Augmented Reality Shopping

I've posted about Augmented Reality numerous times now, and although I've said it before, I'll say it again; Augmented Reality rocks! This is where cutting edge is for me. This is the place that digital marketing can go to create the most interactive, most engaging, and most dynamic creatives and campaigns.

I was lucky enough sit in on a Cybercom 'Friday Session'* presented by Marty. Marty gave a fantastic run through of numerous Augmented Reality applications. Afterwards I said, in my mind it's clear that the next step is Augmented Reality shopping - being able to "try on" clothes in a virtual store before buying them. Well guess what? There' no need to wait....



How incredibly cool is that! Sure it's not 100% accurate or spot on, but it's cutting edge, it's not meant to be perfect. However, give it 6 to 12 months and as it transitions from cutting edge to leading edge, I guarantee this will be picked up by every major online clothes retailer. Consider that this technology could tell you what size clothes to buy. No more guessing as to whether an American 'M' is an English 'L'!

Augmented Reality Posts
Augmented Reality By Hand
Augmented Reality Top 10
Augmented Reality: Shopping for Glasses
Mobile Augmented Reality Game
Augmented Reality Music Video
Augmented Reality Pizza
Eminem's Relapse Augmented Reality
Papermotion
WWF Augmented Reality
What's In The Box? (ARG)

*Friday Session - every Friday 1 or 2 agency staff give a short presentation on a topic of interest to the whole agency. This could be on a new Social Media tool, new International Digital news or holiday snaps of a far off place. Either way, it's a place for everyone in the agency to get together and wind down for the weekend.

Augmented Reality: Contact Lenses

Without a doubt, Augmented Reality has captured my attention this year in a big way. I've blogged about AR Business Cards, an AR Museum Guide, AR Games and even an AR Music Video. For me, Augmented Reality technology represents the first major technological convergence with serious potential for both entertainment and real world application. So here I present to you the most cutting edge use of Augmented Reality I've seen to date - Augmented Reality Contact Lenses.

Our eyes are one of the most astonishing organs in our body. They allow us to see millions of colours, seamlessly adjust between shifting light conditions, and they can transmit all this information to your brain at a faster speed then your broadband internet connection. Your retina has a static contrast ratio of approximately 100:1, however your is capable of adjusting its exposure both chemically and by the iris. In this way your eye can achieve a dynamic contrast ratio of about 1,000,000:1. Even more phenomenal is that the process is non-linear and multifaceted, so even if your field of vision is exposed to bright light, the process simply starts again, without any ill-effect.

So what if you could do even better? What if you could augmented this incredible organ?

Imagine a world akin to the novels of Vernor Vinge, in which characters utilise contact lenses that allow them to access global information banks through graphic interfaces right before their eyes. This is the world of Augmented Reality Contact Lenses, and it's a world that may not be too far away.

Consider what would be necessary to achieve such technologies - microelectronics, nanocomputers, transparent synthetic conductors. The truth is, these things are not science-fiction and are already being not only developed, but tested, in labs around the world. One such lab at the University of Washington is at the forefront of what may be the next giant leap in mobile computing.


Admittedly the lenses that they have so far developed are quite limited, but they have achieved building a lens with a micro-LED powered wirelessly through RF. The team there are taking conventional contact lenses and turning them into functional AR systems with integrated control circuits, communication circuits, and miniature antennas. there next step will eventually be to include hundreds of LEDs, which will form images in front of your eyes. These could be anything from words to photographs.

So how close are we? Well, I may have exaggerated slightly, being able to pop in your AR Contact Lenses that allow you to fully access the web is a bit of a way off. Don't despair though, there are a number of extremely practical applications that are likely to happen long before that. Firstly, the technology does have the potential to provide vision enhancement to those that suffer from vision impairments, and it could even act as a simple warning system for those that are hearing impaired giving directional information about loud noises etc. Of course in the beginning the most likely situation is that the display and interface lenses will rely on a wearable portable-device that would feed the actual information through to the lenses.

