IKEA - 2014 Augmented Reality Catalog

A few years back it seemed like augmented reality was going to be the NEXT BIG THING.  Reality has since intervened as most augmented reality executions proved to be mainly gimmicks that didn't provide a particularly compelling experience nor did they provide true utility to consumers.  Now IKEA is showing how augmented reality can be truly useful through their 2014 augmented reality catalog.  Created by McCann and IKEA's in-house agency, Icom the app allows IKEA customers to preview items from the catalog to see how they'd look in their homes prior to purchase.

Here's how it works, a user places the 2014 IKEA catalog on the floor in their home and then fires up the app on their phone or tablet.  The mobile device recognizes the tablet as the augmented reality marker.  The user can then select from various items in the catalog where they are overlaid onto a real-time view of the room (as captured through the camera of the mobile device).

Again, this is a great use of technology in order to provide true utility to the customer.  Users can see how various colors would look in-situ, as well as getting a sense of the size/scale of the furniture within their homes.  Those two features alone ease two of the most common pain points when buying furniture (eg. will color x good? will it fit properly?).  In fact, IKEA developed this app after their research showed that 1 in 7 customers purchased items that were either too large or too small for their homes.  It's a win-win as the app also has the potential to reduce the amount of store returns.  Check out the video that demonstrates the app below (complete with slightly creepy Swedish guy):





Posted by: Reuben Halper

McDonald's - Track My Maccas

The recent Tesco Horse Meat scandal has put issues of supply train integrity and brand transparency front and center.  It's been interesting watch McDonald's (across various regions) dedicate significant time and effort to behave in a more transparent manner.  The McDonald's - Your Questions campaign was featured on this blog a few months ago, but even that effort pales in comparison to the recently launched 'Track My Maccas' campaign.  Track My Maccas is an app that provides McDonald's customers with a vast amount of information about where the various parts of their McDonald's meal were sourced.  As the good folks over at Contagious describe:

Once downloaded onto a smartphone, the TrackMyMaccas app uses GPS and image recognition, combined with date and time information, to find out where and when a particular McDonald's menu item has been purchased. It then overlays that information with data from McDonald's' supply chain in real time. Finally, it serves up an immersive and entertaining story about where the food has come from.
Using augmented reality, the app then transforms the restaurant table into a farmyard, showing where the beef was sourced, or the ocean, if the main meal was a fish fillet. The story unfolds differently depending on exactly where diners are in Australia.
People can also meet the suppliers, for instance, farmers, fishers, bakers of burger buns, etc, and find out how long they have been working with McDonald's.

The app, developed by DDB Australia, is a fairly mind-blowing effort from both a logistical and a technical perspective.  I also appreciate the effort taken to make the resulting information/data both interesting and entertaining, rather than simply presenting it in a dry, tabular way.  Check out the video below that shows off the Track My Maccas app.
hat tip: Contagious

Ingress

William Gibson wrote in one of his books that 'cyberspace is everting.'  Simply put the digital world is spilling out into real-world experiences.  We've really just scratched the surface of the marriage/interplay of the digital and physical worlds that's enabled by ubiquitous connectivity and mobile devices.  The augmented reality and mobile location based technology that's cutting edge today will most certainly seem quaint in just a few years.  The recently launched global alternate reality game, Ingress, gives a sneak peek of what (I believe) will become more pervasive and incredibly common in the not too distant future.

So what is Ingress?  It is a new location-based augmented reality game from Google-owned Niantic Labs.  The premise is that the world around you is not what it seems.  The game puts you and your smartphone (Android only at the moment) in the middle of a global battle between two sides that plays out in real life all around you, regardless of where you live.

As AllThingsD explains: 'Users can generate virtual energy needed to play the game by picking up units of “XM,” which are collected by traveling walking paths, like a real-world version of Pac-Man. Then they spend the energy going on missions around the world to “portals,” which are virtually associated with public art, libraries and other widely accessible places.

“The concept is something like World of Warcraft, where everyone in the world is playing the same game,” Hanke said. Players are on one of two teams: “The Enlightened,” who embrace the power, or “The Resistance,” who fight the power. Anyone can play from anywhere in the world, though in more densely played areas there will be more local competition for resources.
Outdoor physical activity is a big component of this, though driving between locations isn’t banned. “You’re like a rat in a maze on the phone,” Hanke said. Then, back at your computer, you can review the larger area and gameplay.'

It's really a magical experience and even more so when you consider that there's no discreet start and stop to the game.  It could go on for several years as a sort of constant background activity that we engage with when out in the physical world or as part of our daily routine such as commuting.  If you look at the popularity of MMORPG and extrapolate that out into the real world, you can see the massive potential behind such games (and I wonder if there will be a the equivalent click-sweat shops and selling of characters for real-world MMORPGs like currently exists for games such as World Of Warcraft).  Anyhow, the video below gives you an additional sense of what it's all about.  If you're interested you can head over to the Ingress site to get an invite to join in the game


hat tip:  Matthieu De Fayet for reminding me to write this up