What Is AR Marketing? 7 Best Trending Examples

Remember those days of flipping through newspapers filled with full-page ads?

Today's consumers are a different breed. They crave experiences. They want brands to not just tell them about a product but to make them feel something. They seek interactions that are innovative, technologically advanced, and resonate with their values.

The challenge? Marketers often find themselves strapped for time, budget, and resources. So how do you create these immersive experiences without breaking the bank?

Augmented reality (AR) marketing might be your secret weapon.

Augmented reality marketing software makes it possible to create these cutting-edge experiences with varying degrees of complexity, even for those without extensive coding knowledge.

This article dives deeper into the benefits and applications of AR marketing and equips you with the knowledge to implement a successful AR marketing campaign. 

Ready to unlock the power of AR marketing for your brand? Let's get started. 

Augmented reality marketing campaigns

Augmented reality as a marketing and advertising tool effectively promotes your minimum viable product (MVP) through virtual sampling. Customers quickly adapt to digital product experiences, as compared to brick-and-mortar ones. Digital availability leads to improved customer loyalty, and loyal customers mean better business.

Planning an AR campaign is as easy as narrowing down your last go-to-market (GTM)  conversion report and analyzing what element drove the most traffic. Coupling the same in an AR data environment, you can create personalized campaigns, digital illustrations, and 3D narratives for customers.

As for digital marketers, AR is used for creating online visual catalogs on guest or third-party websites to eliminate any scope of website ad blocking. Consumers willingly click on AR-based ads and consume the related content. Creating web-based applications through Java servlets (web containers) with assorted AR sales tools also boosts source attribution due to a simplified user interface (UI) for mobile users.

Some common examples of AR marketing include virtual makeup rooms, boutiques, car test drives, ticket booking, and 360° travel videos.

For traditional brick-and-mortar stores, AR marketing provides a way to reduce in-store cycle inventory and warehouse maintenance through cloud storage.

Customers can try out dozens or even hundreds of virtual items through their AR devices to find the ones that meet their needs. 

DHL and Walmart use augmented reality technology to eliminate their manual warehousing operations or create virtual shoppable content.

Examples of augmented reality marketing

Before incorporating AR, you must know how to design, code, and execute programs in an integrated data environment without compilation errors. Using a dedicated software development kit equips you with the necessary integrated tools and features to create engaging visuals for digital signage.

AR isn’t just a way to rack up customer conversions but a solution of permanent sustainability. Let’s look at some industries that have wilfully invested in AR as a medium to establish their expertise in the market. 

Paint and beauty companies

Business-to-consumer (B2C) brands like Dulux, Asian Paints, and Sephora have cataloged their brands online using AR. Clicking on a digital catalog or QR code on their website creates an AR-powered product experience.

You can virtually select from a wide range of options from the cloud server and manipulate them in real time using your fingers. These experiences have a playful aspect, which is why people enjoy them a lot.

Stationery

AR marketing is used to create a paperless “paper” that cuts carbon emissions and promotes a healthier ecosystem. Companies like Aircards and Vossle have developed 3D business cards to share virtually through your smartphone camera.

Downloading AR business cards maintain a marketing repository, increases client callbacks, and personalizes your outreach.

Food and beverages

Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and Burger King are famous for creating unique brand dispositions via AR. By pointing your camera at a Burger King billboard, you can navigate to their nearest burger king restaurant and get a free Whopper!

Starbucks Reserve Store, The Shanghai Roastery, was one of the first coffee chains to offer guided AR tours about how coffee goes from bean to brew.

Automotive marketing

The rising demand for customer assistance in automotive marketing has nudged big names like BMW, McLaren, Ford, and Mercedes Benz to create AR applications.

These applications act as self-service tools and empower customers to learn as they see. Just point the camera inside the application on a plane surface and interact with a virtual car model. Consumers can also take a 360° video tour, learn about the features, and choose color preferences before purchasing.

Real estate

AR real estate apps like Magicplan, Airmeasure, and Vera use existing floor plan software to create virtual showings. 

E-commerce

Since augmented reality for marketing got an initial bank shot of success, it has expanded its footprint in the e-commerce world. With AR, consumers can examine a product in an immersive landscape under different conditions, zooming into every little detail with their fingers. 

Major e-commerce giants like Alibaba, Shopify, Amazon, and Flipkart are branding themselves as AR-powered shopping platforms. Be it clothing, makeup, accessories, or eyeglasses, AR guides a shopper through all sorts of precautions before investing their money.

Information Technology

In IT, the traditional design processes have been replaced with augmented reality applications that implant prototypes on a plane surface and interact with them. Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, YORD, and Niantic are IT firms that use localization mapping and geo AR to design and market their products.

