The reality is: VR, AR, and MR are the future. After a week-long break from writing digital marketing blogs, I am back and am now Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certified. In today’s blog, I will be talking all about VR, AR and MR, the differences between them, and how to use them in digital marketing to achieve goals.
I have only experienced VR one time. It was when I was in Portland for the St. Jude Walk/Run to End Childhood Cancer. When wearing the Oculus headset, I was able to experience the “No More Chemo” party that each child is given when they have completed their last round of chemotherapy. It was a very moving experience, and it also showed me and other participants why we were there to begin with and why we should continue to support St. Jude in the future.
Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual Reality is the immersion into another world. The headsets completely take over your vision to give you the impression that you are somewhere else. These headsets (you might know them as oculus headsets) completely fill your field of vision with whatever is being displayed. Being immersed into a virtual reality throws you off. It is weird to be so realistically placed somewhere else when you know you are not actually there. Everywhere you move your head, you never go back to reality, but continue to see the virtual one.
I had this experience when I was watching the No More Chemo party. Everywhere I looked, I was in that hospital room in St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. It was so realistic. I could see the nurses clapping and the balloons and signs saying that the child was finished with chemo. It is surreal to be able to experience a milestone like that in a child’s cancer journey. Finishing chemo treatment is a huge milestone in the battle against cancer, so having the ability to “be there” and “be a part of it” really changes the way you see events like that.
This photo is of Avery watching the No More Chemo party in VR at the Portland Walk/Run to End Childhood Cancer.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality adds to your vision. This is different from VR because it does not replace your reality it just adds to it. Like Snapchat’s dancing hotdog, and Pokémon GO, AR uses technology to project images over whatever you are looking at. Examples of AR would be Google’s attempt at their glasses. Called the Google Glass, the glasses were supposed to provide moving AR to consumers. Another example of AR is Pokémon GO. This game projects different Pokémon onto the surfaces around us. AR especially in games like Pokémon GO can cause some issues such as people taking it too far and dying. It can also be very useful such as potentially creating a natural immersion so that phones and tablets would get replaced.
Mixed Reality (MR)
Mixed Reality is the result of blending the physical world with the digital world. Mixed reality is the next evolution of interaction between human/computer environment. Mixed reality is created by advancements in computer vision, graphical processing power, display technology, and input systems.
It is not actually a new term. The term was coined in 1994. MR will democratize intelligence. It will allow workers to have to travel less and may solve many business problems. Microsoft’s HoloLens smartglasses digitalize things. The glasses and MR interface allow operators to see instructions that guide them through complex operations. All information can be displayed using smart glasses. Google Glass was a device that allowed mixed reality in business. It didn’t work out in the end but the idea was right. All clients had the ability to do more because now they had personal training videos at their fingertips and your co-workers could even connect with you too. MR allows us to enhance our lives.
MR can be used in business because it is a combination of both VR and AR. In MR, consumers can be inserted into a virtual world and then see elements pop up into that world. This helps in digital marketing because it can help many businesses connect and work in new ways.
VR and AR in Digital Marketing
You can use VR and AR in digital marketing! VR can be used to show people experiences. To immerse them into a new world and get them to experience things that never would have been possible before. Many campaigns can be done through VR.
AR can be used in digital marketing because it can allow consumers to see how things might look in real life. An example of this is Ikea’s AR app. This app allows consumers to see what pieces of furniture may look like in their home. This helps sell products in digital marketing. Now, sites may see more traffic because consumers can actually test products in the desired space.
Conclusion
VR, AR, and MR are all very important tools to look for in the future. These tools are growing and becoming progressively more relevant in our society. The future of business may end up in MR because and because of certain situations going on in today’s world, MR is necessary more than ever. That wraps up the blog about VR, AR, and MR. Stay tuned for what I am talking about next!