The Augmented Reality Blog

Brightkite announces to add location-based adds to their layer in Layar (via readwriteweb). It seems to be quite rudimentary right now, but if they can be selective and make the ads relevant to the things you’re looking for, it may even have some advantages. Wouldn’t that be something that the publishers of Layar would want to do themselves ?

If you visit the online clothier Tobi.com, you can go to its online dressing room and try your selection out. If you are not sure about the dress or the shirt, push the button to take a picture and share it on Facebook to get instant feedback from your friends.

Augmented Reality, motion capture and social networking all working together to help you shop.

This is just another example of how augmented reality is taking over a part of the online shopping process. Agree, it’s not perfect yet put we are getting there. The value that AR can bring to the process is obvious. We only have to wait for the technology to catch up.

But the real question is if this will drive more sales. That’s a difficult one. People do like to feel and touch the item before they decide to buy it. But then again, all the catalog shoppers will tell you otherwise.

Anyways, if you want to see how it works, here is the movie.

Chocapic, the chocolate cereals from Nestlé, is promoting its sponsorship of the new movie “Arthur and the revenge of Maltazard” with an onpack AR application that turns the pack into a gameconsole. Well done by Nestlé.

The first one is an article from the Independent. It gives you a good overview of what value Mobile AR can bring.

The Economist also talks about Mobile AR. The article gives an overview of how it works and what you need.

The first Wiki on Augmented Reality is also a fact. You can browse applications, business, list of blogs, events, … . Most of the applications we all talk about are listed here. Cool initiative!

The Point Of Sale is getting more important for marketers. Don’t get me wrong. Point of Sale activation has always been important to marketers. But recent research is showing that the importance of POS in the whole funnel is increasing and most of the purchase decisions are made on the spot (versus people deciding which brand they will pick when they make their shopping list). And our recent economic environment is only stimulating it of course.

Augmented Reality has a role to play here. There is only so much you can tell in packaging or on a wobbler. There is only so much money you can pay for more shelf space.

We are going to see more and more applications focusing on extra information brands give consumers to win them over. One of the best known already is the Lego kiosk. Which is a very smart one. Do you want to see how the toy will be once you’ve put it together? Hold the pack in front of the camera.

Another application getting a lot of attention is the Food Tracer. You look at a pack and you get extra information on the origin and production of food products. Bio people, this is one for you. With AR you can show the farm the eggs come from, you can hear the farmer talk about why he is only farming bio products, …

FoodTracer concept+demo from gusepo on Vimeo.

We’ll see more applications coming the shopping mall way. At only one condition: help win the battle of the shelf.