Holograms Enable 3D Marketing

With every brand vying for people's attention, messages on a screen no longer stand out. That's why some brands are turning to augmented reality, and the possibilities opened up by holograms of famous personalities. Augmented Reality hologram company, VNTANA, has been used by brands like Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz and Pepsi to engage and collect data on potential customers.

We spoke with Ashley Crowder, VNTANA's CEO and Co-Founder about how brands make themselves stand out – literally – with holograms. It's effective for “any public face where brands trying to engage with consumers in the moment,” she said VNTANA partnered with multiple brands this year at Comic-Con 2017 to bring fans one-of-a-kind hologram experiences.

The holograms are so effective at drawing people in because they are “wowed” by the 3D images of familiar figures, Crowder explained. The interactivity it invites make it “seems like a game” or a “futuristic photo booth.” Those who use it don't perceive it as an advertisement or a way of collecting their data via facial recognition that picks up on age, gender, and emotions.

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3D Marketing with Holograms

Mixed Reality to Become Mainstream

For all of its impressive effects, marketers have been holding back to some extent from applying mixed reality to their campaigns. That made sense in light of the fact that most people were not equipped to view it properly. But that's set to change by the end of this year.

At the end of August, Microsoft announced a lineup of mixed reality equipment for the holiday season that is expected to put it in the hands of a lot more people, thanks to the triple appeal of an affordable price, easy setup, and portability...

Google just released  a preview of its new software development kit (SDK) called ARCore for Android devices. Here's a video showing some Wizard of Oz inspired effects:

Popular characters also be adapted to marketing in a mixed reality environment, for example letting people interact with personae linked to brands, like Tony the Tiger, or Mr. Clean. That would mean that anyone could have the experience shown in cleaner's Super Bowl ad last year (except for getting the actual cleaning done, of course).

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VR heats up at YouTube

n June 22, the New York Times reported that, with the exception of the gaming industry, VR has proven a disappointment. It cites weak sales for VR headsets and the fact that all the “dabbling” in VR ventures has not amounted to serious strides.

But that may change with a boost from YouTube. The Google-owned video site is promoting the development of VR videos with new resources and tools that help developers and may make VR videos more attractive for marketing.

Which VR elements in a video get the most attention? That's something that creators are able to track with Heatmaps, a feature that YouTube rolled “for 360-degree and VR videos with over 1,000 views” on June 16.

You can see an example of a heatmap applied to a music video here: 

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