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AR in 2013: Three Retail-Ready Examples

Augmented Reality in 2013: when the real world becomes the interface

With smartphones and tablets becoming part of our everyday life, we also see more augmented reality apps mixing the virtual and the real world in 2013. Here are some examples from ARworks that recently caught my eye.

Audi Singapore Showroom app

For the opening of their biggest showroom in South-East Asia, Audi created AR experiences that allowed visitors to fly around the showroom building without actually boarding a plane, or drive the Audi R18 race car around Singapore at full speed without the risk of getting a ticket. What’s more, they even allowed visitors to personalize their individual license plates and then take photos with the car.

Dakar race in a shopping mall

A real Dakar desert racecourse was built for the new Opel Mokka on a 4mtrs long table that was placed in a shopping mall. Visitors could use the provided iPads to race against time and each other. The results were then shared on Facebook, and the weekly and overall winners received various prizes.

Christmas Ornament Sling

Deutsche Telekom, for their Christmas promotion, developed an iPad app where visitors could throw virtual Christmas ornaments containing their personal message onto a huge Christmas tree erected in a mall. A successful hit to one of the real ornaments on the tree lit it up through an integrated server application.

The pattern across all three: AR turns “watching” into doing

None of these examples treat AR as a gimmick. Each one uses the device as a bridge between curiosity and action. You explore a building. You race a course. You aim a message at a real tree. The screen stops being a place to consume. It becomes a tool to participate.

In retail and shopper environments, augmented reality works best when it turns a physical setup into a simple, repeatable action loop for the visitor.

The real question is whether your AR layer gives the visitor a simple verb and a payoff worth repeating.

Why retail is the natural habitat for AR

Retail already has the ingredients. Footfall, dwell time, and physical objects that can anchor the experience. AR simply adds a layer of viewer control. The visitor decides where to look, what to try, and what to share. This works because the physical anchor keeps the choice set small, so the device can turn curiosity into a low-friction action with an immediate outcome.

Extractable takeaway: AR earns its keep when the physical setup stays simple and the device turns it into a repeatable action that produces a visible outcome worth sharing.

What’s really being built here

These are not “apps.” They are engagement machines, meaning they turn a physical setup into an interaction loop with a reward and an easy share path. Each one creates a clear reason to interact, a clear reward for completing the action, and a clear path to share or repeat. That is how you turn novelty into behavior.

Four retail-ready AR mechanics to copy

Anchor it physically. Anchor the experience to a physical object people can gather around. A showroom, a tabletop course, a tree.
Give the visitor a simple verb. Fly, drive, race, sling. Actions beat features.
Design a tangible payoff. A photo, a score, a lit ornament. Make the outcome tangible.
Make sharing a by-product. Make sharing a natural by-product of the activity, not a forced button at the end.

A few fast answers before you act

What makes these 2013 AR examples feel “ready” for real audiences?

They are built around clear actions and clear rewards. The device is used to do something in the physical environment, not just view an overlay.

Which devices are central to these activations?

Tablets and phones are the delivery mechanism. The examples explicitly reference iPads and handheld devices for the AR interaction.

What role does sharing play in these concepts?

Sharing is tied to the activity. Photos with the car, results shared on Facebook, and personal messages sent as virtual ornaments.

What is the common mechanic across the three examples?

The camera-enabled device acts like a controller that links a real-world setup to a virtual experience, giving the viewer control over exploration and interaction.

How do you keep AR from feeling like a gimmick?

Make the overlay serve a real action and a visible outcome. If the visitor can do something concrete and see a result that is worth showing, the experience stops being novelty and starts being behavior.

ASICS: Run With Me at the Gold Coast Marathon

ASICS has a fine history not just in running sports, but also in the innovative use of technology. So at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon, a grueling 42km run, they created a powerful demonstration of running and technology by connecting runners with their supporters like never before.

Runners were given RFID timing chips to connect their run with Facebook. RFID, or radio-frequency identification, lets a small chip be detected automatically at checkpoints. This allowed them to automatically post pre-written messages at checkpoints, along with distance run and remaining, live timing, and location data plotted on Google Maps. At the same time, friends and loved ones were able to upload video messages of support, which were triggered and played as runners approached giant screens along the course.

A marathon that posts for you, at the moments that matter

The clever part is not “Facebook integration.” It is the timing. Checkpoints are already emotional beats in a race. Effort spikes. Doubt kicks in. Motivation dips. By tying updates to those exact points, the campaign makes every status feel earned, and every reply from friends feel relevant. The real question is whether you can make that support arrive inside the effort, not after the finish.

Extractable takeaway: Automate sharing only at moments participants already care about, so updates feel like earned progress and support can land at the exact point it matters.

RFID is doing quiet work here. It removes manual posting friction, and it makes the updates feel live rather than staged, because the data is anchored to race progress.

