Melanie
Welcome to the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast for all decision makers and action takers. Take it away, Esther.
Esther
And welcome back to another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast. Today we we're talking about immersive experiences in marketing. They have a great power behind them. That's power for those that didn't understand that word. There is a lot of power in immense immersive experiences. So what are we talking about today? It is augmented reality and virtual reality. Big topics.
Melanie
Well, it was actually your suggestion, Esther, and it's an area that you've worked in previously as part of your agency. So tell us, Esther, what kind of businesses would be using AR and VR in their business?
Esther
So when we were using it with customers, it was lots of different customers like was Coca Cola were using it to, you know, show a video. If you scanned a QR code on the top of the bottle cap, it would bring up a video, for example, like the ad, the most recent ad that they were running at the time. But you see a lot of companies when you go online, for example, over the recent Black Friday and Christmas shopping and stuff that we've been doing online, I've seen it a lot more than in previous years where it'll say, see how this looks in your home. And that's part of the augmented reality or virtual reality that you can, you know, envision it without having to imagine it. You could actually see that piece of furniture, see that ornament sitting in your home, see how the light would reflect off it, etc. Etc. There's a whole science behind it and a whole load of technology behind it, but it's a really, really good way of people to almost try before they buy, you know, that classic, you know, and giving out samples and things. So it's when you go into places like Ikea or your local hardware shop or kitchen seals people, and they ask you for measurements, they ask you for a rough idea, or they come out to your house and take pictures and then they transform that into something else.
So it's a whole wonderful way of seeing something made into reality without spending a penny to make that reality. If that makes sense.
Melanie
Yeah, no, it definitely does. It just reminded me, actually, during that rather long time we were all stuck indoors. I visited online, of course, and Frank's house and went through all the rooms and saw the Heidi places and read, you know, looked at the pictures on the walls and even picked up books and read them and yeah, of course I hadn't copped. That's all AR VR as well. Yeah. So it Was it was great to explore these places.
Esther
Question about that, though. Did that then put you off going in real life? Did you sort of say, well, I've done it now, there's no point in going, or did it make you more curious?
Melanie
It made me more curious because obviously I couldn't feel how cramped it was in that. That hidey place. I couldn't sort of smell the room. I couldn't touch. There was no tactile element to it. So there was no touching the. The wood of the door or, or picking up and feeling the weight of a hairbrush, which I'm sure is to come.
Esther
I'm sure.
Melanie
But, you know, I. It gave me an exorable taste of what it would be like, but I don't. On a personal level, I don't think would ever stop me wanting to go there.
Esther
Yeah. And that's the whole idea behind it. It's to give people that maybe can't get out or don't want to get out that sense of traveling or that sense of, you know, they do it for roller coasters as well. And you feel like you're on this roller coaster and there's lots and lots of things that can be done with it in terms of physical products. You can also have clothes shops that will, you know, try on the clothes before you buy them and see what it looks like against your, you know, your skin or whatever. See if the tone sits, see if the lighting, you know, all this stuff.
Melanie
Makeup. You see that they do a scan of your face and you can. And find the right skin tone.
Esther
Yeah.
Melanie
And I guess we see that in filters all the time on TikTok and Instagram and stuff.
Esther
Yeah. There's even ones now for haircuts. You know, take a picture of your. Of your head and see what you would look like with short hair. See what you would. And obviously they're not perfect, especially if you go for the very free, you know, the free or the very cheap versions. But the technology is progressing so quickly that there will be ways, like you say in the future to be able to feel that hairbrush in your hand or to feel the texture of the clothes that you're putting on. You know, if you're. If they're selling you a cashmere jumper, you want to be able to feel it. You know, you want to. It's. It reminds me a bit of the scratch and sniff. Do you remember years ago?
Melanie
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Esther
In the UK, we had this especially. It was coming up to around. We have this thing every year in the UK called Red Nose Day. So Comic Relief. And it raises money in a funny way for lots of charities. But this one year, maybe various years, they would. They sent out or you could order it, a scratch card and you would scratch it and smell it whenever it was a certain part of the. Of the show. So it gave you that experience of being there of, you know, know, being in the audience, of smelling the slime or smelling the air freshener. Whatever it was that they were doing at that time, it was horrendous. It was really, really bad. It smelt like. I can still smell it in my nose. But it was. Those were the early days of this technology of seeing it and being there without being there. You know, it's like people from. From the States who want to visit the Eiffel Tower but maybe can't travel anymore. Just having that experience of going up in the lift elevator and, you know, looking out over Paris and it's. I've been there in person. I don't think anything would compare. But it would give you that experience. Like you said with the Anne Frank house, the next best thing.
