ITV

Tag: Augmented Reality

  • Virtual Reality: What’s in it for marketers?

    Virtual Reality: What’s in it for marketers?

    MUMBAI: In the marketing industry, digital era is not something being anticipated but a reality that has arrived and the way one interact with digital content is also changing rapidly especially through the advent of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality(AR). 

    The terms are often thrown in the air by marketers when citing examples of latest technology in marketing, but what few realize the ground zero report on the actual work and its effectiveness done using VR and Augmented reality as a marketing tool.

    And who better to vouch for it than Ashish Limaye the chief operating officer of Happy Finish, a creative post production studio media agency that dabbles heavily in VR, CG and AR.

    With a global presence of over 12 years, Happy Finish headquartered in the United Kingdom has managed to bag substantially big name clients since it entered the Indian market five years ago. The studio works closely with other creative agencies and caters to specific skillsets that a campaign requires while also having several clients of their own to boot.

    “We work with almost all the leading brands including brands like Unilever, Nestle and Marico to Coke and Pepsi in the beverage section,” points out Limaye, adding, “In the automobile section we work with Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Toyota, and Renault.”

    Adapt or perish

    The single largest shift in the paradigm that Limaye has noticed in the last one year is the completely insulated channels that brands have established with consumers irrespective of any external stakeholders. “When I say stakeholders, I mean magazine, television, billboards etc. And this insulated channel is possible through smartphones that have penetrated the Indian market,” points out Limaye. “The shift which is happening is from all the above-the-line conventional paid media to a ‘owned by the brand’ media, which also generates organic reach through social media without spending a penny.” Coupled with the data points that smartphones facilitate, brands can now directly target their consumers and know them like never before -.not as part of some mass, but by name age and behaviour and preference. As smartphones and other smart devices can easily be used to access VR environment, its use in marketing will grow manifold in the coming years.

    Scope for VR in marketing

    When asked about the scope for VR and augmented reality he sees in marketing in India, Limaye points out the major challenges that today’s marketers are facing with conventional mediums of communication.  “There are two constants in this day and age: one if that media is getting fragmented, and second, consumer attention is getting more fragmented. Today, the consumer is bombarded with so many different media and it has become extremely tough establishing a dialogue with them. And that is where VR becomes extremely advantageous to marketers as it allows you to engage the consumer on a one-on-one basis.”

    To sum it up he adds, “Firstly, VR helps brands with a significant amount of credibility through immersive experience, which otherwise is not possible as effectively. Secondly it also allows to communicate the entire value chain with the customer, through multiple channels — be it retail, or post sale etc; from the factory to the showroom and then road.”

    Limaye explains with an example. “Suppose a telecom is launching their 4G services. With the past record of 3G services not being so favourable with people complaining of call drop, there is a lot of doubt in the market on how well the 4G will do. To counter that a marketer can create an immersive experience of a user in the 4G service and share it with prospective consumers to add credibility to 4G services.”

    VR Vs AR: 

    While VR has been cited several times for its use in experiential marketing, it is easy to confuse it with augmented reality. Limaye defines the two in a simple sentence: “Augmented reality is when I import an external element into my world, while virtual reality allows me to travel to that world.” 

    The biggest differentiating factor is that augmented reality can be consumed by more than one person at a time. “You can project a car on a table while sitting in coffee shop and show to a client or a buyer the inside of the car, its interiors, how it functions and drives. That’s augmented reality.”

    Another good example of clever use of augmented reality in a marketing campaign is what can be done for the online furniture brands like Pepperfry. “It allowed consumers to scan their living room and feed the information to their app, and then place furniture items wherever you like with the use of augmented reality to see what looks like where.”

    Adoption amongst brands:

    In India, the adoption of the technology is picking up fast. Limaye says he gets at least two to three requests daily from several big and small brands when it comes to VR, although he does acknowledge the presence of a learning curve that the industry is going through for this fairly new technology. “While there are brands interested in trying these out, when you ask them what exactly they want to do with it. They have no answer.”

    The area in which the marketers are falling behind is the lack of creative approach when working with VR and augmented reality. “You can’t be using VR for the sake of it just to sound cool or be counted amongst those who are progressive in the industry. There has to a communicative objective that the use of VR must fulfill,” Limaye said.

    The brands which have come forward in using VR and AR come from FMCG sector, beverages like Pepsi and Coke, tourism and travel, and of course automobiles. Currently 30 per cent of Happy Finish’s client base for VR is from the automobile sector.

