11:50AM October 10 2011
Augmented Reality: Are we there yet?
Augmented Reality has been touted as the next big thing ever since the last next big thing came and went. As a concept it’s magical; make something digital appear as if it’s in the real world on your PC screen, your tablet, or Smartphone. And with all the statistics pointing towards increased Smartphone penetration, and a more social and mobile audience, AR should be ready to explode. In the interests of full disclosure, we should reveal that we recently ran an advertising campaign for Dynamo: Magician Impossible that incorporated an AR app and some print advertising that did lovely sparkly stuff when you pointed your phone at it. All with pretty good results, so we’re fans of AR. But it hasn’t taken over the world yet. Here are a few things we believe need to be overcome before it does:
Why?
That’s the most important question. Why would someone do it? Apart from animating something in the real world, AR traditionally hasn’t contributed that much to the user experience. But that’s all starting to change. The technology’s matured and is now capable of amazing things. Our Dynamo app brought a print advert to life with playing cards flying out of the advert; tap and a card and it’ll play you a little video of Dynamo doing a trick. But beyond that, you can now control images, interact with them, and geo-tag and share them, which makes the offering far more compelling. Add to this competition mechanisms, gaming elements and great creative and you’ve got yourself a pretty potent mix. So, while yes, it may have been a bit gimmicky in the past, that’s the past.
How?
Like all new technology, it’s a bit fiddly and isn’t 100% foolproof. For every 1,000 people who viewed our Dynamo AR advert, there was the odd one who couldn’t get it to work, for whatever reason. Maybe their iPhone was too slow, maybe the paper was wrinkled so it couldn’t pick up the marker. And guess who voiced their discontent? That’s right, the small minority who couldn’t get it to work. Which is fair enough. There are also other technical hurdles: There’s no one mobile platform, you develop your iPhone version and you have to do it for Android, Windows etc., all adding to the cost. As technology advances, we’ll no doubt see tools that reduce the effort required to achieve cross platform compatibility, so hopefully this will become less of an issue, but right now it does create a big barrier. And you can’t get away from the fact that people have to download an app and hold their phone or tablet in front of them to get anything out of it. But with the advent of 4G, increased download speeds and decreased bandwidth usage costs whilst out of Wi-Fi range will make it easier than ever to quickly download apps. So, all the indications are that the technology will become more reliable, more exciting and easier. But, and it’s a big but, AR will die if these technological barriers aren’t sorted. People are people, and they want easy, simple and brilliant all at once.
What’s next?
The first time you show someone something in AR, it’s magical, and they’re blown away by it. It’s a genuinely impressive experience, they wave their arms around, they giggle, and they’re captivated. The second time, not so much. So we can’t rely on AR’s enduring charm. If AR is to thrive, we need to use our brains to demonstrate real value to users. A rewarding experience that you can’t get doing anything else. At some stage, we’re going to have to put away the dancing robots and unicorns and deliver something that’s more than just sparkle, something that uses the platform in a far less disposable, more compelling way. It’s starting to happen already, we’re on the verge of a breakthrough campaign that’ll capture people’s imagination, and when it does, that’s when you’ll see Augmented Reality really fly.