Melanie
Accessibility, I suppose, isn't it?
Esther
Yeah. Because it's for people who maybe can't get out, as in there they have a physical impairment that they can't get out, or economical impairment where they don't-.
Melanie
Certainly couldn't have. I can't hop into a plane and fly over and visit the place. You know, it's just. It's not practical.
Esther
Yeah.
Melanie
So I've got another question.
Esther
Yes.
Melanie
As you were doing this for your clients, was there a. I mean, obviously it's been a while since you've done it, so it could have. Could have, well, changed. Probably has changed. But was there an enormous amount of work behind the scenes to make this a reality?
Esther
Oh, of course, of course. You need an awful lot of storage space in the cloud and you need an awful lot of, like, if you have thousands of people scanning the QR code or logging into the experience at the same time, you need that hardware behind you. You need it not to crash. You need it to work flawlessly and function as if they were there. You know, without the starting and stuttering and without the glitching. And you need it to. You need to want them to come back for more. And you need, for example, in the case of a QR code, you need to be able to change that at any given moment to a different ad or a different sales pitch that they want to give or a different image that they want to be projected onto the table in front of them or whatever. So, yeah, it was lots and lots of man hours, lots and lots of design time, lots of storage needed. There was lots of moving parts. And I'm sure it's got easier but harder at the same time.
Melanie
I can imagine. So how much work was required by the client themselves in order to help you to do this?
Esther
It depended on the project. So, for example, if it was the clothes, then they needed to provide for photographs of all of the clothes that they had. So that could be thousands of pieces because you've got all the different trousers and skirts and shirts and tops and blouses, etc, and in all the different colours. So they had to provide all of this and then it had to be scanned into the computer so they got the right colour and the right. Because, you know, there's print colours and there's digital colours. So when it's all these different things.
Melanie
I'm nodding, but I have no clue what the difference.
Esther
So, okay, so your logo, for example, has certain colours in it.
Melanie
Okay.
Esther
And if you have that on your website, there are certain numbers and digits that go with that number.
Melanie
Oh, yeah.
Esther
With that colour. But if you go to print it, it's a different one so that it looks exactly the same. Because when you print it's a different. Because it's on texture and it's not digital, then it comes out different. If you use exact same numbers, it won't look the same.
Melanie
Interesting. Did not know that.
Esther
So you see lots of moving parts. So you've got all these things going on in the background. If it's, you know, if it's a campaign like changing the QR code to show a different advert, they provide the advert. That one was probably the easiest one. It was just. It happened. If it's make it show a video, make it do something, they just had to provide the video. They had to provide what they wanted it to show. And then we would do everything else. So we would make sure all the technology was working, all the codes and systems were working, that all the QR codes were up to date and weren't expiring. And, you know, this is going back 10, 12 years. So sometimes QR codes had a limit on what they could do or how many people could scan it before they regenerated and things like that. So it was finding the right technology for us to use to make them look good.
Melanie
Okay, so we've now got some understanding of the work involved by the clients and obviously the man hours by yourselves. In your experience, Esther, have you seen much of an uptick in people using AR and VR certainly maybe in the last five years or is it kind of still drumming along the same?
Esther
I think it's coming along more now because you've got the meta quests and you've got the Apple, whatever they call theirs, which are like super expensive. So you've got more technology in order to use it. Whereas before it was like, only if you had the super expensive equipment could you really use it to its full potential. You see VR rooms popping up all the time and you've got virtual escape rooms, you've got like augmented reality this, that and the other, you know, so there's more things that are, that are popping up, but I think it still hasn't hit its boom yet, you know, but it's coming. I would fully predict in the next five years that there will be more and more things and as people stay in more and more and are maybe becoming more recluse or just, you know, what's the point in going out? I can buy everything online then, you know, even more will they have the experience of what will that look like on me, what will that look like in my living room? What will that look like if I were to go to Australia to see the, you know, Sydney Opera House or whatever, what would I see? What would I experience? And is the twelve hundred dollar ticket really worth it?
Melanie
Wow, you sound so jaded.
