Augmented Reality Makes Your Company Stand Out
Augmented Reality Meets Marketing
Augmented Reality (AR) sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. So was the “Dick Tracey” watch, which was the 1931 comic book detective’s two-way-wrist radio that paved the way for the Apple Watch and so many other wearables to become science fact. From self-driving cars to Smart Home Systems technology advances every day. AR is becoming one of the most stimulating and interactive technologies around. Augmented Reality has been around for over 20 years, and has changed the way people learn by putting real-world context to digital learning.
The easiest way to explain (AR), is that it joins the real world with virtual elements to create an amazing experience for users. It augments or, enhances the physical environment with digital information, using devices and apps. The digital information can be in the form of text, audio, video, 2-D, and 3D animation and graphics. The real-time interaction of users with the virtual elements creates one of the most memorable experiences for those interacting with it.
AR has been used:
- Training on equipment maintenance and repair
- In healthcare for anatomy lessons and surgery simulations.
- Presenting multi-dimensional models and exploratory information of products/objects.
- Addition of three-dimensional interactive multimedia to make any document come to life.
Interesting examples that show how AR can be creatively used in various contexts:
This is a video of an AR show run at the National Geographic exhibit in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Visitors are amazed to see themselves with astronauts, dinosaurs, rainstorms, or lightning.
This AR demo shows how real-world objects can be recognized with AR and how product specifications and usage instructions can be effectively communicated to users in real-time.
This is an example of AR in healthcare training where trainees can practice diagnosing and treating patients in a risk-free environment.
In conclusion, AR technology has opened a window of exciting opportunities to make the marketing experience highly engaging and interactive for users. Users will interact with the brochure significantly more often than one without AR, and will “show it off” to their co-worlers just because it is “cool.” Gartner says Augmented Reality will become an important workplace tool. It has the potential to improve productivity, provide hands-on experience, simplify current processes, increase available information, provide real-time access to data, offer new ways to visualize problems and solutions, and enhance collaboration.