Augmented Reality in Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor or out-of-home (OOH) advertising is a traditional media that continues to grow over the past ten years. While the digitalization of advertising might be a threat to OOH media, this medium still stays relevant until today with the consistent adoption of new technology. With new technology and ideas, advertisers can bring OOH advertising into a new era of innovation. Captivating and interactive, this article will discuss Augmented Reality in Outdoor Advertising.
What is Augmented reality?
Augmented reality (AR) is a digital format of an enhanced version of the real world. Not to be confused with virtual reality (VR), AR integrates the virtual world with the real world while VR presents a complete virtual world. AR has been in the outdoor advertising scene since 2010. It is a slow-growing but promising interactive medium that can create an immersive ad experience for the audience.
How it works:
AR advertisements are easily accessible to the audience. People will just need to roll out their smartphones and access the AR content with an application or just the device camera. For instance:
The NHS AR Blood Donation Campaign
Image via MarketingWeek
The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK launched an AR campaign that allows people to donate blood virtually on the screens in Birmingham and London. The AR content that people access on their phones shows the process of a needle going into their flesh. When they hover their phone, the virtual injection will take place. With the AR content integrated with the screen, the bag of blood on the screen eventually fills up as more people participate in the campaign. It was a meaningful AR campaign that has successfully raised awareness on blood donation.
Another type of AR campaign does not require any devices to see it as the billboard itself will serve as the AR screen. For instance:
BBC Earth AR Campaign
Click to watch:
This digital screen at a bus shelter in Oslo is an AR screen itself. To promote the launch of BBC Earth in Norway, this AR campaign portrays virtual animals on the screen that look exactly like the real world. People were surprised by the realistic presentation and had fun interacting with it.
Timberland AR Campaign
Click to watch:
This AR screen is located in a shopping mall, on the store-front window of Timberland’s outlet. Shoppers can interact with this AR screen by standing in front of it and it will become a virtual fitting room. It was a fun way to attract shopper’s attention and provide them with a convenient fitting room experience to shop for Timberland’s clothes.
The future of AR in OOH:
Augmented reality in outdoor advertising is predicted to grow and become a prominent part of the OOH scene. Soon, we will see more billboards in town integrates with AR technology to elevate the audience experience.