Since the rapid surge of Internet and social media we’ve all have heard the myriad of stories of how print is dying. Forward thinking companies on the other hand beg to differ; while many companies and are now embracing and focusing their advertising efforts exclusively on the net, the smarter ones are exploring ways to bridge the gap between print and web. How is this done you ask? Welcome to the world of augmented reality (AR), a world where print and innovative technology come together. With the click of a button on your smart phone, augmented reality quickly and easily activates static print pages with digital experience. In a nutshell, AR is a way of viewing digital information, which has been superimposed – or augmented – onto a live view of the physical, real-world environment. Virtually displayed digital content (in context with real-world objects) can be seen in traditional media such as magazines, brochures or product packaging; the perfect way to merge the online and offline worlds.
Just how effective is it?
Case in point: Over the summer Nissan engaged in a massive interactive print campaign and enjoyed a 65% increase in test drives for their Altima model. It’s also worth noting that their augmented reality campaign was the big winner at the Canadian Media Innovation Awards in Toronto (winning not only Best in Show, but three other awards as well). Without question, engaging readers through their smart phones using AR technology has the potential to produced substantial marketing results.
At Wide Eyed Communications we recognize the power of this emerging media (when properly implemented) and would be happy to share our marketing know-how with your company to see how we can best put this new technology to use to meet your advertising and marketing needs.