Augmented print through AR applications? Sounds complicated, but it’s very simple
Food, cars, computers, cities and regions: there is now a plethora of digital information about every product. Whether customers want to buy something or plan a trip: consumers research a lot of information both online and offline these days.
The idea behind the AR applications is for customers to be quickly and simply shown, on request, digital information when reading print products. To do so, they simply have to aim the scanner of their smartphone or tablet at a specified marker or labelled image, similarly to when reading a QR code.
The new genARate app recognises the pre-set marker and interacts with it in real time. It shows virtual elements with added value and also loads additional images, videos, audio files or 3D elements, etc. The good thing is that the digital data and content is mostly already available because it was produced for the website, presentations or social channels, for example. Only the link to the flyer or catalogue is missing.
Companies are capturing the virtual space with genARate augmented print
genARate brings relevant additional information into the field of vision of customers. Augmented print combines printed and digital information into a customer-friendly virtual full package. Unimaginable? Good old beer mats provide a clear example of such an application. The round coasters made of wood pulp cardboard have been traditional advertising and brand media for regional breweries for decades and are mostly printed with historical images. Now it is conceivable for some of those images to be digitally labelled, similarly to with a QR code.
If guests in a restaurant or pub then hold their app over the beer mat, they will be shown additional virtual information. A video from the hops harvest, a link to the brewery website with all product offers or a 3D animation about the history of beer brewing in Europe, for example.
‘Everything that works in the digital world also works in the genARate app, and this new link offers great possibilities, especially with regard to small packaging and labels,’ explains Christian Kiesewetter. Due to the size of packaging, he says, there is often not much space for important and valuable additional information. The app offers companies totally new opportunities to pass on facts and figures, as well as additional exciting content or entertaining messages, to customers.
Smart entrepreneurs become digital pioneers with print products
Print is on the move: with this new tool, owners and managers of SMEs can become digital pioneers without major investments or risks. Existing print products from company marketing can be expanded into an exciting, interactive dialogue with customers in the digital genARate studio using the app.
genARate is a simple, flexible, cloud-based tool with which printed company documents can be transformed into a virtual product world. The designers and programmers at Konica Minolta have designed genARate in such a way that augmented reality becomes usable for everyone.
Users simply open their web browser and log in. The intuitive drag-and-drop tool then shows them the way to prepare print products for interactive customer communication. Furthermore, genARate tracks customer and user behaviour and thus allows companies to quickly get started with marketing documents and campaigns, and to develop them in a targeted way.