Augmented reality is a hot topic in marketing today, and brands across verticals are taking notice of how the technology can be applied to drive more compelling campaigns with greater return on investment.
AR is not new to the marketing tool kit, but it has evolved in ways that allow more brands to access and leverage the capability without significant draws on time and resources. Additionally, with the integration of AR capabilities into consumer devices, AR experiences can be triggered without the need for apps or headsets, removing much of the friction that previous activations faced.
Retail sales powered or influenced by product visualization and AR are expected to reach $57.7 billion by 2025, demonstrating the hefty appetite consumers have for interactive marketing features. Several major brands have already leveraged this appetite and translated the engagement driven by immersive content into substantial business results.
Here are 3 AR powered marketing campaigns that we love
Wal-Mart
The largest retailer in the world has spent much of the last two years expanding and enhancing not only the products available to their shoppers, but how the products are discovered and purchased. With the COVID-19 pandemic driving consumers to make more purchases online, Wal-Mart turned to augmented reality to optimize the customer journey for an online only experience. Using Facebook’s AR powered ads, the retailer promoted products across categories, driving 3x the website lift compared to their non AR Facebook ads, and 10x time spent on product pages from the ads.
The Takeaway: Interactive content captures more attention than traditional ads, and the interactive features enabled by 3D and augmented reality encourage buyers to spend more time exploring products to ensure that they are confident in their purchase decision.
Michael Kors
With countless products across handbag, shoe, and accessories verticals, Michael Kors has built an impressive brand with a dedicated following. But as more brands enter the market and consumers search for more unique pieces, the competition is fierce. Knowing that many purchases in these verticals are made due to a consumer discovering and interacting with a product in real life, MK brought the ability to try on the next great accessory at home to consumers’ devices. To increase sales of the Lon Aviator sunglasses, the brand leveraged AR try on capabilities within Facebook ads to not only allow buyers to try on all of the available colors, but to photograph themselves wearing the shades and share it across channels. The experience also included a “buy now” prompt, which enabled buyers to seamlessly go from scroll to shades.
MK saw a 14% incremental lift in sales from the campaign, as well as 20.4 point lift in recall and a 5 point lift in favorability.
The Takeaway: Think about how people purchase in real life, and how that experience can be recreated with 3D and augmented reality. Many consumers buy sunglasses simply because they picked them up in store and liked how they looked; that experience can be replicated with AR.
Brands across verticals are lookingot take advatage of augmented reality for more immersive and compelling consumer experiences. Find out more about how these tools can change the buying experience by schdeduling a meeting with one of our visual experts today.