In large-scale sports events, real-time data and social signals can turn spectators into an active support system that changes how the race feels while it is happening.

Support that shows up on the course, not just in the comments

Most event social campaigns keep encouragement on a screen at home. This one brings encouragement into the race environment. The supporter uploads become on-course content, triggered when the runner is near, so the message arrives in the body, not just in the feed.

That shift matters. It turns “cheering” from a passive gesture into an intervention, and it gives runners a reason to care about the system mid-race, not only after finishing. This kind of activation is worth building only when the trigger system is reliable enough to feel invisible to the runner.

Reported outcomes, and what they imply

The campaign reported that 2,000 runners, described as 15%, connected their run with Facebook. It also reported 6,000 messages of support uploaded, 1,000 video messages created at the event, and 35% of runners receiving video support. Additionally, it reported thousands of unique status updates from inside the race, 25,850 unique visitors to the microsite, and tens of thousands of return comments from friends and family.

Even if you strip the numbers back, the strategic takeaway is clear. When you connect performance data to social response, you create a loop. Effort generates updates. Updates generate support. Support reinforces effort.

Steal this support-loop pattern for your next event

Attach the experience to natural moments. Checkpoints, milestones, and thresholds beat “post whenever you want.”
Automate the boring part. If the participant must manually publish, most will not.
Bring support into the physical environment. On-course screens, audio, or wearable prompts outperform distant encouragement.
Give supporters a real role. Uploading a message is simple, but it feels meaningful when it is triggered at the right time.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core mechanic of “Run With Me”?

RFID-triggered race checkpoints publish pre-written social updates, while supporter videos are triggered on giant screens as runners approach.

Why does RFID matter here?

It makes the experience hands-free. The system captures progress automatically, so runners do not have to stop or think about posting.

What makes the supporter videos more powerful than normal social comments?

They appear in the runner’s world during the effort, not after it. Timing plus proximity turns a message into motivation.

What is the biggest risk when building this kind of live experience?

Reliability. If triggers misfire or content appears late, the emotional payoff collapses. The tech has to feel invisible and dependable.

How do you measure success beyond impressions?

Opt-in rate, supporter participation rate, trigger completion rate, and whether the loop changes behavior, for example more mid-race engagement and higher repeat participation intent.

Tic Tac: Likes Matt

Tic Tac France recently reached one million fans on Facebook. To say thank you, they published a video where the CEO personally thanks the one millionth fan, Matt, with the message: “If you like us, Matt, we’ll like you back”.

In the video, the whole company is totally obsessed with Matt, and his picture shows up everywhere. It is a simple, funny way to celebrate a milestone, and it is worth watching even if it is in French.

A milestone video that turns one fan into the headline

The mechanism is playful personalization. Here, playful personalization means taking one real fan and making that person the center of the joke so the thank-you feels specific rather than generic. Instead of thanking “everyone”, the brand picks one real milestone moment and builds a mini story around it, with the CEO as the voice of gratitude and the office as the exaggerated stage. That mechanism works because naming one person gives the audience a concrete character to remember and retell.

In FMCG social media marketing, milestone celebrations work best when they feel genuinely personal rather than corporate.

Why it lands

This works because it converts an abstract number into a human. “One million fans” is easy to scroll past. “Matt” is specific, memorable, and funny. The obsession gag also gives viewers a reason to share, because the content has a punchline, not just a thank-you line. This is the right way to celebrate a social milestone because it earns attention without sounding self-congratulatory.

Extractable takeaway: When you need to celebrate a community milestone, do not amplify the number. Personify the moment with one concrete protagonist, then build a simple story people can retell in one sentence.

What the brand is really doing

The real question is how to turn a milestone post into something people want to share, not something the brand wants to announce.

The video is not only gratitude. It also signals attentiveness. The brand is implying that individual fans matter, and that the page is a place where recognition can happen, not just another broadcast channel.

What to borrow from this milestone format

Make the milestone tangible. One named person beats a generic “thanks everyone”.
Use leadership sparingly. A CEO appearance can add weight when the message is short and human.
Build a repeatable format. You can repeat the pattern at future milestones without it feeling forced.
Give it a share trigger. A clear gag or twist increases forwarding and comments.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Tic Tac Likes Matt”?

It is a Facebook milestone thank-you video where Tic Tac France celebrates one million fans by thanking “Matt”, the millionth fan, in a humorous, highly personalized way.

Why focus on one person instead of the whole community?

Because a single protagonist makes the milestone concrete and easier to remember, and it gives the audience a story to share.

What role does the CEO play in the idea?

The CEO acts as an authenticity cue. The message feels less like a standard post and more like a direct acknowledgment.

What is the main lesson for community teams?

Milestone posts should earn attention with a simple narrative device, not with bigger graphics or bigger numbers.

How could another brand adapt this?

Pick a real milestone moment, identify a specific “hero” of that moment, and build a short, human thank-you story around them.