Mobile devices have put a great deal of power into the hands of consumers by simply giving them instant access to the Internet, but the next big user experience revolution focuses on cameras. Smartphones provide a window into the information world, but accessing it can be a little cumbersome—speaking aloud, typing, taking a picture of a QR code—but with augmented reality the user experience is that of seeing is interacting.

Aurasma is a mobile app product and development suite that allows marketing departments to add their own augmented reality “Auras” to items, logos, advertisements, or anything that can be clearly discerned by a camera.

How does Aurasma work?

First, someone needs to make what’s called an “Aura.” This is the hook that the Aurasma app will use to trigger the augmented reality experience. An Aura can be attached to anything unique enough for a smartphone camera to recognize when it’s pointed at it. The example used on the website is a painting of Scottish poet Robert Burns.

Once the trigger for the Aura is set, content can be placed “in scene” in relation to the trigger. In the case of augmented reality this means a marketer can overlay text, transparent graphics, or even a video. As is the case with the Robert Burns painting, the image is replaced with a video clip of an actor, dressed very similarly to the painting), who withdraws a bottle from behind his coat and regales the viewer with poetry (all the while bagpipes play.)

This is the essence of the concept of augmented reality: using the smartphone’s camera to allow the overlay of extra information on top of what’s seen by the eyes.

Reaching out to developers and vendors, Aurasma offers a standalone app as well as a full fledged SDK. For those vendors who don’t have the time or need to develop anything, the app will do; but the SDK allows for embedding the entire system inside of another app. This means developers can produce apps that can take advantage of augmented reality overlays.

An excellent example would be a museum with an app designed to provide extra information about the exhibits. Today the usual app would be a series of menus for schedule, map, perhaps a digital brochure or interactive game, but with Aurasma, suddenly the smartphone and camera become a window into an entirely new experience.

The app runs on iOS and Android (check out the demo now, it’s worth it.)

Augmented reality and the future of customer engagement

Annie Weinberger, Vice President & General Manager at Aurasma sees augmented reality as the next innovative engagement technique that marketers will want to set up into. Current media out there in the world is largely static, unaware of the people viewing it, and requires viewers to remember web pages or brands in order to get more information.

Augmented reality marketing, on the other hand, delivers a living experience from a mobile app that can be build context and engagement.

“The conversion rates that our customers see are astronomical,” Weinberger told Wiklbon’s John Furrier and Dave Vellante in an interview on SiliconANGLE’s TheCube broadcast. “For instance, Office Depot uses it in store and on their catalogs and in their advertisements and they got a 150% increase in conversions. AMC theater also used it for their movie posters allowing people to watch trailers in the lobby and buy tickets right there. They receive a 75% click through rate on that.”

Aruasma campaigns also have a very high renewal rate, says Weinberger. The system works on a time-based subscription system and the most commonly bought campaign length is one year. Since subs are paid for only by length of time marketing departments can switch different auras in and out as needs change.

Weinberger says that augmented reality has a strong start in advertising but is also being adopted in education. This dovetails nicely with the example on Aurasma’s website, with the painting, and how interactivity often enhances teaching.

“The next generation coming up are going to demand that augmented reality is part of how their cell phones work,” said Weinberger, referring to the ubiquity of smartphones and just how potent this technology can be.

The options for augmented reality have become ever more easy and fluid with more powerful mobile devices in the hands of consumers and ubiquitous cameras. Aurasma’s approach is simple, direct, and quickly implemented by developers and marketing departments. The painting example on the Aurasma website itself shows that there’s a vast tapestry of potential for such a technology to deliver information, engage consumers, and provide entertainment.

“We must embrace these immersive technologies or we’ll lose customers,” Weinberger concluded about the proliferation and use of augmented reality.

Image credit: Aurasma, http://aurasma.com