According to the Goldman Sachs Research, virtual and augmented reality (AR) is projected to become an $80 billion market by 2025. Luxury brands are particularly eager to embrace AR, as it presents new opportunities for engaging storytelling and connecting with younger shoppers.
This burgeoning interest is already evident in the dynamic digital marketing arena, where iconic landmarks such as Paris’ Eiffel Tower and New York’s Times Square are emerging as vibrant platforms for Augmented Reality (AR) showcases. Brands are ingeniously integrating AR into these famous sites, creating distinct and engaging marketing experiences. This unique blend of the virtual and the real world is not only an innovative marketing tactic but also an evolving art form. It’s redefining the interaction between people and urban spaces and is set to revolutionize the marketing world in the years to come.
AR Building丨Dubai Frame: Reviving Cityscapes with Digital Splendor
The emerging attraction of the City of Dream Towers, “Dubai Frame,” an AR landmark spectacle, continuously elevates the public’s imagination. Through AR lenses, digital decorations adorn the frame, intertwining technology with history and reality with fantasy, presenting the city’s charm in an unprecedented manner.
Recent breakthroughs in AI technology have opened new possibilities for AR development, enabling digital content to recognize and understand the natural world more accurately. This has led to visually striking AR buildings and large-space AR effects, expanding the digital dimension of cities, landmarks, and commercial areas. The application of AR in physical spaces creates new experiences and awareness for tourists, aiding cultural tourism in attracting visitors and fostering new social interactions. Still, it is an innovative approach for brands to expand marketing scenarios and ignite brand value.
AR Building丨Strengthen brand interaction
In the era of digital retail, the fusion of consumerism and the “attention economy” is crafting a new trend in commercial development. Augmented Reality buildings bridge online and offline scenarios, intertwining landmark scenes with brand elements, creative content with AR and other digital technologies, and cognition and experience. This approach is reshaping the landscape of business growth.
AR buildings effectively captivate user attention with their highly interactive and surreal virtual landscapes. They foster user co-creation and spontaneous virality, establishing an all-encompassing marketing chain that seamlessly integrates “user-scenario-product.” This strategy invisibly strengthens the brand image and narrative, leading to consumer conversion. These AR buildings are not just about visual impact; they are a strategic tool in narrative-driven marketing, enhancing the user experience and amplifying brand engagement in a way that traditional marketing mediums cannot match.
AR Building丨LV & Yayoi Kusama: covering landmarks in dots
In a daring display of artistic innovation, Louis Vuitton, the renowned French luxury fashion brand, has collaborated with the acclaimed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, known for her signature polka dot motifs. This collaboration leaps into augmented reality, ingeniously employing Augmented Reality Building technology to captivate and engage a youthful audience. The campaign cleverly superimposes vibrant polka dots on iconic global landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and London’s Tower Bridge, crafting an opportunity for users to contribute their dots interactively in a real-world setting.
The keynote speaker, Jeanine Banks, Vice President and General Manager of Google Developer X and Developer Relations, took the stage to delve into Google’s open and integrated solutions via an open-source project. Her opening presentation highlighted the development of a comprehensive toolkit, encompassing mobile, AI, web, and cloud capabilities. This versatile toolkit has been meticulously designed to be an ongoing source of empowerment for developers, enabling them to elevate their efficiency and engage in fruitful collaborations with partners. The ultimate goal? Crafting products that enrich consumer experiences to new heights.
This initiative harnesses AR to offer artists a boundless canvas that spans the globe, simultaneously providing brands with an extraordinarily immersive marketing platform through AR buildings. The venture stands out for its distinctive, whimsical visual appeal and engaging, interactive format, garnering substantial attention and acclaim for Louis Vuitton’s digital marketing strategies. This approach effectively reimagines brand engagement with younger demographics, integrating playful interactivity to transform conversations in the digital era. Through this innovative fusion of art and technology, Louis Vuitton showcases its creative prowess and fortifies its connection with a digitally savvy, contemporary audience.
AR Building丨Taikoo Li Chengdu:Transformative Visual Experiences
Unlike simply overlaying AR models onto real environments, World AR achieves a profound interaction with the real world. It’s capable of recognizing and tracking objects on an architectural scale, and its realistic physical effects, like occlusion, are transforming traditional visual senses, making it feel like stepping into another world.
Kivisense Honors the “Polka Dot Queen” with AR! Leveraging the power of World AR, we presented an interactive display of Yayoi Kusama’s renowned “Flowers” installation art series alongside the pumpkin exhibit at Taikoo Li in Chengdu, China. This combination immerses the audience in a mesmerizing world where virtuality and reality blend. The polka-dot-adorned flowers spread around the ancient architecture, swaying and radiating an endless zest for life.
