There’s been quite a bit of industry chatter lately surrounding augmented reality, the blending of the real world with the virtual world. Computer-generated information and real-time environments are now being seen together, and it presents big opportunities for marketers. But the question of practicality still remains.
I’ve been watching and waiting to experience augmented reality from a true consumer perspective. My moment finally came this past weekend when I picked up InStyle and Esquire magazines, both of which debuted augmented reality content in their December issues.
Among endless pages of new fashions and beauty guides, InStyle featured a six-page section, “Gifting in 3D”, that promised a 3D holiday shopping experience that was “as easy as 1-2-3”. It proved more complicated than advertised, however, as you had to first download a plug-in that would allow you to view the galleries. And the only reward I received for the effort put forth was simple video advertisements (25 of them no less) that popped out of gift boxes. The gallery of items presented for each brand with click-to-buy capacity, which wasn’t even part of the actual augmented reality experience, was the only interesting aspect.
Esquire, a publication that has been known to experiment with off-the-wall features, at least offered more interesting content with more of a wow factor. It featured numerous AR elements, including an introduction by Robert Downey Jr., a photo shoot with changing clothes and weather conditions, and a joke-telling model that gets more risqué after midnight. At least that’s what I’ve read, as I was never even able to get the required software to download in order to view the augmented reality content.
My first true experience with augmented reality left me disappointed, with all of the effort and time I put into trying to view this cool new content far outweighing any sort of payoff that was promised. Too many variables, from searching for the magazines among newsstands to trying (unsuccessfully) to get the downloads to work, tainted the much-hyped technology.
I was beginning to have my doubts about augmented reality until a co-worker showed me Burger King’s AR banners advertising its dollar value menu. No magazine purchase or print out was required to trigger the experience. All I needed was a Web cam and a one dollar bill (or something that was of a similar size and shape). Three dollar-menu options rotated across the screen as I flipped my dollar bill over a few times, and then, perhaps most entertaining, the iconic King’s head was superimposed onto my body to wrap it all up.
It was simple, it was contextually relevant, it was awesome. The Burger King ad works because the payoff received is greater than the little effort that they ask on the part of the user. Unlike InStyle and Esquire, Burger King kept it simple and wasn’t too ambitious on its first foray with a new, complicated technology.
By minimizing the variables, they maximized the experience.