Esther
I mean, if there were cheaper flights to Australia, I would go in a heartbeat. If anybody wants to sponsor that, you know, I can-.
Melanie
Hey, anybody wants to sponsor us, let us know.
Esther
But I mean, you've even got, because I had this pop up in my social media the other day that you can now do flight simulations and everything. Like you can pretend to be whatever you want using augmented reality and virtual reality. So if you've always dreamed of being a pilot, go and do the flight simulator. It's not just for those training to be pilots anymore, it's for the general public. You know.
Melanie
I think once all of these become a bit more accessible financially for people or who have, you know, because at the moment it depends on who has better software or hardware in their laptop or desktop or on their own or phone. Yeah, all eyes. So it really depends on who's got that kind of access at the moment. And that's why it's probably largely brands and, and bigger businesses that have access to this. Would you agree?
Esther
Yeah, totally agree. And like you said, you know, you've got your makeup companies, but they're your well established makeup companies that are doing it, although there are some others that are using lots of technology in order to get you the right, you know, moisturizer and the right concealer for your skin type by asking you a few questions. Same with hair products and things. They're still not at the level where they can go. Okay, so try, you know, as a new brand coming through. They're not at the level yet where they can go. Your skin will look like this after four weeks or after eight weeks or after whatever, or by putting on this makeup, you will suddenly be transformed into this supermodel. You know, they don't have that capability yet, but I'm sure with their investors and the venture capitalists and all this that are starting to take interest, they will soon realize the par of immersive experiences. And the more people can. Because it's. It's like having 10 touch points in the one thing. So, you know, we talk about touch points by, like sending an email or making a phone call or showing up on a, on a Facebook ad or whatever. But if you have AR or VR, you're covering so many different things at the one time. You're answering lots of different questions that they maybe didn't know that they had. You're giving them more information than you could with just a simple video or with just a simple website. You're giving them all this stuff that it may cut. May. I mean, it's all, it's all relative, really. It might cut down the length of time it takes for people to make a buying decision.
Melanie
Yeah. So where do we find these resources? Or do we have to go through an agency?
Esther
Well, obviously I would recommend going through an agency just to make your life easier because there's such a big learning curve. If you were to try and do it yourself, you can start small by using a QR code and linking it to a video. But it's not the same as having it like a 3D video. You know, a 3D video is next level. So it's, it's not, it's not as easy as just, oh, well, I've got a QR code and I can just put in a video of me talking. It's not as simple as that. It's a good place to start by using QR codes and things. But if you really want to give them an immersive, an immersive experience, say that three times quickly, then you should go with an agency or someone who can help direct you in the correct way. Because what you think you might want to put in the experience may not be what it actually is that they need.
Melanie
Okay? So if you want to stand out from your competitors, you have the budget and you have the resources where you've got the staff who can help run things in the background whilst you're preparing this, and you've got the. The time that it takes. Because it could take months. Are we talking.
Esther
It could. It could take months. If, if you come, for example, you come to us and you say, I want to do this, but I don't have anything prepared, then it's starting from scratch and it could take months. If you come and you already have all the 3D models of your latest product and you're ready to, you know, just have us do the background part of see this in your room, etc. Etc. Then it could be less time. But again, it, like all good things in marketing, it depends.
Melanie
It really depends.
Esther
Yeah.
Melanie
Yeah. Okay. Well, I hope we've given everybody something to think about today. Normally, we tend to talk about stuff that doesn't really cost a huge amount of money, is a bit more practical, bit more easy to access, but you know what? Marketing has to cover every area. And if you are intending to work with larger agencies, larger clients, larger brands in general, then you do have to kind of up your game a little. So you obviously did and still do at this time. So go you, Esther. So is there anything else we should tell our listeners before we finish up? Is there anything we haven't covered, Esther?
Esther
Probably, but if they have any questions, they can reach out to me directly either through the podcast or through ipagroup.co.
Melanie
Awesome. Well, that's all time we have for today. I hope you found the topic of interest. As you can hear, we'd like to unburden our dual experts on what we know, and we're always happy to help where we can. So hit us up if you've got any other topics you'd like us to cover. And if you know of anybody who would like to guess, speak on something that we haven't covered before or have updates for us on anything we have covered before, then do let us know. So we'll be back next week with another podcast. Bye for now.
Esther
Bye.
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