Augmented Reality Basics

AR can be defined as having the following 3 main characteristics:

• A combination of real and virtual environments.
• Interactive in real-time.
• Registered in 3D.

You've likely seen it in action - without necessarily knowing it's augmented reality - in various sports events on TV such as Athletics (world-record pace line), Football (first-down line), Ice hockey (red 'tail' on the puck) and NASCAR (clean vs. dirty air).

Sectors as varied as military, architecture, navigation, entertainment and marketing have all embraced use of AR in a wide variety of applications... so it certainly seems to be more than just a passing fad.

Google trends data seems to agree, with an upward curve and numerous spikes of interest appearing throughout 2009:

Source: Google trends

Enough already, show me some cool stuff!

Here’s some great examples of augmented reality use in marketing for a variety of brands:

• RayBan
• Wrigley’s
• UPS
• Doritos
• BMW
• Esquire

Taking things one step further than the traditional 'print paper marker > place in front of webcam' approach, Zugara’s online shopping app coupled AR with Motion Capture, allowing users to change the colour and style of the clothes they are trying on (in the virtual sense at least!).

Playtime with Augmented Reality

The Entertainment sector seems one of the most obvious places to use augmented reality, considering the technology lends itself well to playful experiences and experimentation.

Sure enough, a few toy manufacturers, film studios and games developers have stepped into the fray, and the following examples show a nice range of AR applications (from POS to game-playing, right back to good old-fashioned goofing around with robot heads):

• Pokémon
• Lego
• Top Trumps
• Topps Baseball cards
• Avatar toy line
• Transformers
• Zombie shoot 'em-up

Wander and wonder

All the above examples represent a small fraction of what's being done in the augmented reality space online, but mobile technology is potentially where its future lies. Back in mid-2009, Layar, the ‘World’s first mobile Augmented Reality browser’ came to the fore, and the proliferation of mobile applications of augmented reality doesn’t look set to tail-off any time soon. Just recently in fact, an announcement was made regarding the development of a mobile augmented reality app to aid those with visual impairment... some 345 million people worldwide.

Otherwise, a few mobile augmented reality examples worthy of note are:

• Nearest NYC Subway
• TwittARound (see where tweets are coming from)
• Augmented ID

One Word: Wow.

Just in case any of our readers didn’t catch it, this amazing talk at TED by Blaise Aguera y Arcas shows what happens when you put augmented reality in the hands of people with more grey-matter than most (the 'no way!' is from about 4 mins onwards).

And here's an AR gaming demo that puts the audience right in the thick of the action...

So Why Isn't Everyone Using Augemented Reality?

Probably the biggest limitations are that users generally need to print out a physical 'marker', and download a small piece of software to interpret that marker and present the augmented view to them. That said, marker-less AR is in the process of being perfected, and if the popularity of augmented reality continues to increase I wouldn't expect software to be much of a barrier in the long-run.

For mobile applications, it's potentially the user-experience that could be limiting - current apps can sometimes be better in concept than execution on the small screen. That said, the possibilities of glasses and contact lenses that are controlled via voice commands are both being worked upon. These are both exciting and a little scary in equal measure, but clearly show where the technology could head.

In Summary

Augmented Reality is a great way to enhance consumer engagement in a way that appeals to innate human characteristics - curiosity and playfulness.

If there's to be a future for augmented reality in marketing, it seems likely it will need to provide some sort of utility, rather than simply offering entertainment; Consumers are notoriously short of attention-span, so creating something that's fun AND useful should stop AR being left out in the cold in the real world.

At Work at Play, we're really looking forward to working with our clients to help them discover how to get the best from augemented reality.

Get in touch with us to find out what we can offer you.