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How Beverage Industry can benefit from Augmented Reality

beverage augmented reality

Augmented Reality is one of the freshest technology-based marketing tools. You can find countless examples of Augmented Reality for the web being used by large-scale as well as small-scale companies such as Sephora, Uber, and Hewlett Packard. Companies from multiple industries have been using the technology to generate more engagement with their customers and attract more customer loyalty. As a result, even the beverage industry can enjoy the features and benefits it brings with it.

What is Augmented Reality for the web?

Augmented Reality for the web is a technology that utilizes digital elements generated by the software and imposes them on a screen attached to a camera. The purpose of this tech is to provide the Illusion to the user that something virtual exists in real life as it appears on their camera. The digital element can vary from program to program. The most common elements used are- Graphics, text, and audio, or a mix of all three. This creates an immersive experience, one that attracts people. With the additional help of an accelerometer and GPS, the technology can plant the object in a fixed state in the background so that it seems stable and genuine.

How does Augmented Reality benefit the Beverage Industry?

The food and beverage industry is a global leading market in today’s day and age. From soft drinks to gourmet dishes, the companies in the industry regularly manage to invent interesting consumables. After all, the taste is something every human being craves. When talking about how a marketing tool like Augmented Reality can be used, we narrow it down to three focused divisions- food product, customer experience, and human resources.

Enhances efficiency in training and operation

For the cooking/serving staff working in any organization of the industry, they must be trained to work better, faster, and longer. This is possible by giving them the means that optimize their work routine and method. Technology really helps in building up of skill and through the use of Augmented Reality-based training, the trainees can experience real-world problems and how to deal with them beforehand.

Augmented Reality benefits them by accurately estimating the size of the food portion visually, thus reducing wastage and ultimately serving a better plate to the customer. Augmented Reality headsets are also available tools that can present essential information directly to the staff without looking away at another computer screen effectively saving time.

Creates personal interaction through smartphones

A majority of customers like engagement that feels personal and convenient. This includes things like alternatives to standing in long lines when ordering food. Such an alternative that is widely accepted in the modern world is QR code scanning. You could go to a McDonald’s and order your food by sitting at a table and using the given QR code to open up the web-based menu.

Comfort like this is what makes a brand favorable to its customers. Online shopping apps and online food ordering are some of the examples of that personal engagement where the customer does not feel the hassle of waiting for their turn. Augmented Reality, in that context, performs a similar function. It is a personal form of engagement through smartphones that eases the interaction a customer needs to perform.

With Augmented Reality, a customer has the option to scan these codes that can be basically printed on walls, ads, vinyl, t-shirts, and tables, practically on any surface, or if you want something more convenient- a website. It’s the vast number of options that can help a customer quickly follow through on the act of purchase without unnecessary waiting.

Attracts Customers into the vibe

Using Augmented Reality in marketing campaigns can easily attract many customers. We have already discussed how Augmented Reality for Web is an inexpensive marketing tool and alongside being cheap, it is highly engaging. With shareable links to the Augmented Reality content, a business can create chains of connections full of people engaging with the product in some or another way.

An example of a beverage brand using Augmented Reality as a marketing strategy is the Christmas Magic Campaign launched by Coca-Cola. The event allowed people to view an augmented Santa Claus figure and added a sort of a game of treasure hunt where they could access hidden scenes across the entire New York City Bus stops perimeter.

Customers can also be involved in marketing using social media platforms. Movements like Selfie-sharing where a person who purchases a certain company’s product clicks a picture with it and generally accompanies it with a hashtag to encourage other people to participate as well. Starbucks has a Snapchat filter for marketing their coffees and many people often use the filter to create fun photos and share them with friends. Augmented Reality for beverages has been a fun yet helpful weapon. Companies can even create Augmented Reality games that focus on their brands, ultimately also generating customer numbers.

Incorporates Engagement with the product itself

Some companies even go further by mixing the elements of Augmented Reality with their product hence bridging the gap between real and artificial. Brands can launch Augmented Reality Contests which include buying a product and then scanning the hidden QR code to access some Augmented content. Customers have to now collect a certain amount of/ or variety of QR codes that they get with each purchase for some prize upon completion. In this way, Augmented Reality can be used with the products.

In 2009, Nestles launched a 3D animated game along with its cereal food in around 53 countries. It was an augmented reality game that required people to scan a code and log in to their website. The game was a marketing product for the movie “Rio” and the content of the game included training the protagonist bird to fly by feeding it the cereal.

Influences Brand Loyalty

A brand will always have more customers if they keep innovating and designing but at the same time, they also want to make sure that their old customers are not neglected by the change. An important element in modern Brand loyalty is the millennials. It is a well-known fact that this age group of consumers along with Gen-Z are using technology to purchase food as well as beverages. Their entire decision about what to eat depends sorely on what is accessible by the phone. Professor Kellershohn from Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management says “These consumers want an experience with their food and beverage”.

Their social drive to post an image or a story is one of the experiences that they so deeply enjoy. Kellershohn believes it is so because a lot of Western millennials are not financially secure, they spend more money on their enjoyment of taste rather than acquiring physical assets. Food is something they find engaging and interesting hence being something of true value to them.

Augmented Reality in this case can take the responsibility to energize the millennials into seeking brand loyalty to a particular product by offering cool new methods of sharing innovative stories and images, by creating incentives for these consumers so that they keep using technology to order their food and have their experiences on it. Using Augmented Reality for beverages may include offering exclusive deals, unlockable games, or Augmented Reality contests as discussed above so that consumers repeat their purchases.

Even alcohol brands benefit from Augmented Reality. Absolut, a leading brand in alcohol released a mobile app that uses Augmented Reality to take consumers on a virtual 3D tour of the village of Aushus, the birthplace of their drinks. Consumers do tend to enjoy watching documented videos of how something is made and hence with that information in mind, the Absolut Truth AR app brings that experience to another level. The consumer could scan a distinct neck hangar placed on the bottle with their smartphone and it would lead them to the wheat fields and the distillery to the complete product that will be the exact bottle they hold.

To wrap up, we have discussed all the different ways how visual stimulation and engagement with the brand and product do help the consumers attain brand loyalty or market the product themselves. In the era of the internet and technology, Augmented Reality can do wonders by providing new and inventive ways of use in the food and beverage industry.

It can be used to obtain relevant information about any product.

Augmented Reality for the web can be utilized for campaigns and promotional games.

It can be used to create 3D experiences that go hand in hand with the brand.

It can be used for virtual tours, social media platforms, and marketing assistance.

Apart from the above-mentioned ways, there are still countless other ways Augmented Reality can be utilized in the world of business as well as industries such as the food and beverage industry. Augmented Reality as mentioned previously is capable of bridging the gap between real and artificial and then some more.

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