Brands Look to Augmented Reality to Increase Video Views

QR codes? So last year. Right now, some companies have their eyes on another two letter acronym: AR.

Brands have been experimenting with augmented reality to engage consumers for their ad campaigns. For British retailer Debenhams, integrating Aurasma AR technology has helped increase sales for a lingerie line by up to 300 percent. Users who downloaded the free Aurasma app can unlock videos by hovering their smartphone or tablet cameras over print ads. The click-to-buy feature allows viewers to purchase advertised products immediately.

“We are seeing a real ROI from using it and it is a really effective way of bringing print ads to life by capitalising on our digital assets,” the company's social media manager Ruth Leach told New Media Age. “We’ll definitely use it for future campaigns.”

The magazine Top Gear has used the technology in its last four print editions to boost video views by "tens of thousands" according to the publisher. About half of its readership have access to smartphones; 27 percent of them had engaged with video content in the first two editions. The magazine plans to continue leveraging the technology for future publications. “We are actively talking to advertisers about how to develop this, and will be looking at all options from branded content to click-to-buy features within the videos, which take people through to the iTunes store,” publisher Simon Carrington said.

Using AR is a fascinating new take on QR codes, a medium with questionable effectiveness. After last year was unofficially dubbed "The year of the QR code," AdAge came back and decried it "a dead-end technology." Unless you're Facebook with a curiously large code painted on a rooftop, it's wiser to focus efforts on other strategies to increase video views. The few examples of Aurasma technology scrape the surface, but they show some promising results: more online video views, engaged audiences and increased revenue.