New reality for marketers :- Augmented Reality

In today’s knowledge based economy technology is playing crucial role in shaping the world. Technology is impacting every aspect of business from manufacturing to consumption and from marketing to distribution. For instance, since the last three decades, Internet has emerged as a strong force which has drastically changed the way business is done.


Recently there has been a lot of talk about the concept of “Augmented Reality” which is a term used to describe a live view of a physical, real-world environment that is augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics. A typical AR environment has digital information transposed onto a real-world view. The termed coined by the Tom Caudell to describe a digital display used by aircraft electricians that blended virtual graphics onto a physical reality. The most common example relating AR to common people is sports broadcasting showcasing football field marked with yellow line to show offside player.

Since 2008, the concept has gathered huge momentum, thanks to the surge in usage of Smart phones and tablets across the world.

In the last two years, there has been a huge increase in the applications of AR in almost all the business sectors. There are number of innovative AR based applications in the market for Business cards, Equipment servicing, Weather services, Travel application, 3D gaming, Computer Aided Surgery, Airport Information, Navigational Overlays, Interior design & Modeling, industrial plant maintenance and many more…..

Marketers across the world have responded very positively to this new concept as it helps in engaging the customers in a better manner to create unique kind of brand experience.

Leading brands like Volkswagen, Kraft Foods, Coca cola, Carlsberg, Toyota, BMW, and Nestle have executed brilliant communication campaigns using AR. the key benefits of AR in the communication campaign are:

• AR increases engagement and ensures better user experience & usability

• Research has shown that AR increases the perceived value of products and brands

• AR is mobile and personal and, therefore, hugely accessible to a rapidly growing Smartphone market

• AR is an inexpensive alternative to other media platforms as no specific media needs to be purchased

• Brands have access to detailed analytics enabling them to truly understand their audience

According to ABI research the market for AR based application in the US alone is expected to be $ 350 Mn by 2014 from just $3.8 Mn in 2008. Juniper research predicts that revenue from mobile AR is expected to reach $ 1.5 bn by 2015. With current development and the pace at which it is growing, AR has a huge potential which is yet unexplored. I am sure a few years down the line, AR will be the crucial part of marketing communication for marketers across the world. And for the very same reason, there is no alternative for the budding managers but to equip themselves with the know how of augmented reality.


Prof. Yogesh Baviskar


Reference:-

http://www.bannerblog.com.au/news/2009/06/35_awesome_augmented_reality_examples.php

http://mashable.com/2009/12/05/augmented-reality-iphone/

http://www.inc.com/guides/201104/how-to-use-augmented-reality-in-advertising.html

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/12/13/augmented-reality-marketing-in-2010-and-beyond/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6irc0jwKC8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fGav7FI5P4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/8969.html

Internet Marketing -The Beast Unleashed

Well, I don’t think any one of us have any doubt about the power which has revolutionized the way of communication and the way of living....Marketers across the world from multinational companies to small retails shop owners have started using the Internet for communicating about the product and services. It has become integral part of IMC programs of most of the leading brands and have recorded consistently upward trend in media expenditure on internet since last 10 years and it is expected to grow exponentially in coming years because of growth in IT-Infrastructure across the world, More and More use of laptops and Smart phones, Fierce competition among the service providers making it affordable to masses and innovative services available on internet.

I just would like to share the basics of internet marketing:-
Let’s take look at what makes the internet marketing so lucrative:-

Reach: - Global
Scalable: - Highly Scalable campaigns can be designed
Content: - More and precise content & more freedom for the creativity
Interactive: - It satisfies the most fundamental condition of communication Process i.e. Interaction
Viral in Nature:-

Measurable:- This one of the most important characteristics of the Internet marketing..marketer across the world struggled to measure the results of the campaign and which is the most important part of any campaign. We can measure the number of visitors on the site, the links they click, the time they spent on the webpage/website which are very valuable indicators of the success or failure of the campaign

Economical: - Cost to reach per user is less than the other media vehicles

Analysis: - In depth analysis can be done about the geographies of the campaign, Buying and Psychological behavior of the customers based on the information they search and the communication they exchange on social networking forums


4 p's of Internet Marketing complementary to the 4 p's of marketing are:-
1. Permission: - Well, till date most of the marketers are practicing Push marketing but it is losing its essences in the era of information explosion, media explosion and product explosion, customers don’t want to get bombarded with huge information through variety of media but they are more and more selective in getting information from right source it helps the marketers to reach to interested customers base rather than mass marketing.
Internet marketing offers:-
Clear Optin
Clear Opt out
Customer- Chosen content & frequency
Relevance of the content

2. Participation:- Its psychological need of every human being to have someone to share the thoughts, information with like minded people......at the same time it has become crucial for marketers to listen to what their target say about the products, services and what they do. Internet addressed the same need in appropriate way for both the marketers and mass population. Marketers are using MySpace, YouTube, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and many more to interact and engage the customers.
Brand Engagement
Reference /Forwarding the content via mail/SMS
Brand Participation / Involvement
Social Networking (build the communities of like minded people)
Market research / Expert views / Improvement on product quality & Services

3. Profile:-The customers need to feed in the personal, social and professional data during the registration on most of the sites which offers the better segmentation and targeting to the marketers.

Capture the crucial information Age, Income, Employment details, location, Area
Target right customer group
Know Your Customer (What they do & don’t?)

4. Personalization:-
To personalize the marketing communication in effective and economical way is the biggest challenge to the marketers. Internet marketing helps the marketers to send the personalize communication on mass scale in more cost effective manner.

Internet marketing is the only media have recorded more than 12% during the recession and is expected to grow with the more than 12% in coming years. Internet marketing will very soon overtake the print media which on second rank in media spending.
So, every marketer irrespective of the location, size or type of the product and services should use internet marketing to optimize the marketing efforts.