Tag: Singapore

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.

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.

What’s really being built here

These are not “apps.” They are engagement machines. 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.

What to steal for your next AR build

  • 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 payoff. A photo, a score, a lit ornament. Make the outcome tangible.
  • 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. The examples explicitly reference iPads and handheld devices as the delivery mechanism 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?

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

The Sing For Me Machine

Coca Cola Sing For Me Machine

As part of its global “Open Happiness” campaign, Coca-Cola has set up interactive vending machines in various parts of the world. In Singapore the consumers could hug for a Coke, in Korea they could dance for a Coke…

and now in Stockholm they can sing for a Coke. 🙂 The vending machine has been placed at the Royal Institute of Technology with the sign “Sing For Me” in the front…

IKEA: Catalogue Countdown Room

You walk into IKEA and find a room that is not finished. It is counting down. Each day the space changes again, styled with new catalogue products, like the store itself is teasing what is about to arrive.

That is the idea behind IKEA’s in-store Catalogue Countdown Room in Singapore and Malaysia. After previously re-imagining the 2013 catalogue with visual recognition technology that brought pages to life, this launch moment focuses on anticipation and theatre inside the store. It turns the catalogue release into a daily event that people can watch, not just pick up.

In practice, the countdown room is refreshed repeatedly as the countdown progresses, then broadcast live via IKEA’s Facebook presence so the excitement travels beyond the store floor.

In omnichannel retail marketing, the most repeatable “launch” pattern is to make one physical moment behave like media, then let social distribution carry it further than paid reach alone.

Why a countdown room beats “catalogue is here”

Catalogue launches usually arrive with a shrug. Everyone expects them, so attention is low. A countdown reframes the arrival as something you can miss, and that creates urgency. The room format also makes the catalogue feel less like a book and more like a living set of ideas you can step into.

What the mechanism is really doing

The room is a content engine. Each refresh creates a new “moment” for store visitors, and a new visual for social. This is why the idea scales. It can host small performances, demos, and micro-events without needing a different concept every day. The catalogue becomes the raw material.

What to steal for your next retail launch

  • Build one stage that can change. A single physical space that transforms repeatedly generates content without extra production locations.
  • Turn “arrival” into anticipation. Countdowns make routine drops feel like events.
  • Design for shareable proof. The room should look different enough each day that people want to show the change.
  • Let the store be the hero. When the in-store moment is genuinely interesting, social becomes documentation, not advertising.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the IKEA Catalogue Countdown Room?

It is an in-store installation that changes during a countdown to the new IKEA catalogue launch. The room is repeatedly restyled using catalogue products, and the changes are shared through social channels.

Why does a countdown create more engagement than a standard catalogue drop?

A countdown adds scarcity and rhythm. People know something is happening each day, so they return, check in, and talk about what changed instead of treating the catalogue as background noise.

What makes this an integrated campaign?

The same story runs across the store, social distribution, and supporting communications. The room creates the physical event. Social extends it beyond store visitors. The catalogue provides the content foundation.

What is the key lesson for retailers launching many new products at once?

Do not try to communicate everything at once. Create a single repeatable format that can spotlight different products over time, so attention compounds across multiple touchpoints.

What is the biggest risk with “live” retail content?

If the daily payoff is weak, people stop checking. The room needs visible change and a reason to watch each day, otherwise the countdown becomes decoration.