Augmented reality has been around for many years, but it is set to play an increasingly important role in marketing in the future. This is the conclusion of a study by the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich.
They can try out products virtually or be entertained by special features and content: AR can do all of this. "Augmented reality is always particularly suitable when it comes to personal and emotional content," says Philipp Rauschnabel from the Chair of Digital Marketing and Media Innovation at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich. Christmas is such an emotional topic.
In this year's Christmas study, scientists at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich had over 1,000 consumers evaluate several use cases of Christmas AR applications. The result: at 54.3 per cent, half of those surveyed could imagine using at least one of the applications - among younger people, this figure was as high as three out of four. The study predicts that this figure is likely to rise significantly over the next few years.
AR has a stress-reducing effect
So far, the potential has rarely been utilised. There are only a few companies that incorporate AR into their Christmas communications. Like Target, for example: The US retail chain offers an AR planner for artificial Christmas trees. But such an app can also reduce stress for people with real Christmas trees. The type, height and width of the tree can be tried out in advance at home at the "point of gifting", thus avoiding unnecessary sawing and moving furniture.
The study organisers expect a breakthrough at the latest when Apple's data glasses come onto the market. Ultimately - as the Munich research team concludes - brands can benefit significantly from inspiring AR experiences. Brand managers should therefore start thinking now about how they can serve their target groups with augmented reality.
A few interesting results of the study:
- Almost a quarter of all respondents would watch the Christmas story in AR in their own living room. Among the under-40s, this figure is as high as one in three.
- Just under one in four would like an AR Christmas tree planner that allows them to test different Christmas trees virtually in their living room beforehand. However, this seems to be particularly relevant for young people - more than one in three people under 40 (34.6 per cent) are open to it, while less than one in five consumers aged 40 and over are (18.6 per cent).
- A Santa selfie AR app, with which you can take selfies with yourself and a virtual Father Christmas, would be used by 22.4 per cent.
- 21.3 per cent would like an AR X-Mas look app that allows them to virtually dress up in a Christmas outfit and send it to friends, for example. This app is also much more popular with the under-40s: 31.8 per cent of them would use such an app, compared to just 16.5 per cent of older people.
- As many as 20.6 per cent of all respondents could imagine projecting the Star of Bethlehem onto the ceiling using AR.
- An AR gift planner that virtually suggests suitable packaging for existing gifts would meet with the interest of 19.9 per cent.
And what did you use this year?
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
Source: wuv
Deutsch 
Français 
English (UK) 
Italiano