Doing More to Augment Reality

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No one is going to argue that artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t cool. We’ve written our fair share of blogs on AI that range from the dangers of deepfakes to AI’s effects on the print industry and image generation. We even published a blog written by generative AI. But there are other smart technologies that have been released that many have pushed to the side in favor of the shiniest and newest toy.

One bit of software that does not get its due is augmented reality (AR).

Generally speaking, AR is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content via an app. Common examples include displaying characters “interacting” in the real world on a smartphone screen like the game Pokemon Go, displaying furniture on the screen in real rooms of your home via IKEA’s Place app, or even trying on shoes with Adidas and Gucci while seeing how your face would look in makeup from Sephora.

While many of the examples above are about bringing products into the real world, there are plenty of others that show how AR can make the products themselves interactive:

• Wine producer 19 Crimes lets you listen to Australian convicts (as well as celebrities that have had their own run-ins with the law like Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart) talk about their blended reds and chards.
• Herbal Essences had several of their shampoo bottles set up with AR codes that played a video detailing the importance of recycling and the end-of-life cycle for their plastic containers in hopes of having an environmental impact.
• Francisco Rinaldi tomato sauce’s campaign brings their logo to life, allowing her to speak to you and offer chances to learn more about the brand and some recipes that make use of their products.

The major benefit of using AR in this manner is that it keeps the product (or at least its branded packaging) around and creates a touchpoint that consumers will come back to so they can interact with it again. There is also a novelty factor that can make something more intriguing to purchase compared to a similar product that doesn’t do anything extra.

The issue, though, is that there is no central app that allows users to access all these AR campaigns. You’ll need one app for your wine, another for your shampoo, one to try on shoes at one store, and a whole other app to try on shoes from a different location. Best case scenario is that consumers will download them all to try it out, deleting the ones they don’t use later; worst case is that they see interacting with the AR to be too much of a hassle and they forgo it altogether.

Keypoint Intelligence Opinion

Augmented reality didn’t suddenly become useless when AI came onto the scene, but it does have some aspects that companies should consider when thinking about implementing AR. As part of a product, AR can help keep packaging relevant and keep consumers returning to find your items on the shelf if they want to keep interacting with it. The downside is that the augmented content needs to be something really special to take up space on a person’s phone or tablet as a specialized app.

To really make AR worthwhile, having some universal standard would really help to keep the medium going and allow it to compete with newer technology like AI. There’s nothing stopping companies from branding their version of an AR reader app—loading it up with official logos, additional ads, or touchpoints that draw the user back to their AR functionality, website, or landing page—but having one app that can read the AR on everything will go a long way to keep the medium alive.

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