In recent years, Augmented Reality has moved from being a novelty with the possibility of being used in the near future to a tool that is in high demand among brand marketers today. While it may be considered new technology, its potential for engaging a larger audience more effectively is becoming more evident as more examples of augmented reality appear in the market. Augmented reality promises one thing in particular: it will provide an enhanced interactive user experience.

Augmented reality apps in particular are becoming more popular as the general public increasingly becomes a multi-screen, multi-platform market. But how does it improve the effectiveness of a brand’s marketing strategy, and how does it enhance a user’s experience of your brand?

Organic brand engagement

A study featured in the IOSR Journal of Business Management titled “Augmented Reality Advertising: An Impactful Platform for New Age Consumer Engagement” examines the behaviour of consumers towards AR apps and AR marketing. The study shows that 50% of surveyed consumers prefer their information presented in moving, action- oriented, engaging and interactive advertisements and marketing collateral. That said, a beautifully designed AR app with a well-developed interactive user interface and full-featured functionality should be enough to initially catch the attention of your audience – enough to get them curious enough to download and try out the app.

The curiosity encourages organic brand engagement early in the marketing funnel. “The very fact that the message is not forced on the user and he downloads it at his own will, begins the engagement with the brand,” the study notes.

The study also highlights just how curious people are about AR: 46% of all respondents in the study have experienced AR advertisements and apps at least once, and 90% of these found the AR material engaging. Meanwhile, 65% of the non-users said they would like to download AR applications in the future.

Customisable AR functionality

The beauty of Augmented Reality apps is that you can customise the interactive features according to your marketing and business needs. The customisations may be divided into two main categories:

•Immersive experiences – AR apps give your audiences heightened experiences of reality. For example, the AR apps that Animation1 has created for architectural and infrastructure projects feature high-quality 3D renders that can be presented in walkthroughs/3D floor plans and flythroughs. Product-specific AR apps, meanwhile, can let users see every angle of products, change its colour or interact with its published features digitally.

•Targeted content delivery – With augmented reality applications, you can easily highlight information you want to put on the spotlight. For example, the AR app can play an embedded video once the camera is pointed at the trigger image. Other types of embedded digital content can be delivered through the AR app.

Content personalisation

Google Glass and similar technology delivering augmented reality used content personalisation as a major selling point of AR technology. Because marketers can easily track what kind of audience is interested in downloading their content, they can easily create personalised content that relates to this specific audience. This is more effective at ensuring the user’s interest is maintained, and that they remain engaged with the brand.

A good example of this is our very own A1Active app. The app serves as a tool for marketers who do not want their own branded AR apps to create augmented reality campaigns, yet are able to achieve the same objectives via Animation1’s proprietary app. Brands can use it to deliver a specific type of content to their intended audience; for example, one client can use it to showcase 3D floor plans for clients, architects, or interior designers; while another can use it to bring 3D anatomical visualisations to life for med students and doctors.

Augmented Reality may still be relatively new, but exploring its potential now and having the stunning visualisations and functionality to go with your marketing plan can give you the conversions your business needs. Talk to us today to discuss your vision and how we can bring it to life through our AR technology.