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Augmented Reality: Still a Marketing Gimmick

20 October 2019

While rummaging around Regal's app this weekend, I finally took a look at their Toy Story 4 AR experience. I'm surprised it's still available, given the movie's near the end of its theatrical run.

As it stands, things haven't changed all that much since I played around with some AR gimmickry leading up to the release of Star Wars: Episode VIII two years ago.

A lot of AR is still a marketing toy; with these Disney implementations, for example, they can be triggered by focusing the camera on campaign-related movie posters. The end result isn't much more than stuff that can be done in Photoshop, with AR having a "live" experiential edge. It's entertaining — for a few minutes. And, with Toy Story 4, there are also some cutesy little video components to add some action to the AR results.

There are a lot of other AR possibilities out there — for marketing and otherwise. Real-world business use cases include touring facilities or vacant lots and getting a real-time example of what's possible, what the future might look like for a skyline or business operations.

But marketing AR needs to step it up a bit. It's interesting to see how this technology is being fiddled with and refined for promotional purposes. Now it's time to add some sophistication into the mix; take it beyond the gimmick and to the next level of blurring fantasy with reality.