Author: Julie Campbell

Augmented reality shows tech-savvy consumers how bourbon is made

| August 12, 2015

Beam Suntory has used AR technology as a part of a new smartphone based experience for customers.

Beam Suntory, the bourbon maker, has now launched a new augmented reality experience that has been designed to show its customers how its bourbon is made, in a new, interesting, and innovative way.

The company is now using the BlippAR app as a part of its “The Bourbon Revival” retail program.

This program and the augmented reality experience are available to customers at liquor stores, featuring the Knob Creek, Maker’s 46, and Basil Hayden bourbons. According to the Beam Suntory senior director of commercial marketing, Michelle Cater, “The liquor store is a saturated environment, so we need to truly stand out in order to reach new consumers and educate shoppers on bourbon.”

This augmented reality experience has been created to work with any smartphone, regardless of operating system.

Augmented Reality - Bourbon MakingCater stated that “Based on our research, we know that new bourbon drinkers are eager to learn more about what makes bourbon unique. With augmented reality technology, we are able to engage shoppers in an immersive and interesting way.” This particular The Bourbon Revival promotion requires the BlippAR free app to be downloaded by people who wish to participate and view the AR features.

Once the app has been installed, the AR technology codes that are posted on bourbon bottles and retail displays can be scanned. The mobile app them launches the 3D content that will appear on the user’s device screen, displayed overtop of the user’s actual environment. This makes it possible for the user to be able to interact with the bottle and create hologram-like versions of recipes and cocktails that are based on the product that they have scanned.

The primary goal of this augmented reality experience is to work as an introduction for the consumer to the different bourbons from Beam Suntory. This AR technology based experience also allows users to be able to understand the history of bourbon, learn how it is made, and to know the difference between this drink and whiskey. In fact, it even provides a “Bourbon Matchmaker” feature, which matches an individual’s own flavor and drinking preferences with the bourbon that they are likely to enjoy the most.

HTC mobile marketing scheme uses disguised ads

| August 10, 2015

The handset manufacturer is sending advertisements to its One users that look like notifications.

While most users of smartphones who use their devices to connect to the internet are used to being exposed to various forms of mobile marketing and somewhat expect to see it in certain places, what may come as a surprise for HTC One users is ads that are sent to them in the form of notifications.

HTC has recently taken on a new strategy that sends ads to customers who have purchased their smartphones.

What has yet to be seen is whether or not the users of the One smartphones resent receiving these mobile marketing ads that have been disguised as regular notifications. People who are seeing these new kinds of advertisement are users of the One M7, M8, and M9 devices. These devices are receiving the ads regardless of the fact that they were purchased outright without advertising any discount to the purchase because of advertising based subsidies, as is the case with the cheapest Kindle model from Amazon.

Some of the recipients of these mobile marketing notifications say that they look like movie theme recommendations.

HTC - Mobile MarketingScreenshots of the mobile ads do show that they appear to be recommendations for a new theme for the device that is based on the most recent Fantastic Four movie, despite the fact that it’s not what the notification is, at all. The release date of the film is displayed prominently in several places, as are the logos of the movie studio.

Not every owner of these smartphones are receiving the ad. Instead, they appear to be linked in some way to the BlinkFeed and Sense Home features. Users that have devices with other types of Android launchers do not appear to be receiving the mobile advertisement for the movie.

Back in June, HTC did say that it would be testing out some different BlinkFeed based passive ads as a part of its overall mobile marketing strategy. They discussed placing the ads next to the normal updates for news and social networks, but didn’t mention a full-screen style notification, as appears to be the case in this specific example.