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.