The days of traditional advertising are gradually giving way to a more immersive and engaging form of advertising: augmented reality (AR). As the advertising landscape evolves and brands seek new ways to captivate their audiences, let’s explore the transformative potential of AR advertising to understand why it’s the superior choice to traditional advertising formats.
AR boosts ad recall
AR brings brands to life, creating memorable and immersive experiences that leave an indelible mark on consumers. According to a study on the neurological and brand impact of AR by Mindshare UK, AR increases ad recall by a whopping 70%. This heightened retention of brand messages is a game-changer, ensuring that your brand stays top-of-mind with audiences.
Take Lunchables, for example. It leveraged Niantic’s new ad format, Rewarded AR Ads, which allows players to use their smartphone camera to interact with immersive branded content that unlocks rewards within popular real-world games.
The AR ad, which launched in September, was built as an extension of the Lunchables Playables brand campaign. It allowed mobile game players to complete six unique builds, including a scooter, seesaw, Eiffel Tower, helicopter, boat and picnic table, using Lunchables’ ingredients. Players were then prompted to complete a build to unlock in-game items that gave them access to even more in-game rewards by participating in the Playables rewards program.
Using this product allowed Lunchables to reach its target audience and engage the endless possibilities of the Playables campaign, ensuring that its message lingered in the minds of consumers long after the experience was over.
AR increases brand lift
AR’s ability to blend seamlessly with business-as-usual (BAU) ads enhances brand awareness, offering consumers a dynamic and interactive dimension to engage with. The result is an advertising strategy that captivates and drives brand lift.
A 2022 study by Meta’s Foresight Group uncovered a compelling insight: Campaigns that combine standard BAU ads with AR ads outperform BAU campaigns alone, delivering nearly triple the boost in brand lift.
For example, a CPG client with a new beverage successfully piloted Niantic’s Rewarded AR ad offering, with a goal of driving brand awareness. The experience highlighted the brand’s newest launch and directed users to a product locator to find it in stores near them. The campaign generated an average 82% engagement rate and 91% completion rate of the 30-second experience—a testament to the potential of blending AR with traditional advertising to create a compelling and interactive brand experience.
AR drives engagement
AR ads redefine engagement, offering consumers an experience that’s not just dynamic, but truly immersive.
Convenience retailer Circle K created a Rewarded AR ad campaign with the goal of increasing brand awareness and product consideration for its new coffee offering. Players were presented with the Rewarded AR ad as a floating balloon in-game. They then tapped on the ad and opened their mobile camera to interact with a 3D Circle K coffee cup placed in the space in front of them. After interacting with the larger-than-life product visualization, players were prompted to get a physical cup of coffee at a nearby Circle K store.
The Rewarded AR ad campaign resulted in an average engagement rate of 76% and an average completion rate of 95% for the experience. This demonstrates how AR ads are revolutionizing audience engagement.
AR boosts conversions
Retailers have harnessed the power of AR to elevate their campaigns, enhance user engagement and drive higher conversion rates.
One example of this is the AR advertising campaign Niantic created ahead of one of its highly anticipated live events of the year. This campaign was built to boost excitement for the event and leverage a memorable AR experience to drive merchandise sales through the Niantic Supply store.
The Rewarded AR ad featured the Niantic ARShip delivering the official event t-shirt in an “AR Drop,” emphasizing its limited availability. Users interacted with the ARship, causing it to move to a new location, and received their “AR Drop” with an enticing glow. The ad concluded with an end card, offering in-game items and a call to action to purchase the Official GO Fest event shirt on the Niantic Supply website. This Rewarded AR ad campaign resulted in a 5X lift in sales compared to prior weeks without the campaign, underscoring how AR can transform advertising and drive substantial results for retailers.
As the advertising landscape continues to transform, augmented reality is set to take center stage. Whether you’re a retail giant, a tech startup or a creative agency, AR advertising is key to unlocking the full potential of brand engagement. Make the shift to AR advertising now and connect with your audience in ways that were once unimaginable.
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Adam Shlachter is head of partner marketing at Niantic, responsible for working hand-in-hand with brands and agencies to create innovative and immersive marketing programs that drive real-world business results.
