IAB releases Augmented Reality for Marketing playbook

Augmented reality (AR) is becoming increasingly popular among consumers — and increasingly more available to marketers as a creative channel for reaching them. The technology is applied in a wide variety across marketing channels and is widely available to consumers — all they need is a mobile device with a camera and your application.

Today, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released Augmented Reality for Marketing, an IAB Playbook — a resource for marketers considering integrating AR into their marketing strategies. The playbook provides a framework, explores different options and dives into specific use cases with real examples from several major brands.

“With AR, we are entering a new dimension of digital. A journey that’s just beginning and holds the promise to create more meaningful and immersive experiences for consumers,” said Tony Gemma, IAB AR working group co-chair and head of innovation at Verizon Media. “While much of our digital lives have been captive to 2D, AR opens up the possibility to view digital content more like the way we view the world around us.”

Why we should care

Martech companies increasingly allocate more dollars to AR-platform development and creating new, easy-to-use interfaces that afford marketers the ability to implement without developer resources. Players including Apple, Amazon, Snap, Google and Facebook all launched AR software developer kits (SDKs) in the past 18 months. The increased investment goes hand-in-hand with rising consumer accessibility and usage — according to the playbook, 95% of iPhone users had devices supporting AR through Apple’s ARKit at the beginning of this year.

The playbook examines a number of marketing applications for AR, from social platforms and search to retail and gaming. It also details several specific use cases for AR-enabled ad units, app sponsorship and sponsored content.

“AR has traditionally been a play for social and gaming, but the future will bring new opportunities for immersive editorial content and ad experiences,” Gemma said. “The IAB AR playbook provides a strong overview of the current landscape and encourages marketer engagement and innovation. Together, the industry is setting the stage for the next evolution of digital.”

The new opportunities for marketers to create engaging experiences with AR will continue to grow alongside consumer adoption. According to the resource, AR is expected to reach one billion users by 2020 with an expected ad spend of $2.6 billion by 2022 — if you haven’t considered how your digital marketing will incorporate AR in the near future, it’s time to start as this technology shows no signs of slowing in growth.

More on the news

• Augmented reality (AR) is an experience that utilizes a camera to change or enhance the user’s view of the real world. The experience can be app-based or web-based, though 77% of AR experiences are in-app experiences or via Snapchat.
• The playbook includes a glossary of key AR terminologies for marketers to reference as well as recommendations for measuring and analyzing AR-generated data.
• The report was specifically developed for marketers and provides specific use cases that should enable you to make your case for AR to your leadership.