Marketing 3.0.

10.10.09

16 Top Augmented Reality Business Models

I am developing and producing a range of Augmented Reality (or if you prefer AR, ‘blended or layered media’) applications at the moment. I have also been asked to present at a few conferences and create a detailed white paper on the implications of AR for government & business looking at privacy, legal, copyright & crime issues. As readers of this blog will know I also lecture, run workshops and work with creative teams to come up with future ‘social entertainment’ based around virtual worlds and augmented reality.

But the purpose of this short post is to simply list and try to categorise the many types of business Augmented Reality apps appearing in the market. The first manifestations of AR appeared in the late 60s, became real in the 70s and by the 90s were already being used by major companies. Now portable computing is finally powerful enough to deliver AR to anyone who has a smart phone or latest generation PC or console. But first my simple definition of Augmented Reality.

Information, 3D models or live action blended with or overlaid onto the physical world in real time. A camera & attached screen is used to view the combination of reality & real time virtuality. Devices or systems commonly used for AR include

But the purpose of this pretty detailed post is to simply list and try to categorise the many types of business Augmented Reality apps appearing in the market and to try to identify opportunities.

According to wikipedia, the first manifestations of AR appeared in the late 60s, became real in the 70s and by the 90s were already being used by major companies. Now portable computing is finally powerful enough to deliver AR to anyone who has a smart phone or latest generation PC or console. For those unfamiliar here is my simple definition of Augmented Reality.

Information, 3D models or live action blended with or overlaid onto the physical world around us, in real time. A camera & attached screen is used to view the combination of real world and metadata or rich media. Devices or systems commonly used for AR include:

Mobile devices with inbuilt cameras such as iPhone, DS Lite, PSP or Android

A head mounted display HMDs (eg: glasses or futuristic contact lenses) attached to a wearable networked computer

A PC or Mac with webcam

A games console with camera accessory

A large TV screen with advanced Set Top box and Web cam

Others in development

Before the more detailed list I embed my summary flickr chart whose purpose is to try to categorise types of business orientated augmented reality apps so to identify opportunities. The graph places 16 on axes of commercial value (likely revenue or marketing potential) vs adoption (scale of popularity vs a niche, client user base). It is a starting document to aid classification of this emerging commercial sector that I hope you find useful. The AR types, color key linked to each model is suggestive only.

Mobile Augmented Reality boosting Proximity Marketing

Proximity Marketing as described by Wikipedia is “the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place.”

The commercialization of location will get a boost by the power and opportunities offered by Mobile Augmented Reality applications.

Have a look at the first real-time Augmented Reality proximity marketing platform by Insqribe:

Two disadvantages of conventional proximity marketing are that users need to enable the mobile device to receive location based information/ messages, secondly not each and every message received is welcome or relevant for the receiver.

Messages can be perceived as irrelevant and spam, users can receive too many promotional messages which will backfire proximity marketing as a tactic because devices can and will be disabled again to not receive any messages again.

Enabling a mobile device to receive information is a primitive form of acknowledging the interest on the location, the possibilities offered by Mobile Augmented Reality will boost and enhance the primitive form when it comes to location based promotions (Point of Sale promotions – POS) nearby initiated by the user.

Mobile Augmented Reality makes it possible what users want to see and when they want to see the information .

Augmented Reality powered Proximity Marketing is much more gentle, it becomes more of a pull mechanism instead of a push mechanism. The pull mechanism increases relevancy towards the users because the users control when he/she activates the system to scan the surroudings. This is the difference. Enabling bluetooth is not synonymous to being receptive for all and any kind of promotional messages. The new Proximity Marketing is exactly the other way around, by activating the system the user shows -initial- interest and decides what message can be further explored and not.

Of course permission systems do exist before messages are being send out, but the concept is the same, push versus pull.

Will Proximity Marketing be fueled and made more fun by Mobile Augmented Reality?

7.10.09

Absolut Rock Edition | In An ABSOLUT World You're With The Band

The newest special edition release from Absolut: "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD, you're with the band. To pay tribute to rock-and-roll — ABSOLUT is launching a limited edition bottle wrapped in a leather- and studs gift pack." Absolut collaborated with designer Natalia Brilli to create the leather and studded design.

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IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD, YOUʼRE WITH THE BAND.

ABSOLUT VODKA presents a creative collaboration featuring visionary photographer Danny Clinch and Wolfmother to commemorate the launch of the limited edition ABSOLUT Vodka Rock Edition Bottle. Danny followed Wolfmother for several days in Los Angeles, shooting more than 4000 photos of the band and directing this documentary of the project. See more at http://www.absolut.com/rockedition.