    Accessibility and cost:

    While VR and AR paves way for endless possibility in use of the technology for marketing purpose, one can’t help but question if India is ready for it in terms of the accessibility of the experience. Can brands only target niche consumers or go brand to brand with it?  

    Knowing that similar questions have been bothering the industry for quite sometime, Limaye says: “It is a myth that you need a high-end headgear to access Virtual reality. You can access it in many ways. Firstly you have Google Cardboard, which is priced as low as Rs 100. Secondly you can access it using YouTube and Facebook that have started their 360 degree videos. Your mobile or your smart device – be it laptop or iPad – then becomes your window to the virtual reality. All one needs to do is shoot 360 media and put it up. Thirdly, if one has a budget to spare, one can go for head gears for a more complete experience. I can see big spending brands keep a gear at their showroom for showcases etc, or for B2B communication. So the distribution challenge is being dealt with in every level.”

    The ROI Factor: 

    So how much should a marketer going for VR budget for their new campaign? Typically, the feeling is that use of a new technology is more expensive as one has to set in place the infrastructure for it. But Limaye disagrees.

    Though the average budget is subjective to the brands need but for a decent campaign which includes an app development and a live action shoot, a budget of Rs 1 to s 1.5 crore is good enough for a good immersive experience using VR. That also reflects in the ROI.

    “I have metrics in place for how many people have downloaded an app, what feature they are interested in and I can even have a call to action post their immersive experience and directly lead the campaign to sales. The call to action is also well monitored and measure. When it comes to ROI, the investment too is very less when you compare it to mediums like television. To reach the Hindi Speaking Market with TVC, a marketer needs to have at least Rs 2 to 3 crore budget to reach a decent TRP number. But this is not needed when I am talking about a VR campaign while still reaching out to the relevant audience.” 

    “The quality of engagement is much higher as compared to other mediums, and the cost of acquisition of the customer’s attention is much lower, and the absolute spend is also lower. In all these metrics, the ROI is much higher,” Limaye adds in parting.

  • Virtual Reality: What’s in it for marketers?

    Virtual Reality: What’s in it for marketers?

    MUMBAI: In the marketing industry, digital era is not something being anticipated but a reality that has arrived and the way one interact with digital content is also changing rapidly especially through the advent of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality(AR). 

    The terms are often thrown in the air by marketers when citing examples of latest technology in marketing, but what few realize the ground zero report on the actual work and its effectiveness done using VR and Augmented reality as a marketing tool.

    And who better to vouch for it than Ashish Limaye the chief operating officer of Happy Finish, a creative post production studio media agency that dabbles heavily in VR, CG and AR.

    With a global presence of over 12 years, Happy Finish headquartered in the United Kingdom has managed to bag substantially big name clients since it entered the Indian market five years ago. The studio works closely with other creative agencies and caters to specific skillsets that a campaign requires while also having several clients of their own to boot.

    “We work with almost all the leading brands including brands like Unilever, Nestle and Marico to Coke and Pepsi in the beverage section,” points out Limaye, adding, “In the automobile section we work with Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Toyota, and Renault.”

    Adapt or perish

    The single largest shift in the paradigm that Limaye has noticed in the last one year is the completely insulated channels that brands have established with consumers irrespective of any external stakeholders. “When I say stakeholders, I mean magazine, television, billboards etc. And this insulated channel is possible through smartphones that have penetrated the Indian market,” points out Limaye. “The shift which is happening is from all the above-the-line conventional paid media to a ‘owned by the brand’ media, which also generates organic reach through social media without spending a penny.” Coupled with the data points that smartphones facilitate, brands can now directly target their consumers and know them like never before -.not as part of some mass, but by name age and behaviour and preference. As smartphones and other smart devices can easily be used to access VR environment, its use in marketing will grow manifold in the coming years.

    Scope for VR in marketing

    When asked about the scope for VR and augmented reality he sees in marketing in India, Limaye points out the major challenges that today’s marketers are facing with conventional mediums of communication.  “There are two constants in this day and age: one if that media is getting fragmented, and second, consumer attention is getting more fragmented. Today, the consumer is bombarded with so many different media and it has become extremely tough establishing a dialogue with them. And that is where VR becomes extremely advantageous to marketers as it allows you to engage the consumer on a one-on-one basis.”

