Augmented Reality Advertising: How Marketers Use AR to Engage Customers

Key takeaways

Augmented reality advertising creates immersive brand experiences that increase engagement by fusing digital overlays with real-world environments. Here are some key facts to know:

• Statista projects that the global augmented reality (AR) market could reach $75.9 billion in 2030 [1].

• Top US brands, like Nike, Amazon, and Coca-Cola, use AR to reduce product returns, boost engagement, and add interactive media to product packaging.

• You can utilize platforms like ROSE or 8thWall to launch WebAR or mobile-first AR ad campaigns.

Discover more about AR advertising, how marketers leverage it for engagement, and how popular brands use it for their advertising campaigns. If you'd like to learn more, consider enrolling in the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate. You’ll have the opportunity to receive AI training from Google experts and learn in-demand skills for your digital marketing career.

What is augmented reality advertising?

Augmented reality (AR) advertising digitally overlays media, such as images, audio, and videos, onto real-world settings, creating immersive brand experiences that enhance consumer engagement. Since Pokémon Go popularized the use of AR a decade ago, global brands like IKEA and Sephora have adopted AR to help customers see products in their own spaces or on their own faces. This can boost buyer confidence when making a purchase. 

As such, the augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) market is experiencing a surge in demand globally. Statista reports that AR software will have a global market volume of $75.9 billion by 2030. Moreover, Statista expects the worldwide AR market will reach 3.8 billion users by 2030 [1].

What is AR vs. AI?

While artificial intelligence (AI) allows machines to learn, reason, and adapt, augmented reality (AR) superimposes digital content onto the real world. Through the use of devices like smartphones and headsets, AR augments (enhances) real-world environments through visual, spatial, or sensory input. AI, on the other hand, analyzes data and makes predictions to power decision-making and automation. When you combine AI and AR, they can enhance human capabilities, delivering smarter, more personalized, and immersive experiences. 

How is augmented reality used in advertising?

Advertisers and marketers use AR to deliver interactive promotions, gamified experiences, and real-time product education across mobile, social, and physical channels. This helps brands personalize outreach, drive measurable engagement, and heighten brand recognition, with the goal of increasing conversion rates. Some of the ways advertisers use AR include:

• Virtual try-ons: These let users preview makeup, clothing, or hairstyles digitally.

• Smart print materials: An AR experience triggers when users scan QR codes printed on cards, brochures, or packaging.

• In-home previews: These allow users to try design choice-dependent products, like furniture, soft furnishings, or new wall finishes, in their space.

• Showroom enhancements: This includes superimposing virtual specifications or product tours onto physical items.

• Pop-up experiences: As a type of experiential marketing, pop-ups use temporary AR installations or experiences to engage people on the spot.

How AR increases engagement for advertisers

Brands are increasingly using AR as part of ad campaigns and customer experience. A cumulative study of industry reports reveals that retailers who use AR/VR for marketing experience a 20 percent increase in conversion rates and a 25 percent decrease in product returns [2]. This further demonstrates the technology's expanding significance in digital advertising.

With increasing customer expectations for these tailored experiences and reducing attention spans, AR has become a pivotal tool for brand engagement. In today’s attention economy, immersive formats like augmented reality can help advertisers capture focus quickly and sustain it through interactive, personalized content. AR truly captivates consumers in a virtual environment, prompting deeper exploration and longer dwell times than static ads. 

Augmented reality advertising campaigns you can learn from

The way that brands interact with consumers is changing as a result of augmented reality in advertising. The following notable augmented reality marketing campaigns show how AR can transform routine interactions into compelling and memorable brand experiences.

Amazon: AR furniture preview

Amazon is among the big brands at the forefront of AR. By letting users preview furniture in their own space, Amazon’s “View in Your Room” feature tackles the purchasing pain point of uncertainty and builds buyer confidence. Potential buyers can address size, overall fit, and also style a piece of furniture directly through their mobile devices and the Amazon app, thus reducing guesswork on significant purchases, which helps to reduce return rates [3]. 

Nike: SNKRS Cam

Another household brand name utilizing AR’s real-time virtual try-on capabilities is Nike. The iconic sportswear brand continues to expand its use of AR beyond sizing tools like Nike Fit, which uses a 13-point system and smartphone camera to scan foot dimensions for personalized recommendations. Today, Nike uses AR for launch-day activations through its SNKRS app, where users participate in scavenger-type hunts via the SNKRS Cam. Buyers can gain exclusive access to products by scanning designated AR markers with their phone’s camera and visiting geo-tagged locations mapped to their city [4,5]. So, in addition to the SNKRS app providing access to exclusive drops and in-store pickup reservations, AR helps Nike deliver a memorable launch-day experience for its customers.

Coca-Cola x Star Wars: Refresh your galaxy 

Coca-Cola recently partnered with Disney and Lucasfilm to launch collectible cans that feature QR codes. When scanned, these codes deliver Star Wars-themed AR experiences, including character interactions and digital storytelling, akin to the franchise’s famous hologram transmissions. This AR activation transforms an otherwise routine purchase into an interactive experience by fusing digital fandom with physical packaging [6].