Luxury brands

Gucci, Burberry, Dior, and Versace are some of the imperial brands that create AR-infused fashion experiences. All of these brand applications offer virtual try-on of high-end fashion ensembles, which users can explore to pre-book the latest collections.

Source: YouTube

How does augmented reality marketing work?

Different companies have utilized AR marketing to woo their customers and optimize purchase intent.

However, there are a few rules of thumb of traditional marketing that transcend into AR marketing as well. 

Marketing has never been about the brand but the customer. Voicing your consumer's dissent and creating a value proposition around it is a permanent mantra of a successful marketing strategy.

Embedding augmented reality technology in a sensitive workflow gets more complex and confusing. It’s essential to learn about the outcomes of different kinds of immersions created by augmented reality and choose what fits your target audience.

While creating an AR marketing experience, a user needs to understand the following parameters in detail:

Object recognition 

Object recognition in augmented reality marketing plays a crucial role in labeling consumer product categories. It attaches a 3D digital object against the physical backdrop that either supports the brand or provides instructions on how to use it.  

A great example of this is the latest version of IKEA Place, an AR design app owned by IKEA. IKEA Place is powered by object recognition technology and lidar sensors to identify physical objects like a room's faucets, windows, hallways, and furniture.

Source: YouTube

Let’s look at the process in which object recognition helps create augmented reality experiences.

• Users can download the AR application software, which registers real-world objects using a mobile camera or webcam.
•  After the initial position mapping, it creates feature maps to assign a reference category.
• As the machine learning algorithm classifies the object, the application retrieves images from the cloud server.
• The retrieved applications travel through the same marked path as a 3D model and are placed over the physical object. 

Learners can interact with its components and deeply understand the object. And it all happens in a matter of seconds.

Fidelity

Augmented reality marketing experiences are created in a high-fidelity environment where you can place computer-generated objects. It's done by emulating the illumination, color, light sound, and textures similar to physical objects.

Fidelity can also be achieved by creating impactful sound effects, like the thud caused while assembling something, a fender struck by a car, or rain crackling over the windows. Uniquely positioning yourself to resonate with the desires of customers always wins hearts.

Enhanced immersion

Providing immersive virtual content creates a scope for proximity marketing and directs consumers to your retail outlets.

Pratting about outcomes isn't the ideal way to market your offerings in a highly competitive era of social revolution. Knowing at what stage your buyers currently are and how to nurture them effectively through augmented reality increases your conversion opportunities manifold. AR helps you educate your audiences about how they can solve the challenges they face by going a step ahead of the competitor and creating even better promotional content.

The critical aspect of AR immersions for a business is to encourage a compassion-driven bond. Brands like Puma and Sephora are already changing their business model with AR to understand their customer requirements and align their website for simple navigation. Leading with emotion builds trust and, at the same time, reduces continuous product-related feedback.

Scene tracking

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people now prefer digital experiences and facilities over traditional physical experiences. Be it their home, workplace, or any outdoor environment, they strive to remain connected with everyone on the go. 

Scene tracking in augmented reality registers the user environment and creates localization boxes to overlay virtual content remotely from your central networking hub. 

The customer accesses everything about the product through their cell phones: content, technical assistance, guidance, or other brand-related feature. L'oréal and Maybelline have taken this initiative further by using AR Modiface technology to empower their customers to sample makeup and cosmetic products at home.

The impact of these experiences proved highly beneficial as their revenue increased by 20% in a quarter of three months. This increased number of product applications also increased their visibility in untapped markets.

Augmented reality marketing vs. virtual reality marketing

Augmented reality and virtual reality are both emerging tech that creates 3D immersions, but the difference lies in the level and pitch of the immersions created.

Augmented reality marketing aims to enhance the user's sense of immersion by creating 3D visualizations of real-life objects. Whether in a retail store or at home, increased immersive marketing is a way to keep a customer connected to your brand through a mobile device, AR headsets, or holographic devices along with high-speed internet.

Virtual reality, on the other hand, completely immerses a customer in an artificially rendered space where they can interact with virtual avatars from around the world. Virtual reality marketing (VRM) creates a company metaverse for customers to generate curiosity and impact purchase decisions.

VR marketing is a spin on our physical environment that embeds human senses into a different reality, activated through VR headsets or hardware. Whether semi-immersive virtual immersion (360° video) or full VR immersion (virtual environment represented through object recognition), it helps connect with tech-friendly audiences.

