What is Augmented Reality and Will It Impact Marketing?

To think that within the next decade, automobiles and mobile devices will be fully infused with augmented reality is fascinating. I utilize navigation to get everywhere in my car and can't wait until the visuals move from the small screen on my mobile device or the navigation screen on my car... to an overlay on my windshield that keeps my focus on driving rather than glancing back and forth. Popping up addresses and other critical information is too cool to think about.

Augmented reality is a digital technology that overlays text, images or video over physical objects. At its core, AR provides all types of information such as location, heading, visual, audio and acceleration data, and opens an avenue for real-time feedback. AR provides a way to bridge the gap between the physical and digital experience, empowering brands to better engage with their customers and drive real business results in the process.

As for marketing, I'm not sure that t will become as huge a market as many believe. I think of augmented reality as more of a user experience and engagement strategy, not an advertising push tool. For instance, it may be cool to go from a product description in a site or page to actually being able to see where the product is available nearby. Or to go from information to an interactive engagement. Since it's such a new, cool technology, the companies that are incorporating it today are seeing some incredible results. As it becomes more mainstream, I'm not sure that will last. I could be wrong, though.

One advantage of these campaigns now is that you have to register for the application to view the enhancement. That means that they know where you are and who you are when you're viewing the AR campaign. Download Aurasma on your iOS or Android device and point to the image below with their application.