paint visualisation app works across smartphones and tablet devices and also includes education content and ecommerce capabilities
Dulux parent company, AkzoNobel, has brought mobile interactivity and repainting walls together with a new augmented reality (AR) app that allows consumers to dynamically re-colour walls using their mobile device.
The free Visualizer mobile app was developed by UK computing company, String, in partnership with AkzoNovel, Tessella and Webcredible, and employs AR to give consumers the ability to re-colour their walls as they move about room with a mobile device. As well as choosing, storing and viewing colours and colour schemes, consumers can use the app to save screenshots and share these with friends.
The app also shows users their nearest store, features ‘Dulux Masterclass’ educational video content, and has integrated ecommerce capabilities so consumers can order and deliver paint testers and stock online.
The vendor claims it is the first time a global paint brand is providing an AR tool to consumers. The app is now available on Google Play and Apple App Store in 40 markets excluding the US, in 28 languages and across 25 of AkzoNobel’s paint brands including Dulux, Flexa, Nordsjo and Coral. It works on both smartphones and tablet devices.
Related: Augmented reality: What do businesses need to know?
“We’re very proud to lead the industry by providing this ground-breaking tool for consumers, and we’re excited about our partnership with String moving forwards,” said AkzoNobel’s head of digital operations, Stewart Longhurst, in a statement.
He added String’s ability to invest in the necessary core technologies needed for the challenging project were vital in making this kind of dynamic mobile consumer strategy a reality. To handle the diverse range of room environments and lighting conditions in consumer homes, as well as isolate walls from household objects such as TVs and furniture, String researched and developed a series of bespoke algorithms to analyse and process live video from a device camera.
It also needed to be able to first measure ambient lighting conditions in the room, so that when the ‘paint’ is applied, shadows and subtle variations are retained. Customer software was then written to process position and orientation data using the mobile device’s hardware sensors, while tracking was included to remember walls that had previously been painted during an app session.
String director of product, Paul Skidmore, claimed the partnership was a prime example of how technology could provide real-world benefits to consumers. The vendor pointed out the app will help AkzoNobel shorten the sales cycle thanks to integrated ecommerce capabilities, as well as strengthen the brand profile of its paint products globally.
“The capability to choose real paint colours, and then preview them live on your own walls, will, we hope, remove some of the risk that consumers might worry about,” he commented.
“AkzoNovel’s uncompromising vision for the project required us to break new ground in this field; what you see today represents a first step towards that vision, and we’re looking forward to the advances our ongoing research and development will bring to future versions of the product.”
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu
In this latest episode of our Conversations over a Cuppa with CMO series, we catch up with Jane Power, who stepped into the director of marketing and transformation role at GenesisCare in April 2020.
Understanding the core principles of Behavioural Economics will give players in the travel industry a major competitive advantage when restrictions lift and travellers begin to book again. And there are a few insights in here for the rest of the marketing community, too.
Unicorns, the Sunken City of Atlantis, Zeus: They are very famous. So famous in fact, that we often think twice about whether they are real or not. Sometimes if we talk about something widely enough, and for long enough, even the strangest fiction can seem like fact. But ultimately it is still fiction - stories we make up and tell ourselves over and over until we believe.
At a time of uncertainty and economic hardship, customer retention takes on much greater importance. CX Lavender’s Linda O’Grady examines the big grey area between ‘all’ and ‘best’ customers when deciding who is worth fighting for and how.
Thanks for sharing. You might want to check this website https://lagimcardgame.com/. An up and coming strategic card game wherein the cha...
Pierce Fabreverg
Board games distributor partners with Deliveroo in business strategy pivot
Such an important campaign, dyslexia certainly need more awareness. Amazing to see the work Code Read is doing. On the same note we are a...
Hugo
New campaign aims to build understanding around scope and impact of dyslexia
Great Job on this article! It demonstrates how much creativity, strategy and effort actually goes to produce such unique logo and brandin...
Pierce Fabreverg
Does your brand need a personality review? - Brand vision - CMO Australia
Here’s an article on solving the most complex customer queries without a delay. Hope it helpswww.engati.com/blog/address...
soham
How to manage social media during Covid-19
Thank you for explaining the rules. This article covers the principles of design, which arrange the elements of art into a composition. ...
Pierce Fabreverg
Reports: Brands have an important role to play during the COVID-19 crisis - if they're useful