    To sum it up he adds, “Firstly, VR helps brands with a significant amount of credibility through immersive experience, which otherwise is not possible as effectively. Secondly it also allows to communicate the entire value chain with the customer, through multiple channels — be it retail, or post sale etc; from the factory to the showroom and then road.”

    Limaye explains with an example. “Suppose a telecom is launching their 4G services. With the past record of 3G services not being so favourable with people complaining of call drop, there is a lot of doubt in the market on how well the 4G will do. To counter that a marketer can create an immersive experience of a user in the 4G service and share it with prospective consumers to add credibility to 4G services.”

    VR Vs AR: 

    While VR has been cited several times for its use in experiential marketing, it is easy to confuse it with augmented reality. Limaye defines the two in a simple sentence: “Augmented reality is when I import an external element into my world, while virtual reality allows me to travel to that world.” 

    The biggest differentiating factor is that augmented reality can be consumed by more than one person at a time. “You can project a car on a table while sitting in coffee shop and show to a client or a buyer the inside of the car, its interiors, how it functions and drives. That’s augmented reality.”

    Another good example of clever use of augmented reality in a marketing campaign is what can be done for the online furniture brands like Pepperfry. “It allowed consumers to scan their living room and feed the information to their app, and then place furniture items wherever you like with the use of augmented reality to see what looks like where.”

    Adoption amongst brands:

    In India, the adoption of the technology is picking up fast. Limaye says he gets at least two to three requests daily from several big and small brands when it comes to VR, although he does acknowledge the presence of a learning curve that the industry is going through for this fairly new technology. “While there are brands interested in trying these out, when you ask them what exactly they want to do with it. They have no answer.”

    The area in which the marketers are falling behind is the lack of creative approach when working with VR and augmented reality. “You can’t be using VR for the sake of it just to sound cool or be counted amongst those who are progressive in the industry. There has to a communicative objective that the use of VR must fulfill,” Limaye said.

    The brands which have come forward in using VR and AR come from FMCG sector, beverages like Pepsi and Coke, tourism and travel, and of course automobiles. Currently 30 per cent of Happy Finish’s client base for VR is from the automobile sector.

    Accessibility and cost:

    While VR and AR paves way for endless possibility in use of the technology for marketing purpose, one can’t help but question if India is ready for it in terms of the accessibility of the experience. Can brands only target niche consumers or go brand to brand with it?  

    Knowing that similar questions have been bothering the industry for quite sometime, Limaye says: “It is a myth that you need a high-end headgear to access Virtual reality. You can access it in many ways. Firstly you have Google Cardboard, which is priced as low as Rs 100. Secondly you can access it using YouTube and Facebook that have started their 360 degree videos. Your mobile or your smart device – be it laptop or iPad – then becomes your window to the virtual reality. All one needs to do is shoot 360 media and put it up. Thirdly, if one has a budget to spare, one can go for head gears for a more complete experience. I can see big spending brands keep a gear at their showroom for showcases etc, or for B2B communication. So the distribution challenge is being dealt with in every level.”

    The ROI Factor: 

    So how much should a marketer going for VR budget for their new campaign? Typically, the feeling is that use of a new technology is more expensive as one has to set in place the infrastructure for it. But Limaye disagrees.

    Though the average budget is subjective to the brands need but for a decent campaign which includes an app development and a live action shoot, a budget of Rs 1 to s 1.5 crore is good enough for a good immersive experience using VR. That also reflects in the ROI.

    “I have metrics in place for how many people have downloaded an app, what feature they are interested in and I can even have a call to action post their immersive experience and directly lead the campaign to sales. The call to action is also well monitored and measure. When it comes to ROI, the investment too is very less when you compare it to mediums like television. To reach the Hindi Speaking Market with TVC, a marketer needs to have at least Rs 2 to 3 crore budget to reach a decent TRP number. But this is not needed when I am talking about a VR campaign while still reaching out to the relevant audience.” 

    “The quality of engagement is much higher as compared to other mediums, and the cost of acquisition of the customer’s attention is much lower, and the absolute spend is also lower. In all these metrics, the ROI is much higher,” Limaye adds in parting.

  • ‘Technology is the future of experiential marketing:’ Vidur Patney

    ‘Technology is the future of experiential marketing:’ Vidur Patney

    MUMBAI: When talking of marketing campaigns we often come across the term ‘on ground activation.’ While at a rudimentary scale, it’s how a brand markets itself through direct engagement with consumers, its utility and purview is infinitely evolving. The idea is to create a bond between the consumer and the brand beyond ‘buying and selling’ by immersing them in a fun and memorable experience, which evokes emotions within the consumers that they thereafter associate with the brand instead.

