Learn about the Opportunities and Pitfalls of Augmented Reality in Marketing: a New Report by ReadWriteWeb

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Ori Inbar

Marhsall Kirkpatrick- lead blogger for ReadWriteweb – recently lead a survey among Augmented Reality (AR) developers and marketers to figure out what worked and what didn’t in past AR campaigns. To the many readers of this blog that  contributed to the survey – thank you!

The report is now available for purchase on the RWW site

Here’s an excerpt from the report’s description:

Become an expert on Augmented Reality (AR) in one quick read. Decrease your AR development time to market by learning from the first wave of early adopters of this new technology. AR offers a new marketing and product paradigm for a high impact, high value customer experience. In the ReadWriteWeb Premium Report Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the Challenges and the Future, we profile successful companies and their campaigns as well as development lessons learned.

The report features:

  • Important players in the mobile AR market, their current campaigns and/or product implementations
  • AR development shops
  • Hidden costs associated with AR app development
  • Developer experience requirements for AR app development
  • Timeline for development of AR applications
  • Total cost and cost break down for developing a Webcam AR project
  • When live video processing will be enabled on popular mobile phones
  • The use of existing AR browsers as opposed to companies building stand-alone mobile AR

Marshall will share details about this report and explain the process behind the results – at the Augmented Reality Event (2-3 June, 2010 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, California).

If you don’t want to miss this talk and many other talks by AR industry leaders register to the event today! Few discount codes are still available for our devoted Games Alfresco readers:

Go to the registration page, type in code AR245 and you’ll be asked to pay only $245 for 2 full days of AR goodness.

Filed under: AR Advertising, AR Business | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

Red Bull Gives You Augmented Reality Wings and Saves Magazines with Print 2.0

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Ori Inbar

They gave you wings, extreme sports races, and Flugtag – and now they want to save print magazines with the bold concept: Print 2.0.

bullseye

Guess which one of these is a true fact?
1) In 2006, more than 3 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in over 130 countries

2) Red Bull publishes a printed magazine (2 million copies per issue)

3) Red Bull is an Austrian company

Answer: all of the above!
Can’t say which fact is more shocking, but they certainly explain why Red Bull decided to partner with Imagination (an Austrian company) to create a webcam augmented reality experience where:

This magazine sings, dances, flies and even scores a touchdown…

The cover and multiple pages (any page with the Bull’s eye) can be activated by pointing to a webcam thanks to Imagination’s natural feature tracking software.

Try it yourself.

If you don’t have the printed magazine – don’t worry – you can download and print at home.

Or just watch it here…

The magazine editor dives into more autophilia:

PRINT GOES LIVE

It’s not often that a magazine can call itself revolutionary,  but we’re delighted to say this one can.

This very issue of The Red Bulletin takes us from print  to Print 2.0, thanks to the incorporation of some nifty  software known as ‘augmented reality’…the  fun stuff is this: simply by holding the mag up to a computer you can take it ‘beyond the page’ and into the world-wide web. So, for example…[the cover] will link through to a video package explaining exactly how augmented reality can enhance your reading experience in a way you almost certainly never imagined, with music, film, animations and more.
Then turn to page 5 and Red Bull Air Race ace  Paul Bonhomme will give you an ‘as live’ introduction to  the magazine and the world of augmented reality. Head to our Now and Next pages, find the story about Black Gold  on page 20 and do the same again with the mag. Lo, you’ll
find the band’s latest video on the website. Clever, eh?
Further in, you can read about Burcu Cetinkaya and Cicek Güney – the girls putting the glam into rallying – then link to exclusive interviews with them and videos of them driving flat-out… and crashing!
And we’re not done yet, no way. Our Reggie Bush cover story, on page 48, combines with an exclusive mini-movie  of Reggie at home, as he talks to correspondent Jan Cremer, while page 62 will take you right into the pocket-rocket  world of the Red Bull Rookie motorbike racers.
No other magazine has ever tried anything like this,  and we have plenty more ideas for the future. But for now,  just get your magazine and computer primed and prepare  to be amazed…

…And Daniel Wagner certainly shows his skills in the video above…

Filed under: AR Advertising, AR Demos | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Enterprise Solutions in the Palm of Your Hand with Augmented Reality

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Ori Inbar

When a large conservative corporation, the #1 enterprise software company in the world, adopts augmented reality technology to promote its new ecosystem site – you know AR is nearing a tipping point.

SAP is launching today its own AR flash based campaign to promote the ecohub.

Is it as slick as the Sasquatch campaign or as cool as the Star Trek app?
Well, keep in mind we are talking about an Enterprise Software company which is less about wowing customers and more concerned with providing value to its customers. And this app is no exception. Naturally the novelty factor still plays a role – but check out what it actually DOES.

SAP’s AR app simulates a search across various dimensions of its massive library of community-created solutions, and it allows you to pick your solution of choice!

A first app striving to be functional among a sea of AR gimmicks.

Full disclosure – I helped SAP produce this app just in time for its annual customer event with less than 3 weeks to put it together.  Programming credit goes to Patrick O’Shaughnessey

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Toyota Augments its Mini iQ too

Posted on February 28, 2009 by Ori Inbar

We were all impressed by last year’s Mini advertising campaign using Metaio’s Augmented Reality technology. It featured  in the top spot of my Top 10 Milestones in Augmented Reality for 2008

Toyota couldn’t afford staying behind and had “one upped” BMW with a more sophisticated ad for its own mini – the iQ.

In the augmented world, the car drives on a road – and is blown up to reveal all its parts. Or in Toyota’s own words:

interact with the car to discover its agility and interior space.

Neat.

Give it up for the  “iQ_Reality“:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Now try it for yourself on Toyota’s site.

***update***

Rouli brings to our attention that Nissan didn’t stay behind and just introduced its Cube brochure:

Yet a new update from Le5emeP: another auto maker to play with AR advertising is Citroen with its C3:

Lastly is Ford with its own mini – the Ka:

A new addition (2009) to the AR cars phenomena with an artistic angle for the BMW Z4:

[youtibe=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr66vs5W7as]

Now we have a complete round up, which one do you like best?

Filed under: AR Advertising, AR Demos | Tagged: , , , , , | 7 Comments »