Will Augmented Reality Finally Get the Attention It Needs?
A technology exists today that has the ability to change the world around you, to alter reality in a way that is unique to you. Not only does that represent a significant impact on our lives in the future, it also presents marketers with the opportunity to build engaging and valuable experiences way beyond what they're doing today.
Put simply, augmented reality (AR) is a view of the real world that's being altered, or "augmented," by a digital view. It's being adopted by the military, medical professionals, education, retail, and entertainment companies, but is still seen as somewhat of a gimmick by ad execs.
While investment in AR has been growing, it may be the recent discovery of Google's "smart glasses" project that brings it the attention it deserves.
Most people have actually seen AR in action but not realized what was happening - in football, the "first and 10" line magically appears on the ground under the feet of the players, seemingly disappearing as they walk over it, and has dramatically enhanced the interactivity of the sport for the TV viewer since 1998. It has become so mainstream that viewers would miss it if were taken away and their watching experience would be lessened.
5 Factors of Mobile Application Success
A member of my team was asked to evaluate the potential success of a client's mobile application. In order to understand what "makes or breaks" any given app, she analyzed the successes and failures of a number of branded mobile apps. From this qualitative research, she identified five factors that will predict the success or failure of a branded app, outlined below:
1. Entertainment factor. One of the most important criteria of rating mobile applications is whether or not it's entertaining. This can also be looked at as novelty - is the app clever enough to catch the user's attention, even if just for a short time? App stores are filled with applications that have tried hard to be clever and entertaining but have failed miserably.
One of the best examples of a branded application that was developed to be nothing more than entertaining and clever (while engaging users in the brand itself) is the Virtual Zippo Lighter app. The app contains an image of a lighter that opens and turns on when the user flicks her wrist while holding an iPhone, and was primarily marketed to live music enthusiasts. As evidence of the near-perfect union of entertainment factor, innovative use of technology, and brand experience, the Zippo app landed in the Top 20 downloaded list within the first year of its launch.