Augmented reality in B2B marketing

Apart from the observable success of AR marketing, companies are always searching for new ways to leverage immersive technology for business-to-business (B2B) segments. marketing. In the B2B and software-as-a-service (SaaS) segment, companies still use solutions like PowerPoint presentations, paper agreements, or Microsoft Word proposals to pitch their products to patrons.

As a result, the entire marketing funnel, from marketing qualified lead (MQL) generation to deal finalization, becomes skewed, thereby increasing turnaround and depleting ROI.

Developing augmented reality marketing for vendors can help eliminate confusion regarding product navigation during product presentations. You can provide your clients with audio, visual, or kinesthetic experiences to reduce information load and increase deal opportunities. Vendors can interact with products, experiment in real time, and provide feedback. 

By using AR sales tools to create a customized product, organizations can reduce implementation costs, staff overheads, and logistics by a considerable amount and communicate better.

7 benefits of augmented reality marketing

As e-commerce and retail businesses shift their focus to creating more technology-driven experiences, AR is the most affordable option for them to invest in.

When it comes to augmented reality in advertising, consumers all around the world are already aware of the few brands which have done it successfully. Companies releasing 3D billboards of their products have gained massive word of mouth and attracted global consumers without even investing a single dollar. 

AR marketing emphasizes an emotional connection with the prospect rather than bombarding them with bulk content. It also certifies a company's willingness to work with powerful digital tools for the sake of the consumer. 

Here are seven major benefits you can get out of AR marketing:

• Brand buzz: AR marketing has a unique appeal that carves out its place in the market. Because AR makes 3D demonstrations of products and allows human-computer interactions, the user doesn't explore any other brand that offers a similar outcome. 
• Increased ROI: Companies that have invested in AR solutions have witnessed a considerable spike in their year-over-year growth. Not only does AR bring more customers on board, but it also fosters your relationship with existing clients.
• Source attribution: Every dynamic of an AR marketing campaign is directed toward specific consumers but isn't restrained to them. The traffic influx for an AR-driven brand through any direct or indirect source may be massive, but it has a higher conversion opportunity in most cases.
• Immersive experiences: Augmented reality delivers memorable and realistic experiences from the comfort of the home. No matter where you are, you can use AR headsets or handheld devices to dive into an all-encompassing adventure. 
• Better customer decision-making: AR overlays necessary virtual information in the vicinity of a customer's location to help their decision-making. Given the choice of a website that provides either: limited options for dresses or a virtual fitting room where you can try every style, customers will pick the latter.
• Right-sized budgets: AR might be an expensive affair for now, but it will get more affordable in the future. As digital technology progresses, there will be new tools and gadgets that will be commonized for consumers. Currently, AR experiences are cheaper than traditional marketing channels like wired media, press releases, and flyers.
• Social media marketing: AR software is an empathetic platform where you can share positive or negative feedback or rate your experiences. Companies share humorous, inspirational, and creative AR content through social media channels to establish empathy.

Challenges of augmented reality marketing

While numerous case studies and research have ascertained the success of AR in marketing, implementing it as a full-scale solution can backfire. As most firms are diverting to drip marketing, introducing AR into such automation workflows
might be hard to track.

The AR industry is doing fine with investments and capital flowing in, but you have to be realistic about the obstacles you’re going to encounter.

• Lack of campaign optimization: No significant campaign optimization strategy can be used while creating an augmented reality experience. Brands typically use a "spray and pray" approach and hope it motivates the audience in some way or the other to increase engagement.
• Implementation cost: The price may run into the six-figure range for a company to build an AR application from the ground up. Enterprise resource planning customizations or webhooks may cost only a few thousand dollars, but full-scale AR applications require deep pockets.
• Skill gaps: To work with augmented reality, you might need a fully functional workforce comprising trained programmers and data scientists. A firm grasp of languages like Java, C++, R, and other linear regression techniques is essential.
• Data security: Creating data streams with AR company-specific information for customers can be risky. Like ATM frauds, hackers may steal network credentials off AR configuration bootstraps to present malicious visuals to consumers.
• Legal laws: A proper policy framework is necessary for firms that leap into AR. An appropriate legal team has to set data retention and erasure policies of particular software.
• Cognitive fatigue: A prolonged immersive experience might cause tiredness, lightheadedness, or nausea. The laser projections emitted by AR devices continuously weaken our sense of interpretation, causing attention struggles.
• Public acceptance: Lack of technological expertise may cause customer aversion to AR-based campaigns and advertising.

Small steps, big change

As augmented reality grows exponentially, it brings a magical element to the otherwise monotonous marketing world. For sure, AR marketing will be a precursor for companies to drive a monopoly in the market and consumer surplus.

Your consumers are closer than you think! Design and customize flexible AR apps and execute digital experiences with AR SDK software.