A short idea about 21.12.12

The Evolution of Consumerism (short but sweet)

Augmented Reality | What's the story? (part 1)

There's a lot chatter about Augmented Reality at the moment. But what exactly is this enchanting new technology, that a recent a Juniper Research report suggested will yield annual revenues of $732million by 2014? 

How does it work? 

Does it have a real future and how can you begin to explore it for your brand? 

Read on…

What is it?

Like all new communication tech platforms, early adopters tend to get carried away and too technical with their lofty descriptions. So for the purpose of clarity,  let's define Augmented Reality simply as: 'the process of overlaying digital content onto a real life, physical environment, when viewed through camera enabled communication devices (CECD) : laptop, tablets and of course, smartphones.

How does it work?

There's 3 basic elements to an AR experience:

1. The Real Life Physical (RPE) environment: This is wherever you're standing in the world, and what ever you are looking at through your CECD. This could be a press or magazine ad, a building, a car, a sign, a person or even just a random 'space'. It doesn't matter, it can all be brought too life.

2. The Trigger: This is the 'agent' that talks to the application software and instructs it to pull the relevant content from the Cloud or Server, and place it over the RPE  in whatever way it has been created. The Trigger traditionally took the form of a Marker; a unique black and white shape that can be easily identified by the camera. However more recently, and more frequently, GPS and GPRS coordinates are being used as The Triggers. This development is behind the AR's quantum leap, from adolescence, to alpha-adult.

3. The Digital Content: This is the content that gets overlaid onto to RPE, and so 'augmenting' it as an experience. This content ranges in complexity from animated text, still photography and video files, through to 3D animated graphics, and interactive 3D content. 

Where is it being used?

The question should perhaps be, 'where isn't it being used?'. Such is its versatility. AR is predominantly a marketing and communications tool; used at POS, direct marketing, collateral, events, exhibitions, presentations and increasingly to add a new level of engagement in advertising. 

Yet with exciting frequency, the technology is now being franchised to improve and solve much more diverse problems such as customer service, out of home sampling (see virtual shopping video), out of store trial, gaming, travel and tourism services (see Olympic navigator video) and perhaps most important of all, medicine and health care. 

The more the businesses and brands start to understand how to use the AR formula, the more we are going to see its presence in all areas of our lives

Why is it being used?

The million dollar question. The why? In it's early days, AR solved the challenge of delivering a fresh and seemingly break thru experience to consumers. It didn't need to be clever or solve a real problem. The magic was in the newness. But as the tech curve starts to flatten out, that space has shrunk, requiring those committed to using AR to adopt a much more creative and strategic approach. 

Having created several AR projects over the last 2 years, I've always worked very closely in the planning stage with my clients to ensure the solution achieves at least one of the following:

1. solves a problem of complexity for the brand or for the consumer: (see the lego video)

2. solves a problem of scale: (see the Alstom video below)

3. Make the impossible, possible: (the Nat Geo video)

4. Stimulates a point of sale motivation in a way that no other media can (see the the Tissot/Selfridges video)

5. Makes a 2D communication experience 'genuinely' more engaging and impactful (see the Audi example)

Not forgetting of course, that any AR solution should always be built around the central themes of your brand, in 'ALL' its aspects. There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a clever AR idea that has little relevance to the brand. We call that the jelly at the party syndrome: it might look nice, but no-one ever touches it.

Here's some examples to help illustrate the 5 drivers:

1) Lego: Genius POS application that answers 1, 4 and 5. 

2)  Alstom: Remains one of the most epic examples of AR, especially it's example of smashing through the scale barrier!



3) The famous National Geo. Some might argue that this is not pure AR, but I disagree. It's magical, enchanting, and certainly makes the impossible, possible.



4) Tissot and the virtual sampling window. Add a whole new layer to out of hours shopping and competitor free trial.



5) Always ahead of the game, VW prove how much 'more' a press ad can become with AR. 