Anyway, this is seriously exciting stuff in my opinion both in the short term and long term.


For further information see here

Augmented Reality Pizza

This is by far one of my favourite Augmented Reality campaigns to date. It's really slick. Just log-on to Papa John's Roadtrip, download and print an icon of founder John Schnatter's 1972 Camaro (that he sold 25 years ago to open his first restaurant), pop it front of your webcam and virtually drive the car. What's really good is that instead of a standalone driving game, while driving you get access to exclusive discounts for Papa John's, displayed on virtual billboards along the virtual road.

In June, Papa John's will also be adding the icon to the bottom of pizza boxes - the first time a brand has made augmented reality available at point-of-purchase.

"Augmented reality is consistent with our continued emphasis on exploring technology in ways that provide better value and connection to our customers, as well as enhance our ability to engage them in ways above and beyond the transaction," said Jim Ensign, Papa John's vice president of marketing communications. "We were at the forefront of online ordering and text ordering, and augmented reality takes our digital marketing approach to a new dimension."

Augmented Reality: LG Chocolate & Avatar

As part of LG's strategic partnership with the new James Cameron Avatar movie, the company has teamed up with T3 and Total Film to bring a little bit of Augmented Reality to their December issues.

As part of their global partnership with 20th Century Fox, promoting the launch of Avatar, LG Electronics have teamed up with media group Future (publishers of T3 and Total Film) to feature an exclusive augmented reality gatefold ad in their December issues. The campaign is designed to promote both Avatar and LG's new Chocolate BL-40 widescreen mobile phone.

LG's own media agency, Mindshare, were responsible for brokering the deal.

The 6 page ad promotes the stunning widescreen cinema-aspect of the new LG handset by offering users a sneak peak at video from the movie. By holding the ad's AR icon up to your webcam, you can access a special Avatar trailer that plays on an onscreen 3D model of the new handset. Coupled with this is a host of in-magazine features that bring to life both the movie and handset.

John Barton, sales and marketing director at LG, said: "We're delighted to be working with Future on such an exciting campaign. Both 'Avatar' and the new LG Chocolate BL40 represent innovations in their respective industries which this campaign will bring to life by delivering a cutting edge platform to interact with our customers."

Malcolm Stoodley, sales director at Future, said: "As Future's first augmented reality campaign in the UK, this is an exciting new format for advertisers that really brings this campaign alive for our readers. With an audience of influential movie and technology advocates, the exclusive 'Avatar' footage showcases this pioneering new film and LG's new mobile phone to T3 and Total Film readers like no other medium can deliver."

Augmented Reality: Shopping (Part 2)

A while back I wrote about Zugara's Augmented Reality Shopping experience. Pretty nifty. As suspected the technology has now been adapted and put into full use. This is the Fashionista Augmented Reality dressing room service developed by Tobi.com...

Fashionista describes itself as a new social shopping tool combining the benefits of the fitting room with the convenience of online shopping and the power of the social web. Fashionista shoppers virtually model clothing via their own webcam, being able to instantly switch into recommended clothes and immediately share favourites via Facebook.

-----UPDATE-----

While this isn't an Augmented Reality application persay, this is a great example of online shopping striving to deliver a richer experience, and to offer shoppers a better way to see exactly what they are buying. KnickerPicker.com have created a flash interactive that allows the shopper to choose between a range of different virtual models so that they can view their product range on someone of the same figure as themselves. This is a great idea and something I really think adds to the online shopping experience. Admittedly the service is limited at present but with the right retailer this could easily be done for a large range of clothing, for both men and women.

Online Shopping & 3D Body Scan

Back in June I wrote about a nifty online shopping experience that Zugara had developed to allow customers to "try" clothes on, online. Essentially by using an Augmented Reality interface between their site and a customers computer and webcam, Zugara are providing a service whereby you can see an Augmented Reality version of the clothes you're interested in, projected onto your image on screen. This of course followed the fantastic use of Augmented Reality by Glasses Direct in which customers can "try on" different glasses before purchasing them online. So here we have two great examples of real-world applications of Augmented Reality, and I mused, how long will it be before we can stand in front of our webcams and have perfectly fitting clothes delivered to us everytime we shop online? Think about it, it's just a case of software to determine your measurements, surely not something that would be too difficult?

