Augmenting Reality and Content

Why do we like overlays?

Augmentation refers to the process of making something more than originally intended - larger, more numerous, more intense.   In marketing, it often refers to satisfying one of two personal needs;  augmentation adds...

1. information and context.
2. a layer of personalization.

In the post-PC era content must reflect time and place because devices are now portable and thus truly become extensions of ourselves rather than our desks.

For the first type of augmentation, Adam Broitman wrote a good, detailed piece today entitled "A marketer's guide to augmented reality."   The technological examples range from individual to group experiences, e.g. National Geographic's Museum, to healthcare, e.g. glucose monitoring contact lenses for diabetics.   Because consumers will expect a brand to be where they are supporting what they are doing AR will continue to evolve. 

Also in the news this week was research that showed Pinterest is one of the top referrers to women's magazines.  While single copy sales are down nearly 10% year-over-year the linkage between personal interests and editorial content continues to grow.  The idea of combining interests from numerous sources alters the concept of content curation from an editorial role to one of being in a collector's club.

Now, to simply reverse the process and use Pinterest in AR to create a personalized, digital issue as part of the shopping experience.