6) Calling all retailers...the potential of this needs no explanation!

7) Clever navigation app for the Olympics. For travel and tourism in general, the possibilities are phenomenal




Part 2 coming soon to address:

1) price vs value
2) creative development and planning tips 
3) The future of AR and why you need to be exploring it now 

To make sure you don't miss the follow up article, why not subscribe to our blog now, at the top right hand corner of the page.

C73 provides complimentary AR consultancy and planning sessions. If you'd like to talk to us and a get a more intimate low down of this technology and how it can be applied to your brand, then we're here to help. Contact us here.

To subscribe to The Stream, the C73 newsletter, and regularly receive free advice, tips  and ideas to keep your brand and digital comm's at the edge of the curve, click here

Turning down the daily stress dial (#8)

Brilliant. That is all....

Jonah Lehrer: The Origins of Creative Insight & Why You Need Grit from 99% on Vimeo.

Why does the "aha!" moment arrive only after we stop looking for it? At Behance's 99% Conference, Jonah Lehrer explains how creative insight works & what drives incredible achievements.

A private treaty | 7 rules for 2012

(thoughts to oneself. In Media One)


1. Clarity precedes everything good, and worth pursuing

2. 'Real' compassion lies in hearing what people mean, not listening to what they say

3. People don't get you for what you do, but rather for why you do it (good or bad)

4. Your understanding of 'culture' is linked to the scale of your potential

5. Gratitude is the most important rite you're born with

6. Do what you have to do in order to do what you want to do

7. To get something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done...

Visual Story Telling....(great video)

Francesco Franchi: On Visual Storytelling and New Languages in Journalism from Gestalten on Vimeo.

If this is the future...it might be worth waiting for...

On SOPA (Seth Godin)

The most frustrating thing for me in the SOPA/PIPA debate now winding down is how unnecessary the whole thing should have been. It occurred to me that we learned a lot about what sort of behaviors make for great leaders and careers. 


The short version: do the opposite. When did we lose Congress? Not just in terms of losing our respect for just about everyone there (one of the least respected careers in the USA) but in the sense that they no longer even pretend to represent our interests or act as we would act if given the chance? I'm not so much angry as saddened that it has come to this. 


 When planning your career, avoid these pitfalls, behaviors evidenced by many elected officials: 


1. In all things, look for money first. Listen to people with money, respond to people with money, justify your actions around money. Worth noting that 47% of those in Congress (House and Senate) are millionaires--an even greater percentage than those that are lawyers. 
2. Embrace the fact that you don't know what you're talking about. Aspire to run systems you don't understand. Compromise over the important issues, but dig in and fight forever over trivia. Along those lines: focus obsessively on the short run. Even though you are virtually assured of re-election, define the long term as "before the next election." 
3. Take months off from your day job (with pay) to actively campaign for a better job. 
4. Blame the system, the other side and your predecessors for the fact that you are not taking brave, independent action. 
5. Avoid developing independent thought and analysis. 
6. Focus on parroting the work of lobbyists and the party line. 
7. When given the choice between being on television or doing hard work, pick television. When a difficult problem shows up, duck. 
8. Try mightily to outlast passionate resistance by quietly ignoring it and waiting for it to go away. 


I'm thrilled that reality has intruded and SOPA is derailed (for now). You probably know more about how the internet works than your senator does. Has he or she called you or asked your insight? I'm disheartened that even when a linchpin shows up in Washington, she is quickly beaten into submission. Where are the lions, the Mr. Smith's and the statesmen who would rather do the people's business than business as usual? Sure, Congress has a marketing problem--largely because they have a problem with the decisions they make and the way that they make them. At least they've left us a useful career guide about what not to do in the real world.

Song for Agents of Light

23 minutes of calming music to melt into the week to, courtesy of @Light Music. Dedicated to the calm that's needed across the world right now. 


