Virtual and augmented reality - A new chapter in modern advertising

More than two year have passed since “Pokemon GO” made its debut, yet the app’s golden days won’t be ending soon, as a recent report just shown that their revenue in January 2019 had increased up to 84% compared to January 2018 (Nelson, 2019). From a consumer point of view, these statistics might simply mean that that Niantic Labs has successfully introduced and made a console game available on smartphones. However, From a marketer’s point of view , “Pokemon GO” might serve as one of the best examples of augmented reality’s power, or in a larger sense, signaling the dawn of AR/VR as a trend in the advertising industry.

One small step for a franchise, one giant leap for an industry

Before we come to examine what “Pokemon GO” has actually done for the AR/VR industry, it’s important to remember that in spite of its huge success, Niantic, Inc. wasn’t the first to use this technology. According to HQSoftware (2018), the term “virtual reality” was used and popularized by Jaron Lanier in the process of selling VR products for his company in 1987. By 1990, the term “augmented reality” was introduced by Tom Caudell of Boeing, yet it was not until 2008 that the first advertisement using AR was launched by BMW to promote for their new car Mini Cabrio (Strauss, 2008). However, being in its primitive days, the AR technology used by BMW at the time could only project an image of the car on a piece of print ad by scanning it with a webcam and a web browser, no more no less.

BMW's ad of Mini Cabrio was featured on 3 German automotive magazines: Auto, Motor und Sport, Werben & Verkaufen and Autobild

Fast forwards to the 2010s where numerous devices have been invented to aid the technology, many large companies such as Uber, VISA, Pepsi, etc began incorporating AR into their advertisements. So the question now remains, what exactly have “Pokemon Go” done for the AR/VR industry that made it so unique compared to everyone else ? Well the answer to this lies in awareness.

In 2016, a survey from Nielsen (2017) has shown that the only 28% of surveyed US public knows about AR/VR devices. A year later, the figure has rose to 51%, just after the launch of Pokémon GO. Of course, some could argue that “aware” doesn’t necessarily mean that the public can actually define what these technologies are, nor tell the exact differences between ar and vr. But at the end of the day, none of those actually matters, or as Molina (2016) has put “Whether they could define "augmented reality" or not, by the end of the weekend, many had experienced it — or watched others stumble around using it.”. What matters the most is that consumers worldwide knows that AR = Pokemon GO = seeing virtual things in a real setting, and that alone already means that they’re gotten more familiarized with AR, just by playing a mobile game.

Jumping on the bandwagon

Outside the gaming industry, the success of “Pokemon GO!” has encouraged many marketers and large companies around the world to start incorporating AR and smartphones to advertise for their products. For instance, in the context of Vietnam, one of the first pioneers to incorporated augmented reality into their advertisements was Friesland Campina. According to the Mobile Marketing Association (n.d), it was common for ready-to-drink milk brands in Vietnam to use on-pack promotions - which usually includes free plastic toys, stickers, stationeries, etc - to attract kids to buy their products. As such, in 2015, Dutch Lady has decided to elevate their promotional activities with an augmented reality mobile app called “Flying Farm”, based on findings about tablets and smartphones usage in Vietnamese children. With each Dutch Lady milk pack bought, children will be given a “Flying Farm” collectible toy with the code to download the app. The app will feature the story Matt, a farm boy with his cow and allows users in interact with them in an AR environment. Additionally, kids could also scan their collectible toys with the app and make Matt ride around the farm on them.

For further information on Dutch Lady’s Flying Farm, click here: https://www.mmaglobal.com/case-study-hub/case_studies/view/41406

Vietnam - A diamond in the rough

In 4 weeks’ time, Flying Farm has reached more than 27,000 downloads, resulting in Dutch Lady surpassing their sales objectives by 13% (Mobile Marketing Association, n.d), proving the potential of AR/VR to thrive in Vietnam. However, it’s vital that we also take into consideration the fact that both AR/VR are just technologies, and could only maximize their impact if integrated with the right messages to target the right audiences. On the other hand, Being a relatively new landscape in the country, the production cost of an AR/VR project might still be a barrier preventing companies and developers to invest in. Furthermore, there are still very few institutions in Vietnam that could offer students with proper education on the technology (Chi, 2018). As a result of highly required investment and lack of manpower, it will take a while for marketers to fully get a grasp of the technology. It’s highly recommended that they should consider the platform and devices to incorporated with carefully, regard of AR/VR as a tool, rather than the secret sauce to making everything successful.

References used

Hqsoftwarelab.com. (2018). The History of AR and VR: a Timeline of Notable Milestones. [online] Available at: https://hqsoftwarelab.com/about-us/blog/31-augmented-and-virtual-reality/202-the-history-of-ar-and-vr-a-timeline-of-notable-milestones [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].

iDesign. (2018). VR ở Việt Nam: Không khó về kỹ thuật mà là con người. [online] Available at: https://idesign.vn/i-gallery/vr-o-viet-nam-khong-kho-ve-ky-thuat-ma-la-con-nguoi-71455.html [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].

Mmaglobal.com. (n.d.). MMA Case Study Hub | Dutch Lady's Flying Farm App. [online] Available at: https://www.mmaglobal.com/case-study-hub/case_studies/view/41406 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].

Molina, B. (2016). With 'Pokémon Go,' augmented reality is having its moment. [online] Usatoday.com. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2016/07/11/pokemon-go-augmented-reality/86950180/ [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].

Nelson, R. (2019). Pokémon GO Revenue Last Month was 84% Higher Than January 2018, Exceeding $68 Million. [online] Sensortower.com. Available at: https://sensortower.com/blog/pokemon-go-revenue-january-2019 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].

Nielsen.com. (2017). U.S. Games 360 Report: 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2017/us-games-360-report-2017.html# [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].

Strauss, P. (2008). Mini Augmented Reality Ads Hit Newstands. [online] Technabob. Available at: https://technabob.com/blog/2008/12/17/mini-augmented-reality-ads-hit-newstands/ [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].