Guess: AR banner ad experience 

Marcolin's Guess Eyewear launched an augmented reality sunglasses try-on campaign in five countries, including the US, in collaboration with Teads, Intarget, and Aryel. Mobile users could virtually try on eyewear straight from banner advertisements thanks to the activation's use of in-banner augmented reality formats. The campaign, which targeted fashion-forward consumers between the ages of 18 and 34, increased engagement by 44 percent and average dwell time by 19 seconds [7].

Papa Johns: AR eGift 

Using WebAR technology created by Videobomb, Papa Johns and Netspend collaborated on an augmented reality eGift campaign related to Shaq's Fun House. Consumers discovered the promotion by following a link shared on Shaquille O'Neal's Instagram, which they activated by aiming their phone's camera at a dollar bill. The AR overlay transformed the bill into a branded gateway, inviting users to sign up and get a $10 Papa John's eGift discount [8]. Incorporating interactive storytelling and mobile-first gifting, the campaign gave digital promotions a fun, tech-driven twist that increased engagement and bonded fans with the brand through immersive, real-world triggers.

How to add AR to your advertising strategy

If you’d like to integrate AR into your advertising process, consider using WebAR formats that embed AR experiences into display ads, social media, or QR-triggered campaigns. Such formats let users engage without a specific dedicated app, making it a good option for mobile-first audiences and time-sensitive promotions that prioritize reach, interaction, and conversion.

Before deciding on a platform or format, think about your audience's behavior and your creative potential and campaign goals, the fundamental principles of which are similar to traditional campaigns. Determining whether your end objective is direct conversion, brand engagement, or product education will also play a part. 

By way of an example, AR packaging provides a quick and quantifiable entry point for tangible goods, particularly in the food and beverage industry. In this instance, you could use the following accessible launch strategies to activate AR without the need for third-party studios or app installations:

• Start small and measurable: Consider launching AR on a small number of products first, each with a distinct success metric, such as sign-ups, fewer returns, or repeat orders.

• Make use of basic resources: Short animations, infographics, and vertical videos are effective. Use 3D only when it adds clear value.

• Provide immediate value where possible: Aim to deliver helpful product tips, reorder links, coupons, and recipes that customers can use at home or in-store.

• Track performance: Keep an eye on dwell time, completion rates, scans per unit sold, and triggers for repeat purchases.

AR advertising platforms and tools marketers use

These US-based AR advertising platforms can help marketers create immersive, interactive campaigns across mobile, web, and real-world environments:

• 8thWall: This platform makes it possible for mobile browsers to run web-based augmented reality experiences, like facial filters and immersive animations mapped to real locations, without the need for an app.

• Niantic Spatial: Built by Niantic, the creators of Pokémon Go, Niantic Spatial provides large-scale location-based AR experiences that fuse real-world sensor data into high-fidelity geospatial models, enabling immersive interactions anchored to physical environments.

• ROSE: This service creates AR marketing experiences across WebAR, NativeAR, and SocialAR, helping brands boost engagement, dwell time, and conversion through photorealistic, mobile-first campaigns without requiring an app.

• BrandXR: BrandXR is a retail and e-commerce-focused no-code augmented reality platform. Helps marketers create interactive packaging, 3D product visualization, and virtual try-ons.

• Jadu.AR: This platform and accompanying tool allow marketers to bring spaces to life by layering immersive, interactive experiences onto everyday environments.

What are the 5 types of augmented reality?

Depending on how your digital content interacts with the real world, including through visual triggers, spatial mapping, geographic data, projected light, or real-world enhancements, you can categorize AR into five distinct areas, including:

• Marker-based AR: This type of augmented reality activates digital overlays using visual cues, such as fiducial markers or QR codes.

• Markerless AR: This form does not require a physical marker because it relies on sensors, GPS, and device orientation.

• Location-based AR: A subset of markerless AR, it uses geographic information to trigger content activation.

• Projection-based AR: Though not fully immersive, it projects light onto surfaces to produce interactive illusions or holograms. Usually utilized in movie events and store launches.

• Superimposition-based AR: Adds digital elements to real-world views to enhance or replace them. Frequently used in social media filters and product demonstrations.

Build your skills in augmented reality advertising

To become proficient in AR advertising as a marketer, you can hone both your technical skills and creative strategy. This can entail becoming proficient with social AR platforms, WebAR tools, and immersive storytelling strategies that produce quantifiable engagement. Knowledge of 3D design, spatial computing, and campaign execution on platforms such as TikTok Effect House is beneficial. If you want to become an AR developer, some core skills include a foundation in certain programming languages, frameworks, and gaming engines, such as C#, C++, WebXR, ARKit, ARCore, Unreal Engine, and Unity.

Read more: How to Become an Augmented Reality Developer

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