So when I read on Revolution Magazine that the UK fashion company InnovaClothing has developed software that uses body scanners to capture a 3D image customers to produce perfectly fitting clothes, some part of me just wasn't surprised. This is the world's first online shopping service that features a 3D body scan to fit clothes to each customer's unique body shape.

Ok, so admittedly this isn't quite as far along as you'd hope; the service currently requires customers to undergo a consultation scanning session in Glasgow, where the company is based. Although they do have plans to roll out the service to new locations over the next two years. From that point, customers can log on to InnovaClothing's site to view their clothing collections and get personalised style advice from the company's image consultants to choose a style that suits.

It does however beg the question, how far away are we now from having the same service provided directly through a website?

This is a research project by the University of Cambridge called ProFORMA. It's only in the very early stages of development but already the results speak for themselves. This video shows how easy it is to scan an object with only a standard webcam. Considering that this is a conventional 2D camera it certainly may spell the end of super-expensive 3D scanners and open the doors to a whole new realm of customised clothes shopping online.

Augmented Reality: Esquire Magazine

Last Monday Esquire revealed that they would once again be pushing the boundaries of print. As I'm sure everyone will remember, Esquire's first foray into enhanced print was with their ePaper 75th Anniversary issue, and following that they did their brilliant split cover. This time, however, it's Augmented Reality that is their enhancement of choice.

For their December issue Esquire have developed an Augmented Reality cover featuring none other then Robert Downey Jr.. Downey introduces the issue and does a brief plug for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie. The real fun comes in with a host of bonus content that is accessed and controlled on the Esquire website by installing an app and interacting with the Augmented Reality marker.

In the following video, Editor-in-Chief, David Granger, runs through the features. An example given is for the issue’s fashion features, which, by tilting the magazine in different directions, allows you to adjust the the weather in the shots with the model's changing to suit the new conditions.

Augmented Reality System

Mobilizy, an Austrian business specialising in smartphones software, has developed a working location-based augmented reality system.

The system, The Wikitude AR Travel Guide, is a mobile travel guide with augmented reality functionality based on Wikipedia and Panoramio. First you search on a 2D map for landmarks in your surroundings, you then use your phone's camera with an augmented reality (AR) view. Basically you see where ever you point the camera, but with an overlaid annotated landscape showing points of interest and their associated information.

Imagine a situation where the digital landscape becomes sellable media, with any building having the potential to sell it's frontage as advertising space. Or perhaps you have your latest campaign running over relevant businesses various premises.

Demonstration video (working real time)

Augmented Reality: Business Card

I recently wrote about the Augmented reality ID that The Astonsihing Tribe are currently working on. Definitely one of my favourite AR Apps that I've seen, but I think this might be just as good.

James Alliban recently stumbled across this video and was inspired to created a really special business card. As a developer, James loves the potential that Augmented Reality offers and was dtermined to use it to enhance his business card and give people the opportunity to really learn something about himself. So James created this brilliant Augmented Reality Business Card:



James recorded his video bio and had a 3D grid of coloured planes printed on the back of his new business card. These planes then become the colour points within the video. James had his cards printed by the fabulous people at Moo.

While I was thinking of business card, I couldn't help but be reminded of perhaps the greatest business card moment in a movie!

Augmented Reality: Tele Scouter

The Japanese consumer electronics company NEC have unveiled something seriously cool. You probably know how excited I got about Nokia's recent Augmented Reality concept, and even the slightly more bizarre Augmented Reality Contact Lenses I recently wrote about, but this is a practical everyday application of AR that actually works, and that's better then anything concept.

Meet the NEC Tele Scouter...


The Tele Scouter is NEC's Augmented Reality glasses, which project real-time language translation directly into people's eyes!