     

    From a simple handing out of Red Bull cans at a music concert to Multi Screen Media’s open air bus ‘Bulaava Express,’ which toured the country across 13 cities creating euphoria for the 2014 IPL — the beauty of experiential marketing lies in its flexibility of mode and scale to target the consumers.

     

    While the concept isn’t new to marketers, its rapid evolution over the years armed by technology and digitisation has made it increasingly important to understand experiential marketing from an insider’s perspective.

     

    With that in mind, Indiantelevision.com approached recently appointed Maxus national director – experiential marketing Vidur Patney to shed light on the changing landscape of experiential marketing, and the role it is going to play in the near future.

     

    Purview:

     

    From on ground and van activations through major cities to team building activities from brands at corporate level, experiential marketing plays on a wide range, and the possibilities are endless.

     

    How you use the formula to connect with your consumer, what chord you strike with them in the process is what puts you at an advantage when it comes to this form of marketing. The idea is to wow the consumers with unique interactions and engagements that leave impressions in their minds. Creating vanilla experiences that the consumers can then start associating with the brand is also part of the process.

     

    Though the possibilities are endless, it is getting increasingly challenging to come up with new ways to give consumers that vanilla experience. The only way forward is to use the available digital and technological tools at our disposal. By identifying how the consumers engage with such tools, we come up with concepts that allow us to make the most of it.

     

    Evolution:

     

    The evolution of experiential marketing has happened in three phases. Often considered an old school marketing art, the first hurdle was to get brands and marketers to realise its potential in the current ecosystem. To make them look beyond the generic TVC marketing and acknowledge that today consumers are not content with just knowing a brand through their television sets.

     

    Once that was established, phase two was to explore the various ways in which experiential marketing can be used, and integrated with the headlining campaigns. This was the period we saw an increase in on-ground activities, contests, product launches where consumers could interact with brand ambassadors, etc.

     

    Once that was achieved, we had to think how to expand the reach of experiential marketing, take it from being a space restricted solution, to a trigger that leads to conversations and interactions about a brand on a larger scale. That’s why currently we are concentrating on making way for more and more shareable experiences using the digital platforms.

     

    Role of technology:

     

    There’s no denying the fact that technology is the way forward when it comes to marketing, be it at the concept level or while executing. It has become an integral part of our consumers’ lifestyle. We can not only target consumers better with analytical tools made available to us through technology, but also engage consumers to give them the best of experiential.

     

    Technology is also the differentiator when a brand wants to stand out and grab eyeballs. It is no longer something people are averse to. People are willing to accept technology into their lives and know more. As a result, to customise for them, to garner more participation and deliver a powerful brand message, technology plays a very important role.

     

    The tools could be one on one engagement through technology, giving consumers a virtual experience. Use of technology is important because it is something today’s generation is excited about. If used right, it helps give that wow factor and conveys a much stronger message for the brand. Also, it goes a long way into consumers accepting what you are saying and giving them something memorable.

     

    For example, the recent use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality technology can and has opened up new avenues when it comes to experiential marketing. People can now get a first hand interaction with how a brand functions. These are extremely useful tools for automobile and technology related brands where a consumer can see the inner workings of a car or a phone. It has a much bigger impact than simply sharing the specs with a consumer. But its use is endless when it comes to other sectors as well. One may argue that applying virtual and augmented reality in marketing may rack up the cost of marketing for brands but that’s just the initial phase. Just like any other technology, it’s the first investment that costs more, after which one can cash in on them while enjoying more innovations.

     

    Going beyond metros:

     

    Experiential marketing can be a very important marketing tool when it comes to tier II and tier II cities. We have noticed that while on ground activations work in metros, its reach is becoming limited. It only draws in a niche crowd. The urban consumer isn’t easily wowed by simple events, you need to spend more and innovate your engagement concepts to keep their interest. They get easily bored. Consumers in tier II and tier III cities, on the other hand, can still be catered with vanilla experiences by creating simple engaging moments. With brands now looking their way to expand consumer base, use of experiential marketing becomes crucial in those areas.

     

    We recently did an on-ground activation for a movie screening in Indore where hundreds of kids and their parents turned up by simply allowing them to play games on an app we developed for the event. In a metro that would have only interested a niche group, way below hundred.

