Augmented reality – is a live view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged/augmented with computer-generated imagery. This is best explained through the video example below.
Augmented reality’s recent presence in digital marketing has been felt with a plethora of head scratching and jaw dropping applications that have been launched in the past year. At the top of my list of favorites is Jack Links Beef Jerky’s “Living Sasquatch.” From the landing page the audience can interact with the illusion of their own personal sasquatch in real time, with which they can control the sasquatch’s actions and mannerisms, record and send to a friend or upload for others to view. The interaction with this application creates a unique, personal and memorable experience.
How does it work? Most web-based applications of AR require a pattern for your camera to detect. The pattern acts as a marker in 3D space for the superimposed elements to base their position off of. The pattern’s relationship to the web cam calculates the distance and tilt of the plane the pattern is on, thus changing in real time the size and angle of the superimposed elements. AR is not new by any means; it has been used by the military, museums and tradeshows for several years. The first time you might have seen AR in action would be watching a football game where they have the yellow line indicating the first down.
Why is it so popular now? This is the first time that general consumer technology has caught up to utilize its capability i.e., web cams, software developments, open source code, and the access to it from home computers / mobile devices. Many companies have jumped on the band wagon producing a wide spectrum of results from baseball cards to full on interactive games.
Game Example:
Although there has been much skepticism on the longevity of AR’s appeal on the general consumer, many consider recent uses of AR to be very gimmicky with no practical use.
One such example is GE’s smart grid technology, where the users hold a piece of paper up to their web cam and a 3D sun and windmill farm emerge out of the paper in their hands. Useful or practical? Not really, but definitely does create a unique experience. I found myself interacting with the internet in a completely new way, by moving back and forth in my chair, getting up and walking as far back as I could to see how far away my web cam would detect the AR’s pattern. Though I think uses of AR such as GE’s smart grid will become outdated soon, purely because of its non-value factor, I do not think AR will go away. Its a fast exciting medium with potential that has only begun to be tapped into.
