3 Ways with...Augmented Reality

From giant sewer monsters attacking city streets to animated Starbucks cups, brands have been using augmented reality (AR) for many weird and wonderful things before and after that weird month when everyone was searching for Pikachu at Auschwitz and other less disrespectful locations.

Read on to discover 3 great ways you can use this technology in your next campaign, inspired by Deutsche Telekoms new Lenz app which we wrote about today...

1. Expand world of ad

Created an animated character for your ad so cute you just know people will want to play with it? AR allows you to do that, allowing consumers to interact with their favourite branded characters.

Barclaycard: Toys
Agency: BBH UK

If we learned one thing from Toy Story, apart from the fact that animated films can destroy your soul, it was that toys were meant to be played with. So when Barclaycard created an ad full of talking toys, it was obvious they needed to, well, augment it with an app that allowed you to just that, putting the characters in your hand and allowing you to play games with them.

Starbucks: Cup Magic
Agency: Blast Radius

There are a few branded items that signify that Christmas is beginning; Coca-Cola ads, John Lewis spots, and, maybe most important of all, the Starbucks Christmas cup. Using AR, the brand was able to make these even more Christmassy in 2011 by creating animation that triggered in an app when a smartphone camera was pointed at them.

2. Interact Live with Consumers

What's the best way to keep a campaign current and up-to-date? Find a way to do it live, using AR to take already existing assets and allowing them to interact live with people.

Pepsi Max: Unbelievable Bus Shelter
Agency: AMV BBDO

This AR bus shelter, which recently featured on our list of the all-time best Pepsi ads, is perhaps the most famous branded example of AR. People sitting in the shelter could look through one side and see people swallowed up by monsters, captured by aliens and stalked by killer robots. Which, to be fair is not the weirdest thing we've ever seen happen at a bus shelter...

California Lottery: Luck Will Find You
Agency: David&Goliath

This stunt was part of a trend of public spectacles that used AR on billboards to allow people to interact with characters in 2011. Although Disney's billboard, which brought Disney characters to Times Square is more famous, this California Lottery stunt is more interesting, showing as it does how you can use AR with live action as well as using CGI.

3. Improve Real Reality with Augmented Reality

The clue's in the name; good augmented reality should augment reality. Whether it be a campaign for charity or one that offers interactive warnings about dangers occurring in the real world, at its best AR can be a force for positivity, not just Pokémon.

NHS Blood and Transplant: See the Power of Blood Donation
Agency: 23Red

How do you get more people to donate blood? Show them how their donation can help people and remove their fear of the process. This AR stunt managed both, by hooking up an app with a billboard. As an AR blood bag filled up, the person on a billboard gets visibly better.

Surf Life Saving Australia: Pocket Patrol
Agency: Leo Burnett Australia

As well as saving lives through its use in charity campaigns, it can also be used more directly to save lives, as with this app that can identify dangers on a beaches, including lethal riptides.