What is augmented reality in printing products

Very often, print is perceived as something static, carrying one or more messages to specific medium. And that's almost always the case. Of course, with the help of digital technology you can add a touch of personalization and try to capture the customer's attention to a greater extent. But this doesn’t always work either. So how do you truly engage a user or customer? Try to introduce shades of modernity and use augmented reality. It allows you to combine print and digital technologies, surprising the client with a wow effect.

What are we talking about?

Basically, this is an opportunity using special software on a mobile device, say, a smartphone or tablet, obtain information that is not originally on the product. The widespread distribution of the Internet and mobile devices is precisely what contributes to the growing popularity of this technology.

The simplest example is the packaging of a small product. You can't fit a lot of information on it. But a barcode or some picture is fine. By scanning it with your smartphone, you can see the composition of the product, where it was made or other data. Moreover, the information may not necessarily be textual. Modern technologies make it possible to hear audio or watch an interesting video.

Where is this used?

In Europe and the USA, augmented reality technology is quite often used for educational purposes. Imagine a history textbook with barcodes in the margins that give access to historical films. The first such project was recently implemented in Ukraine: Wolf printing house printed a medical journal, which, using a smartphone, talks about medical innovations and turns pages into three-dimensional illustrations.

Another Ukrainian example is fiction and the recent project of one of the supermarket chains to produce the book “Alice in Wonderland”, where the characters “came to life”, attracting even the youngest family members to read.

And finally, the most important application for marketers is advertising. This technology can be implemented in almost any industry, although it will work best in the premium goods segment. For example, a booklet about real estate sales will “play out” in a completely different way if a visual 3D sequence is added to each object on a smartphone. The car catalog can be supplemented with interesting information about the device or advantages of the car. When advertising films in print media, you can refer to small fragments. The same applies to video games.

Also, elements of augmented reality can help marketers not only in promotion, but also in collecting analytical information. Special software can collect information about who scanned the product and where, how long they looked at the site they went to, and other useful data

How to benefit?

So, augmented reality - a wonderful modern feature that can attract different target audiences, from young to old. But how to implement it in such a way as to get the maximum return on investment? Here are a few steps:

• First, you should decide on a printing partner. Any product in which you are going to add interactive elements must be printed very well, otherwise no one will want to “play” with your product. It’s good if the printing house already has relevant projects in its portfolio and can advise you;
• you also need to find the right partner to create the software part and think over a strategy. What exactly will the user see after scanning your element - additional information, a beautiful video or something else;
• start with a small pilot project to gain experience and get feedback, test the result in focus groups.

So, printed materials and print advertising are not becoming a thing of the past, no matter how skeptics predict. Integration with modern technologies allows you to transform approaches and offer clients unusual materials that combine text, audio and video.