Augmented reality technology is becoming so viral in the last 5 years that it spreads from industry to industry, proposing each of them a set of advantages. Some of those characteristics were cover in the previous articles of our blog.
Visiting Germany a week ago and trying out its great beer made me curious to see how do beverage brands adapt to the demands of the customers that become more and more technologically advanced.
Back in 2012 there was a campaign by Aurasma that turned limited edition Budweizer beer cans into the 3D FA cups. The campaign spread around different media channels within a couple of days due to “Photo Sharing” option that did well its job. Overall more than 8.5 million cans featuring the technology were sold.
The same time with Budweizer Absolut Vodka in partnership with digital agency Great Works released an app that took consumers on a three-dimensional tour of Åhus, the small Swedish village where the vodka is produced. Users were able to explore the area to discover how the vodka is made, from the wheat fields to the distillery and the bottling plant. A free drink recipe was also given for free in the app, that could be handy when thinking what cocktail to make.
Contrary to the above mentioned brands Stella Artois did not go with an entertaining stuff but instead launched an augmented reality bar guide application. Company wanted to provide something the user would use on a regular basis. Le Bar Guide fuses the real-world view of the consumer’s immediate surroundings in augmented reality, providing a useful app and enabling Stella Artois to go beyond marketing.
Ursus, the biggest Romanian home beer brand (owned by SAB Miller) prepared an Augmented Reality based application that combined features starting from the entertaining 3D bear with which users could take a photo and finishing with pub locator that would guide them to the nearest pub where the bear is served.
Another interesting example of the campaign involving augmented reality showed a tequila brand Jose Cuervo that decided to tell a story through augmenting its bottles. The app that was introduced as part of a campaign takes over and illustrates the snapshots of Cuervo’s history on the screen.
The recent app, called AR Mix, created by a mobile marketing firm Somo Global in London, shows that augmented reality can be technically impressive, exciting, and very fun. The idea of the app is to have each spirit bottle play a vocal track, while each soft drink that can be mixed with spirits contains a beat. By putting the bottles in front of the mobile device so that through image recognition the app can recognize and play the music. Everyone can turn into a DJ and be able to manipulate each track by turning the bottle or a can around in front of the camera. A spinning record appears to show which one is playing, and by moving the camera closer or further away, the volume can be raised and lowered.
To sum up I’d like to say that sometimes augmented reality can be really useful (e.g. bar locator) and sometimes can just be used for fun (e.g. mixing music), but in both cases marketers like to turn to augmented reality because it improves brand loyalty and visibility, as well as help brands to go with the times.
Did I miss any interesting apps or campaigns you like? Write a comment and I will consider adding it to the list.
Author:
Augmented Pixels Co.– Augmented Reality Solutions
Product Marketing Manager
Daria Gaioshko