     

    Experiential marketing in sports:

     

    If there is one section where experiential marketing dominates, it is sports. We all interact with sporting events for a personal connection, be it our passion for the sport, our loyalty to a team or love for a favourite player. That is why brands love to associate with sporting events. It is easier to create those memorable moments, which brands would to be credited for. They want consumers to associate their favourite on ground memories with the brands.

     

    There are numerous possibilities for experiential marketing for any sporting event, be it Indian Premiere League, Indian Super League, Pro Kabaddi League, etc.

     

    A holistic marketing solution:

     

    Experiential marketing and digital marketing forms two important pillars of the core media solution that we provide our clients. Having an experiential marketing arm gives Maxus an added advantage of providing a holistic marketing solution.

     

    It’s a three way communication within Maxus that helps us achieve that. When it comes to digital technology and bringing it on ground, we have Metalworks. Figuring out how that technology can be used to wow and create a memorable experience for the consumer is what we at Experiential Marketing do. When these come together with Maxus’s core media vertical, we are able to give brands the best possible solution to engage with the consumer.

     

    Going only experiential:

     

    So far experiential has worked in collaboration with core media and other arms of marketing. While there are certain brands that can go only experiential as their marketing strategy, it highly depends on the brand’s target audience and the type of campaign. There are some products for which experiential gets the lion’s share of the marketing budget.

     

    While there is no set rule, more and more brands are keeping budgets aside for experiential marketing because it’s the last mile of communication between the brand and a consumer.

     

    Experiential works best when it’s area specific. If a brand launches a product aimed at consumers of a certain area, having a localised approach makes more sense rather than a TVC.

  • Happy Finish gives brands an augmented reality experience

    Happy Finish gives brands an augmented reality experience

    MUMBAI: In the advertising world, every agency is pushing the bar in order to give the best to clients by using highly efficient creative tools. However, it seems that these tools were not giving clients the necessary results. In the midst of all this, Happy Finish has now realized the potential of augmented reality in India.

    Augmented reality is something where a mobile device is used with a Samsung gear or Oculus to overlay real world objects with digital content and virtual reality. It enables viewing digital content through a wearable device that completely blocks the real world and immerses one in an alternate universe.

    The Beginning

    Founded in 2004 by Stuart Waplington, Rainer Usselmann and Chris Roome, Happy Finish was set up to represent the best digital artists in the world, allowing art directors, photographers and brands the freedom to develop creative ideas and unique visual styles, often pushing the boundaries of what is possible to set new standards in the industry.

    Global presence

    Having set a long journey, today Happy Finish has global presence with six offices. The company’s second office was launched in Mumbai in 2011 and since then it has expanded into cities like Shanghai, Portland, New York and another office in London.

    Why India?

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the company’s India operations and the way forward, Happy Finish India CEO Ashish Limaye says, “We entered the Indian market to cater to domestic demand and advertisers and marketers had realized then that they need Augmented Reality/ Computer Generated (CG) images for their television and outdoor work.”

    While Happy Finish possibly provides the best of imagery across touch points, the brand saw the potential in India and aimed to target about 18-20 per cent of the print market where a lot of CG animation and imagery is used. They identified that communication is going to become more sophisticated and hence it was the right time for them to invest in Indian market.

    Clients in India and abroad

    The brand has worked with brands like Burberry, Nike, Mercedes and Skoda among others in global markets. Meanwhile, Happy Finish has been doing some phenomenal work for the Indian market by working with Mahindra, Renault, Suzuki Ciaz, Johnson & Johnson, HUL, Marico and Baskin Robbins among others.

    Limaye adds, “We either directly work with the brand or it gets channelized through the agency. There is a lot of brain storming that goes in all the nuances and are glad that clients are happy with our work.”

    What do they do?

    Happy Finish provides services ranging from retouch, 3D, animation, interactive and motion effects apart from giving the augmented reality experience and providing CG images. They have worked with clients across the fashion, automotive industry and production houses.

    Happy Finish Global CEO Simon Gosling says, “Our imagery work with global magazines like Vogue, GQ or any other magazine has been appreciated. Fashion is something that we always look forward to enhance. Internationally, Burberry is one of the major fashion brands and we have done some phenomenal work for Burberry.”

    The company has also worked with a few of the world’s best magazines and photographers.

