Tag: augmented reality

Augmented Reality Calendar by Audi

An Audi calendar arrives and it looks almost wrong. Each month is a beautiful landscape, with a deliberate empty space and no car in sight. You open Audi’s iPhone app, point the camera at the page, and the missing piece appears. An Audi A1 fills the blank area in augmented reality, sitting inside the printed scene as if it belongs there.

The idea. A car calendar without cars

Audi takes a familiar format. The premium calendar. Then it removes the expected hero asset. The car. The calendar becomes an invitation to discover, not a static brand object.

How it works. Print as trigger, iPhone as lens

  • The printed calendar pages feature landscapes and intentional negative space.
  • People download and open the dedicated Audi iPhone app.
  • They point the phone’s camera at the calendar page.
  • The app overlays a car into the empty area, turning the page into a live scene.

The interaction is simple, but the effect is surprising because it uses a physical artifact as the interface. The calendar is not just content. It is the marker that activates the experience.

Why this works. A tangible product that earns a second look

This is not augmented reality for the sake of augmented reality. It is a clean integration of print and mobile that rewards curiosity. The calendar builds anticipation with absence, and the app completes the story in the moment you engage.

What to take from it. Designing the reveal

  • Use restraint to create intrigue. Removing the obvious element can be more powerful than showcasing it.
  • Make the physical object the trigger. When the real-world asset is the interface, the digital layer feels earned.
  • Keep the action obvious. Point camera. See result. Low friction beats complex onboarding.
  • Build around a single wow moment. One crisp reveal is often enough to make the experience memorable.

This idea is developed by Neue Digitale / Razorfish Berlin and executed for Audi.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Audi’s augmented reality calendar?
A printed Audi calendar designed to work with an iPhone app, where pointing the phone camera at a page reveals a car in augmented reality.

What is the core creative twist?
It is a car calendar without cars. The car appears only when you view the page through the app.

What role does the calendar page play?
It acts as the trigger. The printed layout and empty space are intentionally designed to be “completed” by the AR overlay.

What makes it effective as a brand experience?
It turns a passive object into an interactive reveal, linking print, mobile, and product desire in one simple action.

What is the transferable pattern for other brands?
Design a physical artifact that creates curiosity, then use mobile to deliver a single high-impact reveal with minimal friction.

Dentsu: iButterfly Location-Based Coupons

Coupons with wings: iButterfly turns deals into a mobile hunt

Here is a great example of Online, Mobile and Shopper Marketing converging with Augmented Reality (AR). Integrated Marketing literally put into the hands of the people.

Japanese ad agency Dentsu has started this experimental coupon download platform called iButterfly on the iPhone. The free iPhone app transforms the habit of collecting coupons into a fun little game using AR and the device’s GPS.

The mechanic: catch a butterfly, unlock a coupon

The app tasks its users with catching virtual butterflies that are flying around, each representing one or more coupons. You can even share “butterflies” with your friends via Bluetooth.

Augmented reality in this context means the phone camera view becomes the backdrop, while digital objects. Here, butterflies. are overlaid and tied to location signals like GPS.

In retail and FMCG shopper marketing, the value of this approach is that promotions become a location-linked experience, not a passive download.

Why this format works for targeted promotions

The key shift is motivation. People are not “clipping” coupons. They are playing a simple collecting game, and the reward is a deal that feels earned.

Because butterflies can be placed around specific areas, the mechanic supports targeting by place and moment. That makes the coupon feel context-aware rather than generic.

What Dentsu is really prototyping here

This is less about novelty AR and more about a new distribution behavior. Turning offers into collectible objects changes how often users open the app, how long they stay in it, and how naturally they talk about it with friends.

It is also a rare example where “share with a friend” is not a marketing CTA. It is a gameplay action that carries the promotion with it.

