10 most ingenious augmented reality campaigns

Augmented reality is fashionable. More and more brands are using augmented reality campaigns to have an impact on their potential audiences. Also, summer’s success that caused millions of people to hunt Pokémons on the streets around the world has placed the technology that brands have been trying for a few years in the front lines.

Are you familiar with any of the campaigns from big brands that use augmented reality? There are hundreds of options. In this post, we will show you 10 of the most ingenious augmented reality campaigns of recent years:

1.- Ikea

Ikea used all its creativity to create an augmented reality campaign that was based on one of its essential elements, the famous Ikea’s catalog. In this case, the interesting thing is that it turned its physical catalog into an interactive catalog.

To achieve this, Ikea used augmented reality on the cover and pages of its 2014 catalog. Through this, it managed to add value to its customers’ experience by making it a personalized and unique experience, as you can see in the video.

With augmented reality, the objects on the physical catalog seem to turn real, and they allow the user to visualize them as they would look in a certain environment, which is different from the showrooms of Ikea’ stores. In this way, Ikea managed to combine creativity and informative value.

2.- Volvo

Volvo achieved its goals through one of the most ingenious augmented reality campaigns. An interaction ratio of 9.6%. 192,319 clicks. An increase of 239% on its website traffic, and an impressive non-paid presence in media, not only within its sector, but in general media as well.

To promote its new S60 model, Volvo used two elements in its campaign:

1. An augmented reality experience that allowed people to drive a virtual car.
2. An agreement with YouTube to activate the game by scanning a video by the brand on YouTube.

Users had to start from the video scan on YouTube but later, they could drive the virtual car wherever they wanted by moving their smartphones simply from side to side.

3.- VISA

Visa took advantage of all the creativity of the Lemon & Orange agency to create one of the most ingenious augmented reality campaigns to date in Poland: “Try something new with Visa.”

The campaign took place in several shopping centers and was focused on the use of augmented reality. Thus, the citizens of several Polish cities were able to try something new mixing the real world and computer generated images, all of this thanks to augmented reality.

For this, images were projected on a 15-square-meter LED screen. When people approached a specific area, they could be seen next to other animated images, such as giraffes, pandas, elephants and other objects and animals, which brought joy to those watching.

Additionally, the users could take photographs in which both images were visible, making the experience even more memorable; and it was also possible to add comments or send them by email or to the users’ social media profiles with an app on an iPad dedicated to the campaign, which turned the experience into something even more social.

4.- Ford

The launch of the 7-seat Ford Grand C-MAX also took place in shopping centers. This campaign took place in Britain in 2011, 4 years earlier. This time, augmented reality was used on smaller screens through a collaboration with the advertising furniture company JCDecaux.

The campaign was aimed at users to let them become familiar with the minivan’s characteristics. It allowed the users to adjust some preferences, such as color, or to open and close doors, or to even change the perspective from where they wanted to visualize them. All this from the palm of the user’s hand, as you can see on the video.

5.- Nokia and Angry Birds

Today, it is usual to find yourself in any street or shopping center with screens with which you can interact on several levels, specially, with games of all kinds. But this was not so usual in 2012. For that reason, Nokia’s Lumia terminal advertising in Australia was so ingenious.

Many of today’s augmented reality campaigns take advantage of the popularity of games such as Pokémon Go!. Nokia tried it years ago with another game, one that has been one of the hits of the decade, Angry Birds. For it, it allowed users to play Angry Birds in front of a screen in the middle of the street, thanks to augmented reality.

In addition, Nokia complemented the campaign with other options, such as being able to take a photograph with a virtual kangaroo, or it allowed users to dance and sing at the pace set by a mobile application on the giant screen.

6.- The New Yorker

Some of the most ingenious augmented reality campaigns are based on the relationship between paper objects and images or videos. It was expected that mass media tried to use this technology in order to give their publications more value, supplementing the information they provided with content of another kind.

This was the case of The New Yorker magazine, which used augmented reality on one of its covers. To access the information, it was necessary to use an application, Uncovr, which together with a mobile device, allowed the user to walk through New York City, but in black and yellow graphics, which were the same as those on the paper cover.

7.- Ayrton Senna Institute

The augmented reality campaign launched by the Ayrton Senna Institute and aimed at Brazilian paralympic athletes is one of the most ingenious augmented reality campaigns. As the Paralympics were held in their country, the Institute’s aim was to promote Brazilian athletes.

For this, nothing better than a video of Ayrton Senna, triple champion of Formula 1, that was reproduced on a simple bracelet. In the video, Senna won, not without effort, the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix. The aim of this use of augmented reality was to motivate paralympic athletes with the slogan #NoPulsoDoBrasil, and with the idea that there is nothing more important than to win at home.

The interesting thing about the video is that in it, Senna had to be assisted immediately after finishing the race. A mechanical failure forced him to drive on sixth gear during the last two laps of the Interlagos Circuit. Even so, the Brazilian driver achieved his goal of winning at home, something that had evaded him since 1984.

8.- Absolut Vodka

Sometimes, the most ingenious uses are also the simplest. Many brands try to demonstrate their technological capabilities in their augmented reality campaigns, when the most important things are the ideas and stories that the technology support.

Absolut Vodka is a great example is the use of augmented reality. It used a label on which it projected, by using a cell phone and an application, images of the different locations in which Absolut cultivates the necessary ingredients to make their vodka.

One of the most interesting aspects of this campaign is the fact that, despite the campaign being launched in 2012, it still has relevance today. Adequately thinking the concepts beyond the technology allows the use of augmented reality not to be something that relates to one specific campaign.

Absolut has investigated the application of augmented reality campaigns for its marketing strategies always with the idea that users can apply their creativity in the real world. The Absolut Blank campaign, shown in the following video, is an example of this:

9.- Starbucks

Christmas is one of the traditional festivities that many brands take advantage of to test new technologies. This is the case of the 2011 Starbucks campaign, which presented the Starbucks Cup Magic app. The goal was to cheer the users’ Christmas using augmented reality elements.

Thus, a series of animated characters were generated for the users to interact with when the cell phone application was used on one of the company’s typical red cups. Additionally, the social possibilities were taken advantage of, and the images taken could be shared with friends on different social networks profiles.

The campaign worked so well that Starbucks replicated it on other festivities, such as Valentine’s Day in February 2012. Of course, with new personalized characters for this celebration.

10.- Snickers

Snickers also looked for ways to use the social opportunities offered by augmented reality. As other brands did, it based its campaign on its own products that, by using a specific application, offered extra functionality to users.

Here, it is interesting to highlight the simplicity of the proposal, which is something that stands out in most of the most ingenious augmented reality campaigns. In this case, Snickers offered its customers the chance to tell their friends and family how hungry they were in a really fun way by using an adjective between the different options proposed by the app and taking a selfie over a virtual image. Something that, later on, became one of the keys to the success of Snapchat, the new hit on social networks.

These are just 10 clever examples of augmented reality campaigns. It is possible to find hundreds of them. Brands are taking advantage of a technology that allows them to interact with their users in a simple way.

However, for these campaigns to work, it is essential to have the right leads. Do you need to capture more leads at a lower cost? Try Antevenio Go!. We will surprise you, as these 10 really ingenious augmented reality campaigns did.