Augmented Reality in Advertising

Whenever I watch futuristic movies, I always notice that advertising has evolved to become extremely specific to the person walking by the storefront or shop.  A scene in particular that comes to mind was when Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report is hiding from the authorities and walking through the mall.  The advertisements and billboards surrounding him used scans of his eyes to connect the data they had on his character to be effective in their advertisement.  He walks into the GAP, and a voice coming from a nearby speaker asks if he enjoyed the last purchase he made in store.  The movie takes place hundreds of years in advance, but we are beginning to see advertising evolve in our world today.  Augmented reality is an exciting platform that takes regular print ads and embeds videos, pop-up content, and even mobile performances when you use smartphone to scan over an ad with this technology. 

Business Insider recently posted an article of “11 Amazing Augmented Reality Ads” that use this technology to take the company’s advertisements to the next level and surprise consumers.  Starbucks holiday cups offered an application that when in use, invites you to interact with five different characters who are holiday themed and react when you tap them on your phone.  One of the most interesting ads that I saw was the way Net-A-Porter uses augmented reality technology to create a virtual storefront.  The window looks very basic to a passerby, but with the use of their app, you can uncover video from the catwalk and details on the clothes available for sale inside. I’m really excited to see how this technology continues to evolve.

Digital Market Manipulation

In an article written by Tarun Wadhwa of Forbes, I learned of the topic “digital market manipulation.”  What I didn’t realize was that I was being exposed to this form of advertising for some time now but did not realize the name for it.  This term has to do with the merging of social media and paid advertisements and has become increasingly popular recently.  If you use Facebook, Twitter, or Vine; you are exposed to the “paid advertisements” that pop up in your newsfeed.  These ads are often a type of product that you have purchased in the past, or may be one that an algorithm determined you to be a potential customer in the future.  Popular viners often have advertisements incorporated in their six second videos that are clearly a result of their popularity on Twitter’s video sharing site, Vine. 

Wadhwa gives an example in the article about what digital market manipulation may come to be in the near future, “Imagine that you are halfway through the second week of a grueling diet. It’s been going alright – but lunches are always the hardest for you. You walk out of your office building to get a salad, when suddenly, you get a text message. It’s from a nearby restaurant offering you a discount on your favorite burger, encouraging you to “cheat just this once” and they’ll throw in a free side of fries.”

The majority of people in today’s society have a negative association with internet tracking and targeted advertisements because they feel that they are having their privacy violated and used against them with specific ads that pop up in the websites they use.  With digital market manipulation, this type of advertising is only going to increase in frequency and accuracy and it will be even more important for corporate marketers to understand the “sweet spot” of being creepy and effective.

Missing the "Sweet Spot"

In week 6 of class we discussed the "sweet spot" in advertising where the ads are beneficial and don't seem obtrusive into our privacy.  I was at a conference last week for work the Vice President of our customer experience team told us a story about Target and how its team was using predictive strategies to target customers for coupons.  Their research found that expecting mothers are often extremely loyal once they found the location that they plan on buying their baby products for the first several years of the child’s life.  Target hoped to find these customers and send them coupons to help bring the business into their stores.  

An analyst narrowed down several items including unscented lotion, supplements including magnesium and zinc, and extra-large cotton balls. 

This was truly incredible analysis that allowed the team to find these potentially loyal customer and they looked to send them coupons early in the second trimester to get ahead of the game.  I looked up this story and found an article written in Forbes that goes into detail on how the process went from innovative, to creepy when a man in Minneapolis walked into a store and said,

“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”

It turns out that Target was right and the father didn’t know yet that his daughter was pregnant!! They have since evolved their “targeted” advertisements to include more than just coupons that are geared towards pregnant women just in case a similar situation happens and they aren’t correct that time.