Intense times on Planet Earth....


http://soundcloud.com/soundtrack_dxb/song-for-agents-of-light


Link to download coming soon...

The Age of Aquarius?

"We are moving from the age of Pieces, into the age of Aquarius."


It's amazing how differently people will react to that statement...


Rubbish. 
Amazing. 
What?. 
Tree hugging nonsense. 
Curious. 
Blah Blah Blah. 
Run!. 
Cool. 
Yay. 


For Team A, it's annoying spiritual romanticism. For Team B it either is, or is swiftly becoming the back bone of a new way of life. Way of thinking. Way of Being. 


(Interestingly, there is no significant Team C in the Aquarius equation.  Who should, as in all epistemological debates, be the social control sheepishly wearing the neutral shirt of apathy. Which makes these fascinating and uncertain times all the more intense.)


This is not a judgement of either position. For outside of the basic moral code of humanity, I firmly believe that our addiction to the concept of 'right and wrong' represents the root cause of much of mankind's woes. What this is, is to set the stage to allow me to share some interesting quotes and facts on this wonderful, curious and abstract subject of the Turn of Ages. In the hope that it might encourage Team A to give it some more air time, and further inflame the imaginations and devotion of Team B. Because no matter where your allegiances lie, from where I'm sitting, there seems to be a lot more to be gained by hoping and preparing for better times on the planet, than accepting that where we are now, is all we have to look forward to.


Observations about the Turn of Ages


"There are great cycles in the cosmos which rule great events. One such is the cycle of the Great Zodiac Ages which spans almost 26,000 years. This is the time it takes our planet's equatorial plane(due to its axial wobble) to regress one full cycle along the solar plane(ecliptic). Each zodiac age can last anywhere from 2000 to 2300 years. The Age of Pisces in which we live is one of the shortest ages, beginning in 26 AD and ending in 2012 AD -or a total of just over 1986 years. In 1945 we entered the last degree of Pisces."  American Institute of Cosmology


"Since we are moving into the Age of Aquarius, we are also moving into the photon belt. The prediction is that we will officially and fully be inside the belt by 2012AD. When this happens (and it's already happening), the new energy will transform the planet and all life on/in it into higher dimensions or vibratory states."

"We understand Aquarius to be a revolutionary sign, governed by the planet Uranus, which brings dramatic change and upheaval to the status quo. 

There is a breaking free from the past to create the future we desire for ourselves and our world. The answers will be completely new as a result of the study of what has been and what is desired. 

The key phrase for Aquarius is "I Know." It is an air sign, scientific and intellectual."

"When there is a shift in age, mankind is affected. Aquarius governs electricity, flight, democracy, computers, freedom, modernization, humanitarianism, rebels and rebellion, nervous disorders, astrology, and mental diseases. Because these concepts have appeared and elevated in the last few centuries, including nonconformity, philanthropy, veracity, perseverance, irresolution, and mankind, it is believed that the coming of the Age of Aquarius is nearing."

"Piscean was a time of duality.  The concept of good vs. evil, upon which Christianity dogma was based, is largely Piscean.  It’s worth remembering that Christianity has been the dominant cultural influence on our planet during the past 2,000 years. In Aquarius, there are no polarities. The concepts about more vs. less, rich vs. poor, and separation will cease to exist."

"The Aquarian Age is dawning, and its influence will gradually free men from the bondages of mind and spirit which they have suffered for thousands of years. During the Piscean Age, man's ignorance of his potential kept him from developing his creative abilities, man's lack of self-esteem kept him dependent on others for approval, and man's fear of the unknown kept him from wanting to explore new ideas or even associate with anyone who might have a different perspective on life than his own. The Aquarian Age will, however, help people to break out of the shell of ignorance, lack of self-esteem, and fear so that they can become, for the first time in history, truly free. As people become free to explore their own inner natures, the world around them, and other peoples, unprecedented advances will be made in self-actualization, scientific understanding and invention, and universal love."