At Crossplatform, we’ve been considering how augmented reality will fit into our future lives. A number of commentators believe that AR is no more than a ‘clever innit’ one hit wonder, the technological equivalent of those terrible luminescent shirts everyone wore circa 1994. But we’re really sure that augmented reality has a bigger part to play. In fact, we think it has a day-to-day role as significant as the printing press, the mobile phone or Facebook .
Of course, there’s a lot of fun to be had with AR. We’ve witnessed and produced some of the most outstanding AR experiences of the last couple of years, including Paramount’s Transformers 2 promotion (http://www.weareautobots.com/uk) – which used face tracking to superimpose Optimus Prime’s head onto the unsuspecting public. However, there’s a broader business case to be made for AR. What if AR became a regular way for companies to communicate with consumers? Possibly even a way of maintaining exclusivity for a brand? Last December saw a rush of shoppers descending on the Hugo Boss store in London’s Sloane Square because Hugo Boss’s agency, SimonandJohn, had employed Crossplatform to create an augmented reality experience you could only access with an ad from magazines or a card that could be picked up at the store (http://www.doctor-retail.co.uk/hugo-boss-uses-augmented-reality-in-window-display/). Now we’re really cooking. A link between print and the web, video and the stills image, a way of increasing footfall in a store by getting people to leave their armchairs. Genius.
We’ll be working with a lot more visionary companies over the next few months, and you can be sure of something: creative and sustainable use of augmented reality is only beginning. We’ll try to keep you posted on this blog and let us know if you’ve got something to say about it too. We might even give you a guest spot! Enjoy your day and watch out for more augmented reality… you’ll be seeing it everywhere.
