Arnav Ghosh, Regional Director, Blippar India talks about the opportunity that the Indian market has for augmented reality, image-recognition, virtual reality; and how to use that technology to tell the story for a brand
BY SALONI DUTTA
In a world where sight guides all our senses, Blippar, the visual browser, has been at the forefront of leading the augmented reality and image recognition industry. The company, which started in 2011 globally and acquired Layar last year, has internationally partnered with brands like Condé Nast, TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Nestlé, Heinz, Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, L’Oréal, Universal Pictures and Jaguar. In India they are working with companies like HUL, Nestle, Heineken, Magazines (Stuff, Tinkle, Digit, BusinessWorld, etc) and movies like Jurassic World and Insidious 3.
Talking of the market for augmented reality-based solutions in India, Arnav Ghosh, Regional Director, Blippar India feels augmented reality and image recognition form a nascent market: “When we say India is a budding market for digital advertising, we are talking of brands buying digital space. However, pure play creation of assets for brands is still a challenge. We value engagement. India has 900 million-odd mobile users and out of that around 300million use mobile Internet.”
If we look at any digital platforms or any form of digital behaviour, 90% of it is transactional. People only do it because they get something out of it. Pure play engagement is still a challenge for a lot of brands. “We need to give a reason to people to blip something. The product is the biggest media channel for any brand entity today. Making the products interactive is easier said than done. There has to be larger ROI and idea behind it,” adds Ghosh.
Giving an example of a recent product innovation, he cites Blippar’s association with Kings XI Punjab Team for IPL Season 8, where fans got an opportunity to book tickets and buy merchandise online via their smartphones leveraging the KXIP ads or logo directly. In addition, cricket enthusiasts got fun anecdotes about their favourite players, clicked pictures with their favourite team member and surfed through interesting KXIP trivia through the Blippar app.
The app serves as a new advertising platform for brands to connect better with their target audience through Digital. Cashing in on the Indian smartphone boom, Blippar creates engaging brand experiences making it the next generation visual browser. Another example of this was when Heineken created an augmented reality platform for its customers to interact with the limited edition Trophy Bottles and cans as a part of its UEFA Champions League Campaign 2015. Heineken’s emphasis on its credo ‘Open your World’ using Blippar’s innovative technology, allowed consumers to live the Heineken experience like never before. Customers were able to ‘blip’ the Heineken limited edition trophy bottle and the phone screen would activate a unique digital experience. Adding to the motion-sensing experience within the screen was a 360-degree rotating limited edition bottle that consumers could interact with.
Augmented reality makes it easy for retailers and brands to engage their customers. Retailers and brands are using augmented reality to engage consumers who previously were beyond their grasp. Blippar also introduces the first ever proprietary mobile visual search. This re-launched version of the original Blippar app will change the way consumers interact with the physical world. Users will be able to simply ‘look’ at any object, say for example, an apple via the camera on their mobile devices to activate instantaneous digital search and draw information directly from the world around them. “What we do with the brand needs a lot of back end planning and you need the conviction of the brands and agencies and then you start delivering on the behaviour which then multiplies,” Ghosh concludes.
Feedback: saloni.dutta@exchange4media.com
