How Can AR/VR Successfully Change Business Marketing

What is VR/AR?

Virtual Reality is a computer aided stimuli that places the user into another dimension. Alternatively, Augmented Reality (sometimes called mixed reality) is placing digital content in the real world using smartphone cameras. The most common application of AR is Pokémon Go game. AR/ VR and MR all fall under the term extended reality. VR/AR was mostly well received in the virtual gaming industry, however, the promising potentials of this technology encouraged experts in many fields, including marketing to experiment with it. Here are some of the ways where VR/AR can be used in business marketing.

A New Way to Attract Customers

Recently experiential marketing has become widely used by many entities, especially when attracting new customers and sustaining existing ones. Merged with experimental marketing, using AR/VR technologies, marketers can visually display what customers request…From kitchen counter-tops to medical surgeries, VR will add value to customer experiences and accordingly enhance the marketing and sales processes.

With the support of VR, customized advertising will be part of our lives. Marketers and advertisers will make use of user preference data and turn it to real time, in an effort to enhance messages, colors, timing and placement of ads.

Surgeons can now use VR headsets to virtually check their patient’s brain or body — Surgical Theater

User- Brand Interactivity

One of the most important things for marketers in customer engagement, and VR/AR has allowed marketers and advertisers to achieve their user interaction goals using short features on brands and companies. Traditional marketing is limited when it comes to customer interaction restraining the benefits that could arise from a favorable user interaction. Alternatively, using AR/VR, marketers can now display immersive interactive experiences built around brand content.

Topshop, the clothing brand, with the help of an emerging tech agency “INITION,” gave their customers the experience of a fashion show front seat. Customers used VR glasses to watch Topshop’s catwalk as if they were attending the show during The London Fashion Week.

Customers at Topshop were able to virtually attend the fashion show — Wired UK

Closing the Digital-Print Marketing Circle

Closing the circle between digital and print marketing, AR has already become an integral element of experiential marketing. Marketers now have the ability to boost their real world message with the support of digital interactions, which in term increase the resonance of the message and elongate the user engagement time, bringing the digital reality to the real world. On the other hand, VR allows marketers to bring the real world into digital reality when they use it to bring customers to a controlled environment like for example a virtual store.

 

“The traditional model of advertising and marketing is based on the marketer speaking to the marketed through a commercial, social post or digital skyscraper ad. With AR and VR, customers have a new opportunity to become part of the experience, to interact with a brand in ways they haven’t before.” – Kathleen Lucente, Red Fan Communications

 

E-Commerce Integration with AR

In a new way that was not possible a few years back, AR can be integrated into E-commerce using smartphones operating system. Brands can now engage their customers with their products, a process which was not possible a few years back. For example Ray-Ban used AR in an Instagram sponsored post to allow customers to tryout the different glasses, and see how they look on their faces before making a purchase.

Rayban VR Demo from Teads on Vimeo

Exploring Products Became an Experience

In a digital world where customers read reviews, look at photos, and check rating before purchasing any product, AR/VR technologies allows customers a 360 degree view of any item before actually making a purchasing decision. IKEA for example used VR in their app to allow people to decide on how the furniture will look and fit into their place. While Lowe’s home improvement store worked with Microsoft to design an experience where people can see how they would look like at their future homes. The Importance of these VR activities lies in the valuable customer data collected by VR systems which later help marketers in their marketing strategy and market research.

A View of Ikea Kitchen Using VR app for HTC Vive

Ikea VR app for HTC Vive

VR for Fundraisers and philanthropy

Many sectors can benefit from VR/AR technologies including non-profits. Fundraisers could use AR to demonstrate the causes they support like for example recreating a poor village in need of food supplies. Toms shoes, known for their philanthropy initiative: Giving away a pair for every pair purchased “one for one,” used VR in one of their marketing campaigns. Toms created virtual reality experience, where customers can feel what it is like to travel on a trip to give someone shoes.

Contact us at Insideout 10 to know more about our services for integrating VR/AR technologies in your business marketing activities.

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Doaa El Banna

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