Tech Special: Omaid Hiwaizi

Though there may be the odd cynical Squirtle-hater among us, there’s no denying that Pokémon Go has found ingenious ways to monetise augmented reality technology – as have other brands via smart marketing drives. So, asks Omaid Hiwaizi, president of global marketing at Blippar, is AR set to be more important to brands than VR? Or is the future of brand engagement a mixed reality?

There’s no question that the immersive quality of virtual reality experiences makes it one of the most potent technologies for brand storytelling. Its transformative power can move us deeply and this has driven a huge amount of buzz for the technology.
However, with Pokémon Go, the focus has shifted to AR.

The game smashed the adoption rates of all previous apps, gaining over 100 million users in six days (the previous record holder was Candy Crush which took one year and three months to reach the same level). It even prompted Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to say: “We are high on AR for the long run.”

The market is predicted to be huge. Together virtual reality and augmented reality are expected to be a US$120 billion market by 2020. Of that staggering sum, according to Digi-Capital predictions, US$90 billion is likely to come from augmented reality, with the lion’s share comprised of hardware, commerce, data, voice services, and film and TV projects, and $30 billion from virtual reality, mainly from games and hardware.

Most significantly, they forecast that tens of millions of people will be using VR headsets at any one time, but that billions will engage in AR simultaneously, using their ever present smartphones. After all, around 2.5 billion people worldwide have a mobile phone with a camera. We don’t have to wait for VR or mixed reality headsets to take off, although they will.

Wigglytuff and powder puffs

So what did Pokémon Go get right? And what can brands learn from it? Pokémon Go successfully gamifies our interactions with the world around us. It also drives a curiosity for what’s in our immediate environment, in this case, as part of the quest for cute creatures and various PokéStops and Gyms.

Importantly, the app has created generation business models which will drive growth on the platform and give brands opportunities. Building on in-app purchases to enhance the experience, there are some smart business drivers.

Brands can use ‘Lures’ (which attract Pokémon) to draw players to specific locations and in so doing drive footfall into stores and brand destinations. This raised $50 million in the first week alone, from brands like Mercedes, which released Lures at its dealerships.

Another powerful application of AR is to provide expertise and information at moments that matter in brand journeys. For example, Max Factor used Blippar to make its entire range of products interactive. Useful quality branded content was made available at just the right moment for Max Factor consumers through AR on the product packaging.

The simple application on this edition of shots is also powerful. The ability to scan a selection of the stills of great work and immediately see the film in one step enhances the experience, and will perhaps even result in more creatives seeing more work, which has to be a good thing.

Augmenting the virtuality

However, we’re still at the beginning. From gamifying the real world, to providing inspiration and utility at key moments, there’s a vast spectrum of possibilities for brands.

What’s important is for agencies to focus their energies in this space and invent new marketing strategies to connect us with the world around us. That’s why Blippar has developed the Blippbuilder and Blippar API beta programme.

This scheme puts our AR creation tools in the hands of agencies, creatives and the whole industry – effectively democratising the creation of AR. Finding new ways to tell stories, boost engagement mechanics and utility for consumers will lead to new revenue streams for brands and agencies.

So what of the future of AR versus VR? They’ll likely co-exist, with AR becoming an everyday habit and VR an occasional treat. The richness and depth of VR will eventually come into everyday AR on a new generation of headsets that holographically project rich content into the user’s line of sight. This ‘mixed reality’ presents the biggest opportunity for brands to tell interesting stories and provide useful content at the moments that matter.