AR Building | Chongqing IFS: “Keep Smiling” with Interactive AR Exhibit
Chongqing IFS, in collaboration with Hungarian artist Kissmiklo, has launched a summer immersive art exhibition titled “Keep Smiling”. This exhibition introduces a unique twist to the classic IP image of emograms through Augmented Reality (AR) interpretation, encouraging everyone to face life with a smile, even in challenging times.
Each AR interactive spot within the exhibition offers a different animated experience. Visitors can step into the AR lens world, blending with the animations to capture unique photographs that break the conventional mold.
Large-scale AR is redefining offline space and reshaping the relationship between people and their environment. By using a blend of virtual and real visuals and interactive content in shared digital spaces, this AR experience captivates consumer attention. It reinvigorates offline traffic, creating a new paradigm for traditional commerce to conduct marketing activities. It’s a brilliant example of how AR can revolutionize retail spaces, offering new and interactive ways to engage customers and bring life to commercial settings.
AR Building丨Raffles City Chengdu: “World AR” Spatial Journey
In Chengdu, China, Kivicube has captured the iconic Raffles City complex to launch its ‘World AR’ spatial exploration program. By harnessing stable spatial computing capabilities, Kivicube has endowed this architectural marvel with an engaging large-space AR scene, creating a digital mall AR landmark that effectively draws in offline traffic.
AR Building丨Cost-Effective Landmark Makeovers
Compared to physical pop-up events, AR virtual experiences significantly reduce landmark buildings’ decoration and preservation costs. These events require only online remote development and maintenance, enabling continuously evolving and updated creative activities. Additionally, audiences can leave their mark on landmarks through AR graffiti and photos without causing any damage to the actual architecture.
In a noteworthy collaboration, Snap collaborated with British Vogue to orchestrate an AR interactive exhibition titled ‘Redefining the Body’ at the Cannes Film Festival. During the event, designers utilized Snap Landmark technology to transform La Malmaison Art Center’s exterior digitally. The building’s facade was converted into exclusive custom landmarks for various brands, bringing an extra layer of intriguing fun to the fashion exhibit at minimal cost. This project highlights the innovative use of AR in enhancing cultural events, offering a blend of creativity and sustainability.
AR Building丨DisneyDisney: Fantasy Magic AR World
In celebration of Disney’s centennial anniversary, Disney collaborated with Snapchat to create an immersive AR landmark exhibition at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This unique collaboration transported Disney’s ageless, whimsical world directly to the event, allowing classic Disney scenes and characters to transcend the boundaries between virtual and real, celebrating the heartfelt moments Disney has offered us.
By pointing the AR lens towards a wall, viewers could witness the transformation of the exhibition building into a Disney castle. Amidst a spectacular display of fireworks, this AR experience provided a visually and auditorily immersive encounter, bringing to life the magic of Disney in a modern and interactive format.
AR Building丨Hamburg, Germany:Bringing ancient buildings into the metaverse
In Hamburg, Germany, renowned as the “gateway to the world,” a unique digital revolution unfolds at the iconic Wasserschloss, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Speicherstadt. Here, artists are reimagining this historic landmark through augmented reality (AR), crafting a large-scale AR experience that resonates with the city’s spirit of openness, cooperation, and innovation. Artist Yunuene, using her signature visual aesthetic, employs AR to trace Hamburg’s evolution as a port city, depicting the innovative journey of maritime logistics. This artistic interpretation through AR brings to life the dynamic history of the harbor, connecting past and present in a visually stunning narrative.
Another artist, Timo Helgert, presents “Blooming Future,” an experience capitalizing on Hamburg’s status as one of the world’s most eco-friendly cities. This installation envisions a green future where plants and endangered species thrive together. It creatively reimagines the Wasserschloss, infusing this historic structure with a strong sense of futuristic technology and environmental consciousness.
In conclusion,in the context of today’s digital era, Augmented Reality (AR) technology is unlocking new potential in offline spaces. It innovatively enhances spatial visuals and interactions, thereby creating immense experiential value. This marks a significant new growth area for traditional commerce. The concept of ‘space marketing’ revitalizes offline traffic, offering beneficial models and insights for brand marketing and the development of scenic areas/cities. This approach heralds a new paradigm in how traditional commercial activities are conducted, harnessing the transformative power of AR in enhancing real-world experiences.
