MUMBAI: The outbreak of Covid2019 has changed life and business more than anybody could have imagined. To survive this pandemic, businesses around the globe are embracing digitisation faster than ever before. Two kinds of technology, augmented reality and virtual reality, are once again in the spotlight due to the pandemic. These two technologies have been underestimated and underutilised in the past. A virtual conference held by The Advertising Club Bangalore on the topic ‘Bringing brands to life through AR & VR technologies’ saw panellists AliveNow CEO Adhvith Dhuddu, AutoVRse co-founder Ashwin Jaishanker, and FlippAR CEO Vivek Jain. The session was moderated by VRNAculars and Tripvana CEO Aneesh Koorapaty and Pink Lemonade founder and CEO Tina Mansukhani Garg.
Koorapaty raised a question before the panellists about why it is more immersive now as compared to other media segments like print, radio etc.
Dhuddu said that if you see the history of media and advertisement, especially on the web and on the mobile phone, it has always been about swiping up and down, left and right, clicking and other dimensions. AR and webAR are now able to interact through a person's eyes, lips, hands and facial gestures. It is now an immersive experience for people, they can use their front and back camera to bring life to a product and understand their placing in the real environment. He notes that the possibility of using augmented reality is endless. Because of the experiences created on augmented reality it feels immersive and realistic.
“AR is in the business for a very long time, but it is in the past two to three years that brands and agencies are able to look at AR differently. The credit goes to social media platforms like Snapchat and now Instagram who have allowed tech companies and developers to build AR experiences into their app. So, the brand that already has its audience on their page can expose them to AR experiences.”
Stories are the most powerful means for brands to inspire and influence. Products attached with stories have higher value as compared to products with just description notes Jain. Immersive tools like AR and VR are fantastic tools for brands to communicate their story.
Ashwin Jaishanker thinks that brands recognised the potential of virtual reality very recently. With time, audiences started seeing a very complex narrative of AR. “The metrics that you create with AR on your customers is on a different level. This technology invites your user to experience the world designed in your product and it helps them explore the product by themselves,” he further added.
Aneesh highlighted that for brands, AR and VR are great ways to create emotional connection.
