matter where you are!? Awesome. The self-balancing robot is controlled from a web interface and runs about $15,000. - http://www.anybot.com
Since it linked Windows Live Messenger with Facebook, Microsoft has been responsible for powering more than 2.8 billion minutes of Facebook chat. The software has also led to doubling figures in connections with LinkedIn, YouTube, and MySpace. - Softpedia
The Power Of Social Authenticity - Volkswagen’s latest clever campaign “The People’s Reviewer” (by Tribal DDB London) crowdsourced reviews using YouTube, Blogs, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter - http://bit.ly/hefHKD
Online condom store 'Condomerie' leverages Chat Roulette's large number of exhibitionists -More
Pfizeris communicating via social media with a well-developed and implemented social media policy. - Vimeo
TAT - The Astonishing Tribe explore the future of captive touch screen technology - and what our lives may look like in 2014 - More
Esquire Magazine and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with augmented reality platform GoldRun to launch a campaign that allows fans to take a seemingly real picture with Brooklyn Decker on their smartphones. Images from the app are shareable on the brands' Facebook pages and Brooklyn's Twitter account. - Promo Magazine
Honda's innovative interactive TV Ad (by Wieden+Kennedy UK) uses “screen hopping” whereby the TV's sound is recognized (and synced with the mobile App) essentially giving you the ability to interact with the TV ad in real time - http://youtu.be/UbDYdjhnfEg
For ten days Lingerie retailer Aubade Paris got a female model to strut, strip and tease - all in full view of a window in central Paris that was only concealed by a gauzy screen. Crowds gathered in the street below staring at the sexy silhouette. Once the 10 days were up, the model removed the screen (revealing her Aubade Lingerie) and replaced it with a banner showing the URL of the brands site - http://frenchartofloving.com/
One cannot underestimate the power of the “wow” factor – that elusive element that disrupts, amazes and creates real buzz. Hand it to Hyper Island students tasked with connecting a streetwear brand to music/art (hosted by rockstars @NorthKingdom) and B-Reel - http://vimeo.com/18815585
The New York Times iPad App (HTML5 Game banner) adds a new dimension to a tired format by embedded ciphers - http://vimeo.com/19033123
The gameification of advertising, automated geo-location, social curation, and more - Social Media Marketing Trends Redux (Y&R-2011) - http://slidesha.re/fBUf0V
Check out the latest addition to NIKE’s Kobe's Black Mamba site (by EVB). Clever use of FB Connect - http://bit.ly/hW0Vv2
Branded Entertainment - M&M’s (Denmark) creative browser enhancement lets you trash ANY website using M&M’s. ;) http://bit.ly/fKQYHl
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Unless being demonstrated in activities like professional sports (where you actually can see the product in action), celebrity product endorsement has become pretty irrelevant today. Add to it you can get Snoop Dog, Mark Cuban or any number of Kardashian’s to tweet about your brand (ad.ly) for as little as $5,000 – and it becomes pretty clear – authenticity is king today. Savvy advertisers are recognizing the power of social authenticity.
This transition has taken place over the years because consumers enjoy watching and empathizing with people just like themselves. Why? Simply because its easier to connect and identify with them. Average (real) looking people seem more inviting and suggest an authentic back-story. Fueled by our desire for authenticity, life itself has effectively become the ultimate reality show – and social media our broadcast channel. Brands today are making their customers the hero and primary focus.
A phenomenal example of this is Volkswagen’s latest campaign (by Tribal DDB London) “The People’s Reviewer”. Volkswagen crowd sourced reviewers for their new Tiguan, across a range of social mediums including YouTube, Blogs, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter. The campaign started with thousands of YouTube auditions to find interesting people who’d potentially make a good reviewer. Then, they were split them up into heats and taught how to use Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to build buzz around their review of the Tiguan (to win votes) while they were driving it for the week. The incentive? The winning reviewer drives away in the Tiguan they reviewed.
This is a great example of an integrated (through the line) campaign that leverages social media to create good buzz, while also employing a participatory vehicle that forces users to utilize and demonstrate knowledge of the product’s features and benefits to generate content. Moreover, to vote for the winner, users had to review others reviews – thus viewing the same content over and over again. This has to influence sales. Check out the website here or the YouTube auditions.
The results? After over 1000 applications, 3 entertaining heats and 1 challenging final, users decided who should be crowned ‘The People's Reviewer’. From the finalists users chose their favorite reviewer – 33-year-old Harriet Gore. Watch her winning video below.
