Promoting products with augmented reality.

The last time I talked about Augmented reality I spoke about how information could be superimposed on real world places. So you could see a virtual sign post that gave you directions to the nearest metro in Paris or so on. I recently came across how marketers are using augmented reality to allow users to virtually touch and feel products right from the convenience of their desktop. Though it definitely is a gimmick, it is fun nonetheless.

Still I am sure it cannot replace actually going to a store and handling a product.  The example that I came across was for the Olympus Pen camera and I also came across something for Mini Cooper. How it works is you get a marker that is downloadable or available as promotional material. You hold it up to your webcam and presto, instead of a marker you see a virtual 3 D model, which you can interact with. Size doesn’t matter which is evident with the Mini Cooper which provides you a scale model of the car to have a close look at.

Going Ape Over Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality, at the first take it sounds like something out of a science fiction flick, like Minority Report. What you may not realise is that Augmented Reality is already here, part and parcel of our lives. Augmented Reality is where ‘computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.’ 

The latest Google Smart phone uses Augmented Reality to help provide information about different destinations. Most of us have witnessed Augmented Reality without realising it. The most common example being the “third empire” graphics during that gripping cricket match or tennis tournament. Though these days, these graphics have been replaced by complete CG versions, in the early days of cricket broadcast LBW’s for example were depicted over shot television footage. 

What India needs is a system of Augmented Reality that is mandatory for all drivers, no matter what they drive. This could help bring order to the kind of chaos that we see on the roads today. Something akin to an easy to use heads up display that not only advices one how to drive, but cautions and penalises a person for breaking the law – jumping lights and cutting lanes for example.  

In India Augmented Reality is even employed in low tech form. Take for example the recorded guided tours in the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai. True this does not fall into the classical definition of Augmented Reality – but it is perhaps another way to think about the application of technology. Augmented reality has a lot to promise for the average marketer, something I will delve into at a later date.