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Check out the hour long movie: http://www.absolut.com/rockedition
Documentary shot with rock photographer Danny Clinch in LA. To capture the viewer's attention with a fully immersive experience of hanging out with the band, Great Works has visually tagged all the footage with specific keywords that are searchable for an even more in depth interaction.
Advertising Agency: Great Works, USA
Creative Director: Ted Persson
Account Director: Stefan Persson
Project Manager: Linn Tornérhielm
Production Manager: Marco Guzman
Creative: Jacob Åström, Fredrik Karlsson, Tor Rauden Källstigen & Jens Eriksson
Design: Fredrik Karlsson & Martin Löfqvist
Flash development: Fredrik Karlsson

Coca Cola:::“Tribute to Fashion”

"Italian fashion designers have teamed with Coca Cola for fund raising campaign in support of the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy.

These famous fashion designers have dressed with fantasy and colors Coca-Cola light’s bottle and have sold them at auction during the “Tribute to Fashion” show in Milan. Eight fashion designers, only women, have done a great work with Coca Cola bottle, because every packaging has a strong personality and represent very well brand values as happiness or joy of life, of course always in a chic and exclusive way."

Coke Light has always lived in the shadow of its more glamorous sibling, so the Coca Cola company thought it was about time to let its Coke Light bottles have their time in the spotlight. Coke Light’s ‘Tribute to Fashion’ saw the bottles given a celebrity makeover in an event that also raised money for the victims of last year’s earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy.

Over 250 people died in the 2008 Abruzzo earthquake and many more were injured. Tribute to Fashion is not the first time Coke has raised money for charitable causes. Its philanthropic arm – the Coca Cola Foundation – donated over $82 million to various causes around the world including environmental, community based and educational projects.

For the Coke Light fashion show, a range of internationally recognised Italian fashion designers such as Moschino, Marni, Fendi and Versace were enlisted. Each created a life-size Coke Light bottle outfit for display on the catwalk in Milan, with their designs also being used as labels on actual Coke Light bottles.

BRAND: Coca Cola Light

BRAND OWNER: Coca Cola

CATEGORY: Drinks (non-alcoholic)

REGION: Italy

DATE: Sep 2009

MEDIA AGENCY: Starcom

MEDIA CHANNEL

The bottles went on sale in Milan on the 25^thSeptember, with all profits from the sale of the limited edition bottles going towards funding scholarships for young women affected by the earthquake.

3.10.09

10 Branding Trends for 2010: Value is the New Black

Though US economists are cautiously predicting an uptick in consumer spending next year, the post-recession landscape will present brand marketers with new challenges, new engagement realities and new rules, and will increase pressure to prove how and why branded products deliver value, according to (pdf) Dr. Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys.

Using what Passikoff calls “predictive loyalty metrics” gleaned from consumer data his firm collects, Brandkeys analyzed the likely consumer values, needs and expectations for the next 12-18 months and offered the following 10 trends:

Value is the new black: Consumer spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This may spell trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.
Brands are increasingly a surrogate for value: What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what’s
wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for.
Brand differentiation is brand value: The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic
features continue to propagate in the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for sales and profitability.
“Because I said so” is over: Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but they must believably exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can’t just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it
more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement.
Consumer expectations are growing: Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive and prosper.
Old tricks don’t - and won’t - work anymore: Consumers are on to brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of this past year, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim “we’re all in this together” when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere celebrity pairings - such as Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values instead need to be in concert.
Consumers won’t need to know a brand to love it: As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street credibility can go viral in days, with awareness following - not leading - the conversation.
It’s not just buzz: Conversation and community is increasingly important, and if consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. This means not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This has significant implications for future of customer service.
Consumers talk with each other before talking with brands: Social networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. This - at least in theory - will mean more opportunities for brands to get involved in these spaces and meet customers where they are.
Engagement is not a fad; It’s the way today’s consumers do business: Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods: The platform (TV; online), the context (program; webpage), the message (ad or communication), and the experience (store/event). At the same time, they also will realize that brand engagement will become impossible using out-dated attitudinal models.

Passikoff believes that accommodating all of these trends will require some companies to undergo significant paradigm shifts, which will likely be painful but necessary. Either way, change in the brand marketing pace will be inevitable. “Whether a brand does something about it or not, the future is where it’s going to spend the rest of its life. How long that life lasts is up to the brand, determined by how it responds to today’s reality,” he said.

Recent research from Penn State University found that one in five Tweets is brand related, and appears to support the belief that there is an increasing desire for brand engagment and customer service on more community-based media.

Another study from Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, similarly proclaims that “value is the new black,” predicting that post-recession shoppers will transform into “value hunters” as they look for true value and meaning from brands, rather than just discounts.