3 days ago
Do It Yourself Augmented Reality In 9 Minutes
Augmented reality LU biscuit package in France that uses Hololink platform technology
This special promotion for the LU Biscuit Company that I discovered on a LinkedIn post, caught my attention and captured my heart. It included 15-second video that showed a French student, newly arrived at college, who while unpacking her suitcase finds this box of LU cookies that were placed in her suitcase by her parents. Activated through augmented reality, the package transformed into a flower made of cookies that said 'to study in a strange country es a challenge! We believe in you!', with a transition to 'Mama & Papa' in the red center circle. It was a sweet simple idea that touched the heart strings, and is a best use case of augmented reality on packaging.
The LU activation enables easy message customization by consumers, just by scanning the QR code on the pack. The campaign idea was considered so big, it justified 360° brand marketing support including social media, influencers, events in universities, articles, in-store materials and e-commerce banners. Influencer content and articles will be published about the promotion over the next several months, no doubt with more fun consumer customization examples.
To better understand the technology, I contacted Niels Østergaard, president of the Danish company Halolink from Copenhagen that created the technology and developed the online platform that enables users to make augmented reality experiences quickly and relatively simply without the need for an app… simply by accessing the tool from a web browser. You start by dragging and dropping 3D images onto the background you choose and then determine the type of action you'd like the object to perform. Images can be overlayed on flat surfaces and real-world environments, or be seen 360° around the viewer. Hololink integrates 3D models, images, videos, text, and audio for multi-modal experiences.
AR in marketing and packaging isn't new. It's been around since the early 2000's, but it's now incredibly easy for anyone inside a firm to experiment and apply it. Firms are no longer dependent on outside agencies to do the work in an involved, time-consuming process. For someone who knows how to use the tool, which requires minimal training, and who has an idea of what they want to create, augmented reality use cases can be generated in a matter of minutes. I would argue that AR technology in marketing and packaging has been under-utilized and there is much to recommend it. According to a 2022 study by the marketing communications agency Mindshare:
AR use cases spring from creativity and imagination. It's great for brand storytelling and can be highly strategic. AR can also create great content for social media and even be the brand's big integrated marketing idea with 360° support. These are some of my favorite examples:
Other AR use cases include paintings in museums that come to life and animate, treasure hunts in large retailers with clues that can activate prizes or experiences throughout the store and increase time spent in store, gamifying static environments, and bringing studies to life for students by, for example, transforming a 2-D picture of the human body in a textbook, into a 3D image that can be rotated to bring the subject matter to life. Once brands, organizations, and institutions get started brainstorming activations that can engage their audiences, the sky's the limit as to what they can quickly and affordably create.
