Trinkets, trash and adult colouring books
Your brand is your user experience
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Esquire Magazine’s December issue is the latest to jump on the augmented reality (AR) bandwagon. But what distinguishes it from most other brands using AR is that there’s actually some interesting content to check out.
Most of the time, it seems, AR is treated like a novelty, and rarely give users anything of real value. Strategy Magazine, for example, used AR on the cover of its November issue to reveal who they picked for Agency of the Year, despite the fact that if you just flipped to page 16 you could see that it wasn’t Grip Limited. (Sour grapes? Editor.)
Now that the novelty of AR has worn off, I find it pretty silly to be awkwardly tilting a sheet of paper in front of my webcam just to see a spaceship or bigfoot. The barrier to participation is high (go to the site, print out the image, turn on your webcam, hold the paper up to your computer), so the content better be worthwhile.
Back to Esquire. If you buy the issue (and then go to their site and download some software), you get a bunch of exclusive content. You get some Robert Downey Jr., you get a fashion spread and you get their “Funny Jokes From A Beautiful Woman” feature.
Now, this is hardly a horn o’ plenty of awesome content (and it all could’ve been easily dumped onto their site), but it signifies a notable, mainstream progression in using AR to deliver something of value to people. And Esquire is not alone.
Burger King recently promoted their Value menu with an in-banner AR feature. You hold up a dollar bill, and all the items on the BK menu that are a buck appear. Using AR in an online ad is pretty darn clever, I have to say.
The Unites States Postal Service have a virtual box simulator that uses AR to show you which size box you’ll need for your shipment. Handy.
But one of the most clever uses of AR I’ve seen from a brand comes from online clothing retailer Tobi.com. I’m not much of a women’s clothing shopper but even I found this interesting. It’s called Fashionista and it acts like a virtual fitting room.
How it works: You go to their site, you pick some clothes, you virtually try ‘em on. A slinky black number, let’s say, is superimposed on screen. You stand in front of it and can see what you look like in it. Don’t like it, pick another. Love it? Snap a pic of yourself “in it” and post it on Facebook to get your friends’ opinions (and to show them how nerdy you are).
Genuine benefit. Clever social media extension. No cheesy novelty. It’s AR done right.
Paul
December 8, 2009 @ 12:08 pm
I Agree Matt. Like any new media it’s better to use AR only if you can find a way to make it fit within the context of the brand/product/campaign. But so many times we see new media used ineffectively simply because brands want to be a part of the newest, hottest thing.
JChan
December 8, 2009 @ 8:54 pm
Colors Magazine used it throughout their recent “Teenagers” issue. Profiles were enhanced via AR, showing the music, dance, art, etc discussed in the articles. It made the magazine much more enjoyable, there was no software to download, I just have to allow Flash to activate my webcam. One problem though, my webcam is on my screen (Macbook Pro), so when I hold up the magazine, I have to peer above/around the pages to watch the screen. When my arm got tired of being at a specific angle and tilted the magazine too much, the video would stop.
Dave
December 11, 2009 @ 10:03 am
An article from AdAge today on the subject; would seem to concur with Mr. Rogers hopes and fears for AR.
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=140981