AR Marketing: 3 Innovative Campaigns Ideas for Your Business in 2019
by First Descent AR • 10 April 20192018 has come and gone, but not without leaving an indelible mark. If you thought in 2017 that tech-based marketing would be on its way to hitting a plateau, 2018 showed that nothing could be further from the truth. Brands are still managing to find new and creative ways to ignite social media conversation, on-site conversions and in-store sales.
If you’re a marketer with a serious goal to attract a following in 2019, you can learn from these unique marketing strategies on how to creatively stir the digital world’s curiosity and command its undivided attention.
The rewards?
You create awareness, interest, and increased visibility for your business, potentially getting you closer to your target sooner than expected. At the same time, you establish a brand image that is fresh, leading-edge, authoritative yet dynamic, and well-equipped to face the challenges and demands of the modern-day consumer.
Here are 5 of the most intriguing yet exciting ways brands were promoted in 2018 without appearing too salesy but earning attention nonetheless.
1. Social Media Buzz
Advertising on social media, paid or not, may have been easier when Facebook and Twitter had just started onboarding everyone on the planet but ever since then, social media has been saturated with all kinds marketing ploys to grab attention so businesses can eventually sell their products and services.
These days, it takes a special kind of creativity to engage web users and get them involved in a digital campaign from start to finish.
IHOP (The International House of Pancakes) did it well by creating quite a massive stir when they announced on Twitter that they would have a name change – from IHOP to IHOb. According to data from Brandwatch, IHOP generated nearly a 6,500% peak in terms of online mentions in just one day on social media. The campaign also created 297 million impressions within a week. Whether or not people were disappointed with what the mysterious “B” stood for during IHOP’s revelation on its post-campaign – B stood for Burger, by the way – IHOP still won by being the talk of the internet for a full week. Now, that was a long time to generate interest and potentially attract millions of customers to check out the brand.
If you’re introducing a product or service and can craft a good story to engage people on social media, this is a clever way to do it. Just be prepared to sustain the web’s interest with a solid plan to respond to queries, clamor for more info, and public opinion – good or bad.
2. Animation
Animated films do not have to do anything special to tell everyone they’re cutting-edge technology because animation is in itself innovative.
Intuit, a software company, invested in four minutes of animation on film Pixar-style to tell an engaging story about its products and their benefits to the consumer. Intuit used two animated human characters and a robot interlocked in a heartwarming techno-romantic twist that all worked out in the end. The campaign was broadcast in different digital channels including social media and a traditional TV ad that debuted during the Super Bowl.
If you have the budget, you can invest in a 2D animated film that uses a video script or music to tell your story. The film can be embedded and shared through different channels heavily used by your target market such as YouTube, websites, emails, TV and social media.
3. Experimental Marketing
How do you really engage an audience to participate in your marketing campaign? The answer is simple. You let them experience it.
However, the process may not be as easy. But of course, award-winning advertiser Nike did it.
On their launch of their shoe line Epic React, Nike combined their shareable digital ad campaign with Reactland, an immersive marketing launch. During the live event, customers were given an opportunity to wear the shoes of their choice from the Epic React line and experience the “feeling of wearing the shoes” by becoming the real-life characters in a virtual game (complete with personal avatars) which emulated their running activities on the treadmills set up in front of gigantic digital screens at the venue.
If you want to have a high profile event with a great number of excited participants and you have the budget for it, this can be a good investment. Pair your event with a high profile marketing pre-event campaign on social media and other appropriate channels to ensure a successful turnout.
If you’re looking to make a splash in 2019, you should consider exploring these non-traditional advertising strategies and determine which works according to your business goals. You can either combine them with what you already have or you can invest solely on them just to experiment and assess if they work better than your past strategies.
However you choose to spend your marketing budget in 2019, make sure your chosen marketing strategy is aligned with what your consumer needs and what your brand stands for.