The system translates conversations in real time, and projects the translations directly onto a user's retina as a stream of 'subtitles'. Using built in voice recognition,the self-contained translation programme allows you to complete cut out the need for human translators. The system is also capable of delivering audio translations. Tele is due for release in Japan next November, and will be sold (initially at least) in packs of 30, at a cost of €65,000.

Augmented Reality: Museum Guide

This is the second time Augmented Reality has done this to me! About a month ago one of our Creative Directors, Marty, gave a Friday Session presentation on AR. Afterwards I mentioned that I didn't think it'd be long before online shops were using the technology for clothes shopping (work out your size, let you see garment on you etc.). Sure enough 3 days later I found someone already doing it.

So when I posted about the 'Augmented Reailty: New York Subway Map' I shouldn't have thought that anything different would happen. In that case I speculated that AR would be perfect for galleries or exhibitions. Well here's a video of an Augmented Reality system current being tested for the Paris Science Museum. Unfortunately you may want to turn your sound down (sorry).

Augmented Reality: ID

These is one of the funkiest uses of Augmented Reality that I've come across. Imagine being able to combine all your Social Media profiles into a single "profile" that is, you. Pick and choose what information you want displayed based on what you're doing - in work, out at a club, whatever.

This is exactly what the guys at The Astonishing Tribe are currently working on. Following on from some brilliant stuff like their G1 user interface and impressive 3D eye-tracking concept, they are now in full swing to get the Augmented ID up and running. The augmented reality app will utilise facial recognition software to allow people to view your profile around you. By simply viewing someone through the app on your phone you will be shown their pre-selected info and social networking links hovering around them.

MercuryGirl: The World’s First Augmented Reality Browser

A huge congratulations to Tim and everyone at MercuryGirl, who announced that they were awarded a Layar developer account. This means that MercuryGirl will be developing datasets for Layar, the world’s first Augmented Reality browser.

Initially MercuryGirl will be focusing on developing travel orientated layers.



Layar is a free Augmented Reality application for mobile phones. Layar is currently available for Android handsets and will be available on the iPhone in the near future.

Current layers:

• Funda, realty site, providing information for a layer with houses for sale and rent
• Tempo Team, temp agency, providing information for a layer with available jobs
• ING, bank, providing information for a layer with all ATM’s
• Zekur.nl, heath insurer, providing information for a layer with participating health care providers

Augmented Reality: RSPCA Elephant

The latest RSPCA campaign has just launched with a pretty cool Augmented Reality element. The Big Stop Circus campaign is calling on the British Minister for Animal Welfare, Jim Fitzpatrick, to ban circuses from keeping wild animals. The Augmented Reality element allows users to print out a mask, which appears on camera as an elephant's head. Simple but pretty cool none-the-less.

The campaign is being primarily being seeded through Twitter, to drive users to a campaign microsite encouraging them to retweet the campaign and share the campaign through Facebook and other Social Media sites.

Augmented Reality: Shopping for Glasses

It would seem that the new buzz tool in town is Augmented Reality. Yesterday we had a great mobile shooter game, last week we had the music video and the week before the Papa John's Camero AR experience. So what next? Well yesterday evening I spotted this cool AR app from the guys at Glasses Direct.

This is also extremely practical (as demonstrated by several people in the office who immediately emailed around themselves in stylish new frames!).

Basically, Glasses Direct, a company who sell prescription glasses online, have launched an augmented reality app that is designed to help users choose the right pair of glasses. By accessing their Glasses Direct Video Mirror, users use their webcam to watch a live video of themselves wearing any of the available glasses on the site. Nifty! So in full 3D you can see how the glasses suit you without having to get up from your pc.

Using facial recognition software, the app places a virtual pair of glasses on your face. Then you can move your head around and see the glasses from every angle. You can also use their app to post your picture to Facebook to get friends' opinions on your new frames.

The app was created by FittingBox.

Augmented Reality: Daft.ie iPhone App

Back in August I wrote about my mate Tim's company MercuryGirl, who are developing an Augmented Reality layar for the Layar browser system.

