Getting potential customers to engage with a product or service is getting harder, which is forcing marketers to find innovative ways to connect with consumers.
This is why augmented reality, or AR, is being adopted in marketing and advertising in a big way. The technology blends digital content with the physical world by displaying computer-generated images in a user’s field of vision in order to provide relevant information about objects in the real world.
Major brands are already embracing AR to help create novel campaigns to capture new customers. Because of this, the market for AR in marketing and advertising in the US is expected to grow at a whopping CAGR of 105.7% from 2014-2019.
Technavio analysts have pinpointed seven key vendors helping advertisers capture new audiences through AR:
Augmented Pixels
Augmented Pixels was founded in 2010, and is headquartered in California. The company is a software developer for AR technologies, and offers mobile technologies and applications.
The company’s various platforms include AR options for improving indoor drone navigation, customized real estate solutions, boosting retail sales, providing immersive games for cinemas, as well as platforms to help homeowners visualize how an appliance or furniture is going to fit in a room.
According to a company spokesperson, “Augmented Pixels harnesses the power of computer vision to precisely navigate the physical world with self-aware entities such as robots and drones.
Our augmented and virtual reality platforms are at the forefront of ubiquitous interfaces, helping users dynamically blend the digital world with the real world. “
Aurasma
Aurasma is part of HP Autonomy, and is one of the leading AR platform provider in the world. It provides software development kits, and free apps for iOS and Android users. The company also provides image recognition technology for cameras in smartphones and tablets in the form of videos, 3D models, and web pages.
Key offerings
The company’s Aura (mobile application) provides special deals through web-click and quizzes, magazines with videos, and catalogs with 3D product models. Aura also enables teachers and students to provide digital information as printed materials.
Companies as varied as Argos, Disney, Tottenham Hotspur, Budweiser and Best Western all use Aurasma technology to boost customer engagement and provide a more immersive experience.
Blippar
Blippar was founded in 2011, and is headquartered in London, UK. The company provides image-recognition phone applications for smart devices. In their own words, “Blippar brings the static, physical world to life – whether at home, in-store or on the go”.
It’s ability to provide “content-rich, interactive experiences” to customers has made Blippar a favourite among companies like Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola, Condé Nast, Heinz, Jaguar, Kraft, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Procter and Gamble, TIME, and Universal Pictures.
Behind the scenes, Blippbuilder, the company’s web-based SaaS creative tool, assists agencies, publishers, and other companies in creating their own AR content. It is a visual browsing application that uses image-recognition and AR technologies to portray images through camera-equipped devices such as smartphones, tablets, and wearables.
Blipps (which help scan the content physically) is used to launch videos, audio clips, games, photo galleries, mobile games, web links, PDF downloads, opinion polls, and image galleries.
Catchoom
Catchoom is a private, VC-funded company and the first spin-off of Telefónica R&D. Incorporated in 2011, Catchoom is an image recognition and augmented reality platform that has provided 420+ million interactions to date. The company licenses its software On premise and through SaaS.
Catchoom’s flagship product is CraftAR — the “toolbox” with web-based content management and creation, and consumption with its Image Recognition and Augmented Reality SDKs (compatible with Android, iOS, with plugins for PhoneGap/Cordova and Unity). The company works with a number of companies, including Intel, Condé Nast, TimesMobile and powers leading AR providers.
NGRAIN
NGRAIN offers the only AR and interactive 3D platform meant specifically for industrial applications.
Their products—which include AR for visual inspection and damange assessment, operations support and manufacturing analytics and real-time guidance— aim to improve performance, eliminate mistakes, empower field specialists and maximize operational uptime.
According to a company spokesperson:
NGRAIN is an industrial augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) company providing cutting-edge products and technologies that enable Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the enterprise. NGRAIN applications are in use around the world by leading organizations in aerospace, defense, energy, manufacturing, and healthcare. Through a development platform, authoring tools, and industrial applications, NGRAIN enables organizations to make better decisions faster by interacting with the world’s data in 3D.
Wikitude
Wikitude was established in 2009, and is headquartered in Salzburg, Austria. The company is a leading provider of AR technology and solutions for smartphones, tablets, and wearable display technologies. Its AR solutions enable thousands of agencies, brands, and developers to achieve project goals.
According to their website, “Wikitude’s all-in-one AR solution includes image recognition & tracking, 3D model rendering, video overlay, location-based AR and so much more”.
Wikitude’s key products include:
- AR SDK: Offers AR solutions for image recognition and tracking. It also offers applications to Android phones, iOS, smartphones, tablets, smart glasses, PhoneGap software, Titanium platforms, and Xamarin platforms.
- SDK extensions: Offer SDKs for PhoneGap software, Titanium platforms, and Xamarin components.
- Cloud services: Offer Wikitude Studio and Wikitude Cloud Targets API, which are patented AR platforms and applications used in Android phones, iOS, smartphones, and tablets.
- Wikitude applications: Offers patented solutions for creating and publishing projects through its applications.
Zappar
Zappar was founded in 2011, and is headquartered in London, UK. The company develops AR-enabled products and entertainment experiences for smartphones and tablets.
Zappar uses the Zapcode Creator application to ease the process of creating interactive AR content, in order to create a huge range of interactive products like hats and mugs, phone cases, business cards, wedding invitations, posters, flyers, T-shirts, and stickers.
The company serves businesses in printing, packaging, broadcasting, point-of-sale, and direct marketing, and boasts a number of high-profile partners, including Activision, Arca International, Crocs, Coca-Cola, moonpig.com, Nissan, Sony Music, Sony Pictures, Vodacom, and Visa.
In their own words, “with Zappar you can turn almost anything into a TV channel, a video game or even one of those social networking sites. Zappar adds a new visual dimension to the world for you to explore.”
