Virtual reality, video phones, the sinclair C5, all sounded like great ideas at the time(?) and promised to change the way we lived our lifes. When many first hear of Augmented Reality the temptation may be to lump this term into that group, after all it does sound like something out of the 90s Virtual Reality movie Lawnmover man. Those that do this though could be ignoring one the most innovative technology advancements in recent years, and, importantly, a technology that could hold significant potential as both an off and online marketing tool.
So what actually is Augmented Reality?
Augmented Reality ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’, it takes reality (the physical real-world environment) and augments it, it adds something additional to the real world in the form of computer generated imagery, in real time.
Imagine,
- Directions to the nearest tube station/ bus stops, special offers and discounts in shops, information about landmarks, your friends locations, are all displayed in front of you as you specify as you walk around where you live.
- Sat Nav directions, fuel & speed indicators, the outline of other vehicles at night, collison detection, braking distances, speed cameras and any and all combination of the forementioned all laid out on the road ahead as you drive.
- Being able to ‘try on’ a new coat, shirt or skirt in the comfort of your own home before you buy, and instantly switch to something new at a click of the mouse/remote.
- Seeing what your kitchen would look like with a particular new appliance or new colour scheme, as you physically walk around the kitchen itself.
To actually view this Augmented reality you need to view the real world through something else, be it a camera, a computer monitor, TV set, a set of special glasses, or ultimately through an implant in your eye.
Before we all get to carried away lets take a look at the current uses of Augmented reality today, and in particular its use as a marketing tool.
Current real world examples of Augemented Reality
Welcome
to WikiTude
Wikitude is an iPhone and (Google) Android application that mixes in information from Wikipedia with your current real world environment via the use of the devices built-in camera. Turn on the WikiTude app and hold your iPhones camera at your surroundings and Wikitude pulls in information from Wikipedia based on your surroundings. If you thought people walking around texting, emailing, and listening to MP3 players was annoying imagine them all viewing their world through there iPhone… 
Doritos’ Late Night Augmented Reality
By holding the back of these special packs of Doritos to your webcam and visiting doritoslatenight.com you get to see either Blink 182 or Big Boi perform for you right there in the palm of your hand (via the PC screen). The artists performances can then be further manipulated by moving and shaking the Doritos packaging. After the first song the band will return more quickly for their encore depending on the amount of noise the user makes. It’s this type of marketing in which Augmented reality has seen the most use so far, adding a ‘viral’ element to packaging to encourage sales.
Along a similar theme TOPPS 2009 baseball cards feature 3d Augmented Reality players, which the user can interact with and play games. Check out the following video to get an idea of what this is like.
Hardware is the issue why Augmented reality can’t really flourish just yet
The only commercial and successful use of Augmented Reality in e-commerce so fair has only been concerned with spectacles, Glasses Direct offer visitors the ability to ‘try on’ glasses before buying them. If you have a webcam you can try this out right now after downloading some additional software.
Given the obvious possiblities for ’see/try before you buy’ applications this does beg the question why the use of this technology isn’t more widespread in the world of e-commerce.
The spectacles application works because the hardware supports it.
To try on clothes in this manner you would need to stand up and move away from your computer screen for the camera to capture your full body. The majority of webcams simply aren’t of a good enough quality at the moment to capture a image good enough to work effectively with Augmented Reality from this distance (in this case).
Then of course there is the issue of actually seeing what you look like in those 70s flares from where your standing, having to squint at a relatively tiny laptop monitor to see what you actually look like defeats the purpose of the application in the first place.
It just may take take some time
Its worth remembering that many technologies we take for granted today were all tried for many years before their widespread adoption and were deemed to be a failure and ‘dead’,
- VOIP
- Web Video
- On demand television (BT trialled this in the late 90s)
All of these technologies (and probably many more I can’t think of right now) made a comeback years later as soon as the widespread (or at least viable) adoption of the required technology and hardware was available.
Augmented Reality is already with us, and as hardware improves only looks to expand further into our everyday lifes. It may not be your immediate priority, but soon the use of Augmented Reality will become an integral part of many organisations digital marketing plans and is something everyone needs to begin thinking about how they can apply to their brand and products today.