Just last month, however, a new layar arrived the iPhone 3GS, from Ireland's leading property search site Daft.ie. The layar allows users to search through the site's entire suite of properties, for sale, to rent or to share, through a visual, location-based augmented reality interface. Pretty cool!

Basically, as you view your location through your iPhone's camera, properties within view, that are available, are indicated by blue dots on the screen. The size of the blue dot, with larger dots appearing close to you, indicate how near a property is. The dot at the the centre of your screen will show an image of the property, and give a summary of the property detail including; the address, the rental price, and a summary of the details e.g. “single bed, studio apartment".

If you then press the image you can see any photographs and directly contact the advertiser. The service utilises all Daft.ie sale, rental and shared properties listed on their site. With all new listings automatically updated as soon as they go live on the site.

The Layar app is free to download here.

Augmented Reality: Avatar iTag Toys

James Cameron's new film, Avatar, is without doubt one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Between Cameron's own goliath status and ability to make record-breaking movies, Twentieth Century Fox Film's global marketing activities, and the overall promise of new, never before seen, ground breaking fully immersive next generation special effects, this movie is going to be BIG. There has been more talk and speculation about this film then probably any other in the last 24 months. Special extended trailers were shown to select audiences around the world. Strategic partnerships were developed with leading technology providers. Basically if there was something that could be done to promote this, it was.

So with the film now in the cinema, what's next?

In my opinion the coolest thing coming next is the Avatar toy line. Mattel’s Avatar toy line is set to revolutionise toy play. The Avatar range of toys marks the industry’s first range of toys to incorporate i-TAG technology. This is essentially Augmented Reality enhanced toys. When held up to a webcam, each toy's unique i-TAGT creates a three dimensional, Augmented Reality image on your computer screen.

Here is a video of exactly how the system works...

Augmented Reality By Hand

It seems stupid but I had never even thought about doing Augmented Reality with drawn symbols. Of course it makes sense once you see it, and in my mind lends itself to something more - perhaps some sort of Augmented Reality based game where users had to discover symbols or solve problems, to see what's hidden in the code.

Augmented Reality: Adidas

The next few months will see Adidas release a new range of shoes. What sets this range apart is that Adidas has created a virtual 3-D world that is accessed through the line of five men’s shoes. On top of this, Adidas will also introduce three Augmented Reality games as part of the new virtual world. Each pair of shoes will give the owner access to the virtual world and act as the controller for interacting with it. All you have to do is go to the Adidas website and hold up a code embedded on the shoes tongue to your webcam. The virtual world then pops up on your screen as part of the shoe.

“The foundation of augmented reality lies in adding a layer to the real world,” says Chris Barbour, head of digital marketing for Adidas Originals. “That’s what we have done. We have taken a real world item and added a fantastic virtual world on top of that. We are not trying to mimic a real-world look, we have a more stylized, pop-up book creative approach,” says Barbour. “The neighborhood is displayed on a two dimensional computer screen, but you can use your shoe to control the angle and depth of view and zoom in and out, giving a 3-D sense of perspective.”

The campaign will offer a skateboard game, played around the virtual city’s alleys, a Star Wars-like game and a music-based game. The games have been developed for Adidas by xForm.

Augmented Reailty: New York Subway Map

I posted about the London Underground Augmented Reality App recently. Definitely a really cool and practical use of AR. Though completely useless outside of London. Well fear not people of New York - you now have the same AR luxury at your disposal. Intorducing the New York Subway Augmented Reality App...



I really am lovin' these practical AR Apps that are starting to spring up. I think it's an awesome use of technology, perhaps the most cutting edge convergence of mobile tech and data activation that anyone is developing at the moment. Most of all I get giddy at the potential for what will come next. Consider the technologies that already exist for visual displays and the level of miniaturisation that is possible with camera technology - will it be long before AR can be seamlessly, and noticeably, integrated into a pair of glasses? Think about going to a new city for the first time - just rent a pair of AR specs. Going to a museum or gallery - rent a pair of AR specs. So on and so on.

Someone just has to do it.