Tag: augmented reality

The future of Augmented Reality

You point your phone at the world and it answers back. In Hidden Creative’s video, a mobile device scans what’s around you and returns live, on-the-spot information. The same AR layer lets you preview change before you commit to it, by virtually rearranging furniture or trying colours in a real space.

What this future looks like in practice

The value is not “wow.” It is utility. The device behaves like a real-time lens:

  • Scan surroundings and get contextual information immediately.
  • Overlay objects into physical space to plan renovations or layout changes.
  • Configure colours virtually before making real-world changes.

Why AR still feels like a campaign tool

Augmented Reality is already active in brand campaigns around the world, mainly because it creates high engagement and talk value. Yet it still does not play an everyday role in most people’s lives.

The missing layer. A standard AR experience

Before daily-life AR becomes normal, platform owners and developers need to standardise the experience across their ecosystems. Apple, Google, and Microsoft/Nokia each move in their own direction, and the result is fragmentation.

One master app vs. an app store full of one-offs

Right now the app stores are cluttered with many Augmented Reality apps, each doing a slice of the job. One cross-platform “master app,” or at least a consistent base layer, is a plausible starting point for making AR feel like an always-available capability instead of a novelty download.

A few fast answers before you act

What does the Hidden Creative video demonstrate?
Using a phone or digital device to scan surroundings, pull live information, and overlay objects into real-life space for tasks like renovation planning.

Why is AR not yet an everyday behaviour?
Even with strong campaign usage, the ecosystem is still fragmented and the experience is not standardised across platforms.

What needs to happen at the platform level?
Apple, Google, and Microsoft/Nokia plus their developer ecosystems need to standardise how AR works on their platforms.

What problem do app stores create for AR adoption?
Too many single-purpose AR apps creates clutter and inconsistency, which makes AR feel like isolated experiments instead of a reliable capability.

What’s the simplest adoption lever suggested here?
A more consistent base layer. For example a “master app” concept that reduces fragmentation across platforms.

Augmented Reality. Hyperlinking the real world

A French company called Capturio turns a t-shirt into a business card. You point your phone at what someone is wearing, and the “link” is the fabric itself. No QR code required.

Right after that, Blippar in the UK takes the same idea to printed images. A newspaper page, poster, or pack becomes the trigger. The result is a 3D augmented reality overlay that appears on-screen the moment the image is recognised. Again, no QR code.

Is the end near for the QR code?

QR codes get put to good use in countless innovative projects. But the drift is clearly towards technology that produces similar results without visible codes.

Capturio. A business card you wear

Capturio’s concept is simple. The physical object becomes the identifier. A t-shirt behaves like a clickable surface in the real world.

Blippar. Turning print into a trigger

Blippar creates augmented reality effects from printed images without “activating” anything via a QR code. The interaction is straightforward:

  1. Download a custom app, in this case the Blippar app.
  2. Scan a Blippar-enabled printed image, identifiable by a small Blippar logo, using an iPhone, iPad, or Android device.
  3. Start interacting with the augmented reality 3D overlay on the screen.

Telibrahma. The same pattern shows up in India

In India, Telibrahma uses the same approach to increase experiential engagement for brands via traditional media like newspapers and posters.

Why this matters. Hyperlinking the physical world

The bigger idea is not the novelty of 3D overlays. It is that physical surfaces become links. Clothing, posters, newspaper pages, packaging, storefronts. Anything that can be recognised can behave like a gateway to content, commerce, or interaction.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “hyperlinking the real world” in this post?
Using image recognition and AR so physical objects like shirts, posters, and print behave like clickable links without QR codes.

Which companies are the concrete examples?
Capturio (France), Blippar (UK), and Telibrahma (India).

How does Blippar work at a high level?
Download the app, scan a Blippar-enabled image (marked with a small Blippar logo), then interact with a 3D AR overlay.

What traditional media does this apply to?
Newspapers, posters, and other printed images.

Airwalk: The Invisible Pop-Up Store

GoldRun and Young & Rubicam have created what is billed as the world’s first invisible pop-up store. Limited edition Airwalk sneakers appear only at the biggest skate and surf spots, so the “store” is the location, not a storefront.

Sneakerheads and skaters visit the virtual store at Washington Square Park in NYC and Venice Beach in LA. You show up, look through the phone, and the drop reveals itself.

A pop-up you cannot see until you are there

The mechanism is a location-based AR layer. The product is GPS-linked to specific places, so access is earned by presence, not by refreshing a webshop.

Instead of browsing shelves, people “capture” the virtual sneaker in the app and unlock a purchase path. The retail action is still commerce, but the pre-commerce moment is play.

In youth culture launches where scarcity and scene credibility matter, location-based drops create stronger heat than broad e-commerce blasts.

Why this lands with sneaker culture

This is not just novelty AR. It taps into three instincts that already exist in sneaker communities:

  • Scarcity: limited runs feel meaningful when access is constrained.
  • Proof of effort: being there becomes part of the story and the status.
  • Social retell: the experience is easy to describe and easy to show.

The “invisible store” framing also upgrades the idea from a promo to a cultural moment. It makes the drop feel like an event that happened, not a product that launched.

The business intent under the stunt

Airwalk gets a high-impact relaunch without paying for traditional retail real estate. The brand borrows the authenticity of parks and beaches, then turns those places into distribution.

That matters because it makes the product and the environment inseparable. The sneaker is not simply “for” skaters and surfers. It appears where they actually are.

What to steal for your next launch

  • Make access physical, even if the product is bought digitally.
  • Turn scarcity into a mechanic, not a banner headline.
  • Design a one-sentence retell, for example “the store only exists at two spots.”
  • Pick locations that already signal the brand, so the setting does some of the messaging work.

A few fast answers before you act

What is an “invisible pop-up store” in practical terms?

It is a temporary retail experience that exists only through a phone interface at specific real-world coordinates. No physical store build is required.

What is the core mechanic that drives participation?

Geo-fenced discovery. People must travel to a location to reveal the product, then complete an action in-app to unlock purchase.

Why not just sell the shoes online normally?

Because the launch is the marketing. Turning purchase access into a hunt creates earned attention, social proof, and a stronger sense of drop culture than a standard checkout flow.

What are the biggest risks with this approach?

Friction and disappointment. If the experience is hard to access, unstable on devices, or feels unfair due to distance, enthusiasm flips quickly.

What should a brand measure to know if it worked?

Location visits, completion rate from “found” to purchase, time-to-sell-out, and the volume and quality of organic sharing that shows people proving they were there.