    That apart, it has also worked with the international series 24 where Jack Bauer returned to screens for the latest season of the show for Sky. The work features 24 stills taken over a 24-hour period across the streets of London.

    Limaye asserts, “Our work with Renault Duster was so impressive that Renault is using our image in all global markets where it will launch Duster and we are very proud of it.”

    Stating an example in the Indian market, Gosling says, “We have worked with Maruti Suzuki India. The company is the latest high profile automotive brand to trust the expertise of our talented Mumbai artists. This collection of images showcases the retouch and CG skills all the way from our Mumbai studio.”

    Happily Finishing

    The biggest marketing activity that Happy Finish undertook was associating with Kyoorius for Melt 2015, which concluded last weekend.

    Though there has been no structured research on the AR/VR industry but it comes under the digital industry. Talking about the industry potential, Limaye says, “My own assessment is that in the advertising industry, primarily where television has about 46 per cent market share of the total ad pie, I think that we have a potential of having a share of at least four per cent of the market size in the next four years. This means four per cent of the television pie, which is a huge chunk in itself.”

    Click to experience some of Happy Finish’s work.

  • Indian brands look to ride the Augmented Reality wave

    Indian brands look to ride the Augmented Reality wave

    MUMBAI: Gone are the days when brands would be happy putting a campaign on TV or printing an ad in newspapers to grab their target audience’s attention. At a time when consumers are looking for greater engagement and connect with brands, Augmented Reality, which provides just that, is slowly making inroads in India.

    In today’s typical life of massive information overload, Augmented Reality breaks the monotony and intelligently places the brand in the perspective of real world surroundings creating a solid Human-Brand-Interface.

    Buoyed by the new model of advertising, Wowsome founder Vishal Reddy and co-founder Karan Bhangay, use mobile Augmented Reality to help brands engage with their consumers by offering real time, enticing and interactive visual content on their mobile devices. Instead of interrupting the consumers, Augmented Reality provides relevant situation based content that urges the consumer to share it with their friends and family.

    Wowsome was born when Reddy and Bhangay witnessed a sea change in advertising with the digital wave in India. “Coming from a print background, we saw that social media was taking over all the print revenues for most of the publications. We thought we should add more life to the dead content that was there in print. We wanted to add more layers of digital content. That’s how Vishal came up with the idea through, which content could be more creative,” informs Bhangay.

    While the industry was undergoing a digital revolution, it was unstructured and disconnected. “Publications were struggling with stagnation in print readership and digital was trying to connect both. And Wowsome broke that disconnect and connected both the mediums,” says Reddy.

    Wowsome, which started a year back, currently boasts of over 50 clients including brands like L’oreal Paris India, Omega Watches, Apollo Hospitals, Being Human, Aston Martin, The Collective, Ballantines, Jaguar and Budweiser among others.

    L’oreal and Omega Watches were the first brands to hop on to Wowsome’s Augmented Reality bandwagon. “Brands in the niche market, that are not typical advertisers and are very creative with their ads, were the first to experiment with Augmented Reality,” informs Bhangay, adding that brands, which have an eye on reaching their client innovatively, are the ones who will pounce on Augmented Reality first.

    The duo feels that the reason why Augmented Reality hasn’t kicked off in India so far is because the technology is difficult to explain. Reddy says, “Augmented Reality is very complicated to explain and the best way is to show clients what it actually does: its immersiveness, the awe factor and the kind of emotions that it puts. In a very natural way, it is a brand engagement medium, which offers very targeted and customized advertising. We got the positioning right and got a product, which is easy to use and hence the penetration happened. The model we created was able to excite most businesses.”

    Reddy and Bhangay are keen to see Augmented Reality grow as an industry in itself. “We want Augmented Reality to become an industry. Of course we have a brand, which serves brands and consumers, but we would want to set a standard for what Augmented Reality could actually do for the industry. On the consumer front, we want to tell people how it works and what all one can do with it,” asserts Bhangay.

    Wowsome, as part of its engagement strategy for consumers, is not just offering goodies, but working on interesting content, which would force the customers to stick to the brand. “A whole season of Augmented Reality is waiting,” opines Bhangay.

    While Wowsome is enrolling brands, the brands in turn are bringing in the customers. “Compare this with e-commerce. People complained that it wouldn’t work, but with the kind of drive and investments, we have become the most promising e-commerce nation. We hope the same will happen with Augmented Reality,” says Reddy.

