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What's common to Manchester United, Ikea and Burger King?
Inspired by Pokemon Go, they have all experimented with Augmented Reality. But as Pokemon Go celebrates its first birthday, have marketers made the most of this interactive model?
The "Pokemon Go Effect" is now a legendary phrase in marketing and other areas of life. In the 12 months since its release, the mobile game that overlays digital monsters onto the player's own real-world neighbourhoods (backed by Niantic's clever GPS tech), has generated over $1.2 billion in revenues and totted up 752 million downloads.
The phenomenon made marketers sit up and take notice. For many, it showed them the "power and the diversity of mobile gaming". But have marketers actually made the most of this new area of interactivity?
Brands ranging from Manchester United to Ikea to FX to Burger King to the Gorillaz have all experimented with augmented reality. Snapchat and Facebook have rolled out AR lenses and features.
Pokemon Go has shown that the medium can be popularised and easily accessed by consumers. Plus, and this is the beauty, there are monetisation options. As Pokemon Go goes from strength to strength, brands and developers continue to find ways to master the development and distribution of content in the area.