Augmented Reality: A New Thanksgiving Tradition?
In less than one week I’ll be making my annual trek to my hometown to celebrate Thanksgiving. It has always been the big holiday in my family, probably because we all enjoy eating more than anything else. So that means I’ll see aunts, uncles, cousins and even a few members of my immediate family who have hopped on planes to make the journey home. And it inevitably means I’ll be asked about my job.
A few of my relatives and my siblings are quite computer savvy. But when I say “a few”, I really mean three. So trying to explain to the rest of the assorted relatives that I work for a digital marketing company, let alone what we do, can be a bit tough. I don’t think my own parents get it. Last year they told everyone where I worked, and got it dead wrong. I won’t tell you what it was, let’s just say I was horrified when I looked it up later that night. But I digress.
I think I’ve made some progress explaining SEO and PPC, and I’ve even had a few friend me on Facebook. But now, clever techie people (including a few at my office) had to go and make it hard on me all over again. Enter augmented reality.
According to Wikipedia, augmented reality is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery. True, but that definition simply won’t work. I think in this case, it’s probably better to show than to tell. So I decided to explore the best augmented reality offerings out there. Here’s a quick list of what I’ve found:
- GE’s Plug Into the Smart Grid
- Doritos Late Night
- Papa John’s ’72 Z38 Camaro
- and soon, Coke Zero and McDonalds will partner for Avatar.
Do you have any others to add to the list? Please, send them my way. And I guess if that doesn’t work, I can take a page from a recent AdvertisingAge article and tell them to think Princess Leia in the first “Star Wars” — “Help us Obi-Wan, you’re our only hope”. That’s sure to do the trick.
