Cost and technical issues biggest augmented reality ad challenges facing creatives
Augmented reality technologies may allow advertisers to integrate their brands into the real world in unique and exciting ways, but creatives claim the cost and difficulty of the tech are the biggest barriers to entry.
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An AR competency study from graphics company Unity surveyed approximately 1,000 participants within the advertising and marketing sectors across the US and UK. It looked to set the industry's comfort level, technical competency, and enthusiasm for AR. The results threw up numerous hurdles.
Technical issues (24.6%) and cost (39.1%) were the two biggest issues, but demand continues to grow: 80% of creatives said that AR for advertising and marketing is an integral part of their work. There is a “strive to use it” mentality towards it. Over half of all respondents acknowledged an increased client demand for incorporating AR in marketing and advertising campaigns.
The vast majority of respondents (78.4%) felt positive about AR’s use in advertising, and more than half (61.8%) of creatives are seeing an increased client demand for AR campaigns. 55.8% said they were likely or very likely to consider an AR campaign in the next 12 months, and more than half have already deployed an AR campaign and were satisfied with user engagement.
Julie Shumaker, vice president of advertiser solutions at Unity Technologies, said: "Augmented reality is becoming ubiquitous and creative marketers and advertisers are already establishing the use cases that have made the rest of the industry pay attention.
“This survey reveals one very important thing: there is a disconnect between the growing demand for AR solutions and the pace at which advertisers, marketers, and creatives are becoming comfortable with the technology. We need to improve AR familiarity among creatives - both in terms of technical competency and highlighting the cost-effective solutions that are available today.”