It appears that Augmented Reality is the the latest craze in the media and with marketers.  First, this month’s Fast Company has an article on the subject called “Augmented Reality Is Both a Fad and the Future — Here’s Why.” (note: the below graphic comes that article).  And then this morning I get an email from Kevin Dugan about an interesting new AR campaign called “Be Transformed in 3-D” that was created by his client Meijer.

Apparently AR is the latest “flavor of the day” as Jonathan Sackett, the Martin Agency’s chief digital officer, put it in the Fast Company article.  But there might be something more there.

Case in point, up until now, I have been as negative about AR as anyone out there.  But the reason was because I didn’t see an everyday / every person use until now.  My viewpoint first started to change with Yelp’s new Monocle feature (profiled in the Fast Company article).  And if further changed when I saw this use by Meijer promotion.

With Yelp, it answered the need for an “everyday” example because it really was about making the Yelp service more useful.

Meijer on the hand came up with the “every person” example.  You see, the Meijer AR program has a very short lifespan through Halloween.  But the upside is that they made something everyone could try.  You dont have to have a fancy iPhone 3Gs…just a simple webcam that is more and more standard these days.  As Dugan points out, the program is a lot like Office Max’s Elf Yourself and we all know how mainstream that think went.

With these two examples, I’m starting to see some real potential in AR.  But more importantly, I’m starting to see the novelty wear off as marketers  find real ways to leverage the technology to add value (and maybe even a little meaning) to consumers.

Nielsen recently released their report “How Teens Use Media“, which covered the myths and realities of teen media trends.  The above chart does a great job of outlining how Teens interact with various types of media.  Personally I was surprised by some of the numbers:

• TV is still an overwhelmingly dominant form of media at 3 hours and 20 minutes.  That is greater than PC + Console Gaming + Internet + DVR + DVD.
• The same # of Teens “watch video on an MP3 Player” as “read newspapers.”
• 1 in 3 are using the Mobile Web (has your brand even thought about this?)

Often Brand Managers jump to the conclusion that Teens are using media in very differently ways.  But according to these numbers, there might just be more similarities than differences.

Great new video about the “Year that Media Died”.

Thanks to Chas for the lead.

Courtesy of Will Lion on Flickr

It continues to amaze me how many brands do not invest in digital, choosing instead to stay with the safety of traditional mass media (ie TV and print).  When asked why, you will hear a lot of different answers, but none that haven’t been proven wrong time and time again.  Digital is measurable.  Digital can provide solid ROI.  Digital can drive trial and awareness.

But if you are still struggling with justifying your digital investment, I think there are 4 important reasons digital should matter to your brand:

1. Digital enables relationships and community
2. Digital tells a story around your brand
3. Digital is a key part of an integrated campaign
4. Digital builds brand equities in new ways

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