Advertising is a key factor behind the modern economies. It is a tool used by companies to inform consumers about the product and service choices.
The paradigm shift in technologies is revolutionizing the digital marketing and advertising industry every year. Augmented reality (AR) is a recent innovation that has received immense attention over the past years.
According to a study by Statista, the AR market size is expected to jump from $5.91 billion in 2018 to $198.17 by 2025. These compelling figures are enough to motivate digital marketers to adopt augmented reality for their advertising efforts.
The biggest myth around AR for advertising is that it is only for big brands. This needs to be dispelled because if done right, AR has the potential to transform your marketing game regardless of business size.
Eight ways AR is changing the face of the ad industry
Below mentioned is the role of AR in making positive strides in the Ad industry.
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Capture customer attention instantly
Appealing marketing = High chances of grabbing customer attention.
A long-held belief among marketers is that attention is a diminishing commodity, but AR can help businesses with capturing and maintaining attention.
AR ads are immersive and collect plenty of emotional attention which traditional media like Television and billboard cannot collect. While interacting with AR ads and in-store placements, people feel like they’re playing a video game.
Consider the example of retail automation. AR fitting rooms are set up for enhancing the retail shopping experience. Customers just have to stand in front of the AR window and try-on appealing clothes and accessories. This engagement positively impacts customer purchase intention.
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A cheaper means of advertising
AR ads are unbelievably immersive and mesmerizing, accessible, and affordable. Evidently, the cost of an AR ad varies depending on the quality requirement and market. An AR advertisement would cost $30 per hour in developing countries while it can go up to $70-$150 per hour in developed countries like UK, Australia, and North America.
Of course, big AR advertisement campaigns are quite expensive. A complete AR Ad can cost around $5000 while a more complex AR ad will cost $100,000.
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Live experiences via gamification
AR technology blends reality with the digital ecosystem and has been used commonly to stimulate, amaze, and build a relationship between customers and brands.
With interactive experience and AR gamification, you can reach new users and drive purchases. You’re simply giving your customers a playing board.
Take some inspiration from the AR menu of Pizza Hut which is part of its family-focused campaign ‘Dive into the Pizza Hut world’. Customers are encouraged to take part in the trivia challenge and get a chance to win hundreds of Family Days Out.
Customers need to download the ogle app, scan the trigger image on the box to unlock the trivia challenge, and browse through the different pizza categories and pasta represented in 3D. Customers can also share the activity on their social media profiles.
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Try before you buy
We’ve heard all our lives that the old sales trick ‘try before you buy’ is applicable only to brick-and-mortar stores.
With AR virtual ads, you can solve a real-life problem for online buyers. Many big companies are putting products in the hands of consumers so and transforming the retail experience.
Sephora’s AR app allows women to apply and remove different makeup products and decide which products to buy. You can try red bold lipstick shades, dozens of eyelash sets, or simply expert-approved makeup looks. The virtual makeover actually provides consumers with a clear path to purchase.
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Evolution of product visualization
The Sweden based furniture company IKEA has been using AR for advertising through product visualization, which is also helping the company to reduce the returns rate. IKEA’s ‘Place App’ lets homeowners preview digital furniture such as sofa’s, table, and bed sets in their home or apartment and decrease regrets.
AR has made it insanely easy for customers to see if a digital item of a certain color and size would fit in the real home environment.
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Gives story-telling a new direction
AR is changing the way how brands tell a story. With AR, the ads will actually invite the audience to engage and immerse in the story. Not only people are involved, but they can change their experience.
This changes the role of the audience from passive to active participants while satisfying their hunger for control, which TV and video advertising cannot fulfill. In simple words, instead of brands talking to their consumers through ads, consumers can now talk back and be a part of the brand story by harnessing the power of AR.
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Create hype around your brand
AR ads also work indirectly for your business by improving the status of your enterprise. Offering an amazing reality experience can let you create the entire buzz around your product or even your service.
The iconic soft drink brand Pepsi optimizes AR for its outdoor ‘Live for now’ bus stand shelter campaign. The company installs AR elongated virtual screens on the bus shelter in London that appear as fake windows and shows unidentified flying objects (UFOs), bots, and tigers making their way down the street.
This interactive digital move helped Pepsi to initiate a discussion among the people waiting at the bus stand.
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Support wide media coverage
We all know that wide media coverage is good for businesses. As AR is the new talk of the town, brands can now utilize more mediums to send their message and inform people.
Today, common people don’t just find out about new products through radio or TV. Instead, they get news about the latest trend and news through digital mediums, especially through social media platforms.
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Boost company sales
The adoption of AR in business will impact different areas. Enhancing sales is the top priority of businesses adopting AR advertisements.
The reason is simple and straightforward. Marketers can blend the digital components of AR and open new opportunities to upgrade sales pipelines.
Giving users the ability to digitally interact with the product before actually buying also enhances the overall customer experience with the brand while reducing customer churn rate. People can uncover important information about the product, which means AR is empowering customers more than ever.
Conclusion
Augmented reality is still a very new technology in the field of marketing. Digital marketing experts are already saying that this kind of tech will change forever the way customers consume media.
AR has already made its way into the advertising industry as many companies have already started leveraging AR for enhancing customer-brand interactions.
AR advertisements indeed are a major source of entertainment for people. It also helps brands build deep emotional ties with their target audience.
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Claudia Jeffrey is an enthusiastic Editorial Manager at Crowd Writer, where she writes guides related to digital marketing. Her strength lies in creating catchy titles and captions for articles, social media posts, and video editing. In her free time, she gives free tips to start-ups.