What to steal for your own shopper activation

  • Make the reward immediate. Catch. Unlock. Redeem. Long funnels kill the game loop.
  • Use location as a story, not a filter. Place rewards where people already go, so the map feels meaningful.
  • Let sharing be part of the mechanic. A tradable object beats a generic “share this” button.
  • Keep the collection simple. If users need a manual, they will not hunt.

A few fast answers before you act

What is iButterfly?

iButterfly is a mobile coupon platform that turns deal collection into a location-based AR game. Users catch virtual butterflies on their phone and unlock coupons as rewards.

How does the AR coupon mechanic work?

Users view the real world through the phone camera. Virtual butterflies appear and can be “caught”. Each butterfly contains one or more offers, which unlock after capture.

Why is this relevant for shopper marketing?

It shifts promotions from passive browsing to active discovery. Location and gameplay increase attention, repeat usage, and the likelihood of in-the-moment redemption.

What makes it feel targeted rather than random?

Butterflies can be tied to locations and contexts via GPS. That links the offer to where the shopper is, not just who they are.

What is the biggest execution risk?

If redemption is hard or the rewards feel weak, the novelty wears off fast. The game loop only survives when the payoff is clear and friction stays low.

WWF: Augmented Reality Tiger T-Shirt

A retail AR gut-punch for WWF’s Siberian tiger

This is a great piece of Augmented Reality for WWF aimed at raising awareness around the plight of the siberian tiger, created by Leo Burnett Moscow.

WWF printed thousands of tiger t-shirts and distributed them online and to key stores in Moscow featuring specially placed AR video mirrors that would instantly activate the AR experience the moment a tiger t-shirt was detected. And at that moment, the experience became quite graphical to anyone wearing the t-shirt, complete with bullet wounds, huge amounts of blood and sound effects to match it.

How the “video mirror” mechanic does the heavy lifting

The setup is simple. Put the message on the body. Put the trigger in the store. Put the reveal in a mirror people already trust as “truth”.

An AR video mirror is a camera plus screen installation that shows your live reflection while overlaying digital effects in real time. In this case, the mirror detects the tiger shirt and then renders the simulated injuries and audio as if they are happening to you.

In retail environments and public spaces, AR activations work best when the interaction is instant, unmistakable, and socially visible to bystanders.

Why the experience lands so hard

It converts an abstract cause into a first-person moment. You do not just look at an endangered animal. You temporarily “become” the target.

The shock is not only the gore. It is the sudden loss of control. You step into a normal shopping routine and the story hijacks your reflection before you can rationalize it away.

The intent behind making it graphic

The creative choice forces attention and memory. A polite AR overlay would be easy to ignore. A visceral one is harder to dismiss and more likely to be retold, especially when friends are watching from behind you.

What to steal for your next experience design

  • Use a frictionless trigger. Detection happens automatically. No app download. No QR hunt. No instructions.
  • Choose a culturally “trusted” surface. Mirrors feel like evidence, which makes overlays feel more real than a phone screen effect.
  • Make the message social. The bystander view matters. People react together, and that reaction becomes the spread mechanism.
  • Design the reveal as a single sentence. “This is what it feels like to be hunted.” If the concept cannot be repeated instantly, it will not travel.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core idea of the WWF tiger t-shirt AR campaign?

It uses an AR video mirror to detect a tiger t-shirt and instantly overlay a graphic “poaching” simulation on the wearer, turning awareness into a first-person experience.

Why use an AR mirror instead of a mobile AR app?

The mirror removes friction and makes the moment public. Everyone nearby sees the same reveal at the same time, which increases impact and sharing.

What makes this activation effective as cause marketing?

It translates a distant problem into a personal reaction. The wearer feels shock and vulnerability, and that emotional spike improves recall and conversation.

What are the key components if you want to replicate the mechanism?

You need a clear trigger (the shirt), a camera plus screen “mirror” setup, real-time overlay rendering, and a reveal that communicates the message in seconds.

What is the main risk with shock-based AR experiences?

If the graphic content overwhelms the cause, people remember only the stunt. The message has to be explicit enough that the emotional reaction points to the intended story.