3 major trends in augmented reality content in 2021

Augmented reality has been around for over 50 years but has only really been used in the last 5 years. Several industries have already started to exploit this technology and brands are increasingly using it as a marketing tool. Find in this article 3 AR trends that will emerge in 2021!

1. E-commerce and the projection of products in 3D

Augmented reality can be very beneficial for e-commerce. Indeed, this technology makes it possible to project objects in 3D in the user's real environment through his smartphone. Thus, AR becomes a major selling point since Internet users can easily visualise a product and remove any doubts about the product's dimensions or colours.

IKEA has already chosen to capitalise on this trend for the past two years with IKEA Place an application that projects most of its furniture and decorative objects from its catalogue to help customers choose a product.

What's more, with the covid-19 crisis, many shops had to close their doors, making it impossible to get to and view products. Consumers' habits have changed and many of them tend to prefer to buy online. This is therefore an opportunity for retailers to integrate augmented reality into their website to increase their conversion rate. AR can increase your conversion rate by up to 30%, thanks to the immersive and practical nature of this technology.

2. Augmented reality filters on social networks

The second trend that should not be overlooked is the creation of augmented reality filters on social networks.

Filters on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat have been around for a while, but in fact, brands have only recently started to exploit this feature. Because of its playful and sometimes amusing nature, the effects are very beneficial for brands to achieve goals such as increasing their community and engagement rate or improving their brand awareness.

Indeed, by proposing an augmented reality filter, a brand can transport users into another universe and invite them to interact with the proposed content. This is called an immersive experience and allows brands to build a digital strategy that is more than beneficial in terms of ROI.

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3. Trendy events in augmented reality

You read that right, it is possible to create an event based on augmented reality these days. For example, in June 2021, the first ever French augmented reality art festival took place in Paris. It offered participants the opportunity to walk around the festival with their smartphones to admire works of art in augmented reality.

As the name suggests, augmented reality breaks the barriers of size. Thus, an artist can create a huge work of art without worrying about size, or create a moving work without any problem.

Adding augmented reality to a festival is also possible. More and more festivals are integrating this technology to improve the customer experience for participants. It creates a world that is very present in the festival and increases the loyalty of the participants who will want to come back and experience it again.

Augmented reality is constantly evolving technically and allows many things for brands. It is a marketing asset not to be neglected and not to be missed. For the moment, this technology is emerging in the marketing world and it's the right time to start but in a few years, it will be difficult to stand out thanks to AR which will have become almost compulsory for all brands.