    Wowsome, according to Reddy, is very economical and provides a great Return on Investment (ROI). “Our business model broadly is to offer 10 to 15 per cent incremental cost on the existing print spend to add an interactive Augmented Reality feature. From that perspective, brands find it economical. It is being used as a sales story by many,” adds Reddy.

    Great Augmented Reality campaigns deliver a seamless experience where users cannot differentiate between the real world and its virtual augmentation. With 160 million smart phone users in India braced by steady 3G data, expected to grow by a staggering 225 million before the end of 2015, Augmented Reality will soon be ubiquitous as the ultimate mass medium of advertising.

    While currently Augmented Reality is sharing the revenue pie with the print or digital spends, the duo is hopeful that in the next two years, brands will set aside separate budgets for the medium. Another advantage of Augmented Reality is that companies can get real time data on customers who are interacting with the brand, which gives them a better chance to convert visitors into buyers.

    Brands that hop on to the new medium soon will benefit, according to Reddy and Bhangay, while those who are applying the wait and watch philosophy could just miss the bus when the medium sees an explosion in the next few years.

     

  • Prisma Global introduces snap2life

    Prisma Global introduces snap2life

    MUMBAI: Prisma Global has introduced snap2life, a technology which connects the print with digital at a click of a button.

    snap2life, as product and service amalgamates both print and digital media and can be used for various industries like, advertising, marketing, branding, manufacturing and constructions, amid growing popularity of mobile internet in urban India.

    Prisma Global with four generation technology of ‘Image Recognition and Augmented Reality‘ aims at highlighting the new wave in the advertising and marketing space that will transform the way companies reach out to their target audiences.

    Prisma Global chairman and group CEO Shreeram Iyer said, “This will transform the capability of connecting the printed communication to desired digital media for delivering measurable engagement with consumers. Every page and every picture in a magazine or news paper can be a link to the website, digital content and augmented reality. This will be one of the leading communication tools for advertising industry amid growing popularity of mobile internet in urban India and has a very deep penetration among young tech aware audience.”

    Prisma Global is a global information technology solutions company managed by professionals with over 15 years‘ experience in the global information technology arena. Prisma Global specialises in Healthcare, augmented reality, image recognition, security and business intelligence.

  • BBC’s broadband learning service for children begins a storytelling trial

    BBC’s broadband learning service for children begins a storytelling trial

    MUMBAI: BBC jam (bbc.co.uk/jam) the UK pubcaster’s new broadband learning service for 5 to 16 year olds, has begun a three-month Augmented Reality (AR) storytelling trial.

    AR is a concept which allows users to interact with virtual 3D objects in real time, by using their own hands, rather than a mouse or a keyboard.

    The trial will enable users to see themselves on a computer screen, holding and moving the 3D characters as they explore the specially-created story (bbc.co.uk/jam/trial/ar).

    AR works by mixing the live video from a digital camera with animated 3D models, which are made to appear in the hands of the user.

    This is achieved by special software which tracks patterns, printed on paper, in each video image. AR technology allows learners to literally pick objects off the page and explore them in a highly rewarding way.

    The animated characters are able to interact with other objects and each other; they are even able to walk off the page.

    Building on technology developments that have led to BBC using AR in the broadcast of BBC News and BBC Sport, the BBC is now able to bring the same technologies to the homes and classrooms of the public.

    To be involved in the first trial all users will need is a standard PC, a webcam and a broadband internet connection. Free software access will be provided and users will be asked to fill in two short feedback forms during the three-month pilot.

    This first trial uses a brand-new story by the award-winning children’s author, Rob Lewis. Written especially for five to seven year olds, it supports shared reading, at home or at school.

    During the trials there will be user guides, teacher notes, tutorials and technical support available and a space to share personal experiences with other participants.

    The BBC has been working with the collaboration of an open source community called AR Toolkit, to explore the use of the technology in broadcasting. They would now like to see it used in classroom and homes.

    The team has recently carried out two projects with teachers and pupils in the BBC’s 21st Century Classroom (21CC) – a digital learning centre in central London, dedicated to exploring creative and cutting-edge uses of technology in teaching and learning; they are now looking to gauge the general public’s reaction.

    If the trial is successful then the BBC hopes to launch further subjects for different ages to explore, learn and create. The pubcaster believes that AR has the potential beyond purely learning as a fun and initiative way of interacting with digital content in collaborative ways for both children and adults.