Augmented Reality – amazing but so what!

Augmented Reality - amazing but so what!

by Michael Krivicka on Nov 30, 2011 Follow @whoisthebaldguy

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You have read about it before.

Maybe you came across a video demo online or saw a special news report on it.

It is mainly used in advertising and can be quite mind blowing.

It is meant to be used by you – the average consumer – but chances are: you have never used one.

Augmented Reality (AR) – then and now

I’m talking about Augmented Reality. The first time I saw an AR demo, my first thought was: this is the next big thing! I was blown away by the possibilities this new technology offered and I immediately wanted to try it out.

I quickly downloaded the appropriate app to my iPhone and launched it. I was even more impressed when I saw it in action. The animations were rough and clunky but they were happening in real-time and I witnessed a virtual world being fused with my ‘real world’.

I made a bet with myself that a year later this technology would change everything and that everyone would be using it on a daily basis. That was 2 years ago.

Over the past 2 years I have seen countless AR demos online and I have read many promising articles on them. While most of the press keeps praising the technology and its creative use in smart advertising campaigns, I have never actually seen anyone use it. Most of the people I know are very tech savvy and own the latest & hottest mobile devices but none of them has ever used AR.

Brands and Marketing

While more and more brands are launching their own, very cool looking augmented reality campaigns, such as Starbucks, BMW, and Moosejaw did, the question still remains: who is using them and how effective are they?

Let’s take a look at Volkswagen’s recent augmented reality campaign:

While the AR features look amazing, my first question is: have you ever seen anyone walking down the street and holding up an iPad to a billboard to experience its AR features? I haven’t, and I live & work in New York City.

The Consumer Experience

In order for me to experience what the video demonstrates, I have to have seen the demo, be the owner of an iPad/iPhone, have downloaded a very specific app, launched it, and be at a very specific location during a limited time period. That doesn’t sound very effective to me. Too many steps. Too much effort. I give up.

Let’s make things simpler and put mobile tech aside. Can I experience an augmented reality campaign from the comfort of my own home? Yes I can. Tesco has just the thing!

After watching the above demo, I followed the instructions and installed the necessary plug-in on my laptop. I also printed out the required image that the AR feature is supposed to recognize through my webcam. Those were two steps I was willing to do in order to be part of Tesco’s unique AR shopping experience.

Now Tesco’s AR page is asking me to launch my webcam. But I can’t. I’m on a MAC and my built-in webcam can only be launched through an application (it can’t just be “turned on”) and once an application is using the webcam, no other application can use it at the same time. Soooo, for Mac users, this “unique shopping experience” is simply not possible.

I’m not sure how well this AR campaign performs on a PC, but if all Mac users are out of the equation because Apple’s Safari plug-in is not supported, then that doesn’t make much sense to me. Millions of MAC users never get a chance and I must say that this turns me off and makes me like Tesco a lot less. Probably not what they had in mind with this.

Intelligent Technology

Why is it so difficult to use augmented reality? Shouldn’t it be easy? It is meant to be used by regular mortals like me – the consumer. It is meant to improve my shopping experience or to add a cool fun factor to a brand. However, it works against me because it is still missing one critical aspect: simplicity.

One solution would be a universal app that is part of every operating system on every mobile device and every computer. I shouldn’t have to download 50 different AR apps for 50 different AR campaigns.

The QR code technology is getting close to solving this issue by me having to download & install only one universal QR code reader. I’m now soooooo happy that I can just scan a QR code that launches a website that links to a coupon that is emailed to my inbox so I can print it out and personally deliver it to the store to receive my 10% discount on a t-shirt. I love technology.

Post Author

Michael Krivicka

Michael is co-founder of Thinkmodo, a viral video marketing agency located in NYC.... View Full Profile →

http://www.tommartin.typepad.com Tom Martin

I have to agree… precious few AR campaigns have been it to the consumer. IMO it’s because most of these campaigns are coming out of digital firms that don’t have a strong marketing bent or marketing firms that really don’t understand the technology side.

What we need is for a hybrid agency (strong marketing background + complete digital understanding) to create a useful execution. It will come but like many things… it will take a few breakthrough efforts to teach the rest of the marketplace.

@TomMartin
@toddshingler

Great article. I coincidentally tried out some of the Tesco Augmented Reality scenarios on my laptop yesterday. It was interesting, but I can’t see many people bothering with the 5 minutes of installs and scenario loading – especially given that the scenario experiences weren’t that great. The Lego helicopter scenario was cool, but I kept accidentally kicking myself out of the scenario but turning my ‘A/R marker’ page too flat for the camera to pick up – and then had to start over. I didn’t see any value in having A/R scenarios for DVDs - they basically show you a ‘preview’ that may as well have been a simple video on the website. Lastly, I couldn’t interact with the TV scenarios as every time I backed up far enough from my laptop to see the full TV the camera could no longer pick up the A/R marker.

I’m seen some great mobile A/R scenarios for in-store kiosks that worked better, but I’m not sure beyond the novelty factor that many people would use them. Some of the iPhone apps such as the subway finders for New York and Chicago are interesting and provide a functionality I ‘might’ consider using – but frankly, I can find the closest subway on Google maps.

As with Tom’s comment – hopefully there will start to be better executed A/R campaigns with a simple and compelling enough experience – and value exchange – to take A/R more mainstream.

@toddshingler:twitter
Jonas

Mac, the new IE6
Anonymous

Michael,

Great article and I think you hit it on the head regarding the current problem with Augmented Reality – the lack of UX/UI thought put into all the initiatives brands are putting out. We’ve been very vocal about this issue over the last 2 years as people continue to get awed by the technology but gloss over how it will be used.

For your first example, I could not agree more with the current lack of any UX thought put into mobile AR initiatives. We’ve been contacted by brands and agencies that don’t think through many critical steps:

- So you want this just on iOS? What about all other mobile OS users?
- You have considered the battery life on a mobile device, as it pertains to running animations in your viewfinder correct?
- And the biggest one, why would anyone use their mobile device in that way to get information?

Having been in this space for 3 years now, it’s ridiculous to see the amount of hype mobile AR has gotten (and continues to get), when web and kiosk based AR is just starting to mature.

As for your other example, this again is another case of brands and agencies not vetting a particular AR technology and falling for the ‘awe’ factor. It’s pretty common knowledge (in AR digital circles) that propietary tech plug-ins don’t work very well and and work in a very limited capacity (i.e. only certain browsers, having to restart your browser to install, needing admin rights to install, etc.) We saw the same thing (back when we were a digital agency 2001-2008) with 3D plug-ins like Anark3D.

I know I’m preaching to the choir, but it’s amazing the lack of UX thought put into AR initiatives right now…

Matt

P.S. Full disclosure – we are an AR software developer, but we are focusing on making AR easier to use for the consumer (as you mentioned.)
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http://twitter.com/Limanense Juan

I love AR, but I am in the same opinion… Critical Aspect for Customers: SIMPLICITY …
Pingback: Augmented Reality – Overcoming the Impractical | OARN
Alex Hill

You might take a look at Argon, the augmented reality web browser, from Georgia Tech (IOS/iTunes). The goal of the project is to create the equivalent of HTML for AR. The browser doesn’t currently display 3D models, but a lot can be done 2D HTML/CSS content placed in 3D. The browser is currently a standalone app that browses to different AR content on the web, but ideally similar functionality becomes a standard for browsers so that no plugin or download is necessary. They are porting Argon to Android as we speak and an upcoming release for IOS will leverage the QCAR tracking solution from Qualcomm.

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