Augmented Reality in PR

Lynx augmented reality campaign in London Victoria Station

When people step onto a marker with Lynx symbol on it, an angel then falls on the ground in the digital video billboard at London Victoria Station. People could interact with the angel via the digital billboard. This technology is called augmented reality which is a relatively new technology that can be applied to PR campaigns.  A PR communication agency Lewis describes the use of  augmented reality quite well: “augmented reality… allows your customers to experience your product or service in a totally new way. Merging reality with computer generated graphics you can offer brand interaction on a new level, whether it is via a webcam or a smartphone; at a desk or walking around a city's streets.”  To make it simple, augmented reality is able to mix the real world into virtual one by means of webcam, smartphones etc.

There are several advantages of augmented reality when being used in PR campaigns . Firstly, people would pay more attention on the message the PR campaign is going to send out when interacting with whatever it is with the help of augmented reality. Therefore, the exposure of the message/brand/product is more likely to increase. Moreover, it is quite fun for people to interact with virtual world, they may share this with their friends. Consequently, more and more people will get involved in the campaign, brand awareness would be increased greatly.  Last but least, with augmented reality, organizations are able to communicate with their key publics in spaces, not being restricted by physical communication as well as the traditional media.
Although augmented reality has been used by various industries since 2009, such as film, shoes, NGO, watch, automobile and so forth, it is still a rather expensive technology  to be used, especially for those smaller companies. However, in the near future, it is likely that augmented reality will be widely used by organizations as a tool to send out key messages and to communicate with key publics.


Credits
http://www.lewispr.com/Innovation/Augmented-Reality.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality
http://www.computergraphica.com/2006/12/20/osgart-10-augmented-reality-software-development-kit/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFuUFeQIdpk