Thousands of footy fans got into a rather different kind of digital spirit during this year’s Optus WA Football League (WAFL) Grand Final on 1 October.

Samsung Electronics has adopted shoppable augmented reality (AR) as part of its latest marketing efforts to launch new Galaxy devices.

Augmented reality (AR) is increasingly being used by brands wanting to engage customers at home or in other spaces to which they can easily relate. June saw brands such as Big W, KFC and Corona launch AR experiences to help customers interact with products in the comfort of home, compete for prizes in a game or even be confronted with their unpleasant, augmented ‘plastic reality’.

Gaming can often point to the future of new technology before we have it in our everyday lives. It often drives innovation in computing through more powerful processors and memory, it can spur advancements in image resolution and even the creation of virtual, multi-player collaborative environments. And so it is the case with the metaverse, an emerging hybrid virtual-physical world, which is innovating gaming and pointing to new realms for marketing and brands.

Tapping into Snapchat’s full-body augmented reality (AR) lens is allowing Sweat a fresh take on social media engagement as its debuts the latest new year Sweat Challenge, its CEO says.

While 2020 might have been the year of accelerated digital transformation, marketers will have a host of other technologies on their radar in 2021. From artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT to mixed reality (MR) and robotic process automation, marketing leaders will increasingly tap technology to make informed, responsive decisions with tightened budgets and changing consumer behaviour.

Online eyewear platform, Clearly, has embraced augmented reality (AR) Facebook advertising, claiming a first for shoppable ads with virtual try-on features on the social platform.

A new study has found, by 2030, 67 per cent of customer engagement will be handled by smart machines. However, will this simply be trading empathy for efficiency?

​Snapchat, which has been at the forefront of augmented reality (AR) innovation on its messaging and photo sharing platform, has been chosen by toy retailer BIG W to animate its toy catalogue using the interactive technology.

Salesforce has identified the top five B2B marketing trends for 2019 at its Connections conference in Chicago this week, as well as launching new Einstein AI enhancements to Marketing Cloud.​

Australia Post’s most recent annual online shopping report (2019), confirmed what good marketers already know: Online shopping is undergoing significant growth in Australia, customers expect seamless and rapid delivery, and are shopping more on their mobiles. What's more, direct email marketing remains vital to get consumer attention.

​Following the release of its augmented reality (AR) pizza ordering offering late in 2018, Domino’s Pizza is again demonstrating investment in customer service technology by adding the ability to track orders via Google Assistant.

​Tennis fans have the opportunity to play against the greatest tennis players in the world on a virtual Rod Laver Arena, thanks to a partnership between the Australian Open and Infosys.

Alibaba has a vision for the future of retail where there is no distinction between online and offline shopping, and the customer experience is enhanced by augmented reality, artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition.

Facebook is trialling augmented reality (AR) advertising units for selected advertisers on its news feed in the lead-up to Christmas.

​Partnering for the first-time to celebrate global free cone day, Ben & Jerry’s, Shazam, and POSmusic delivered an integrated in-store activation recently, which combined curated playlists, brand audio messaging, and a specially created Ben & Jerry’s augmented reality experience.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched a new AR app to bring the reality of war closer to home for iOS app users.

Australian marketers must incorporate augmented reality (AR) and ensure mobile devices are key to strategy if they are to remain relevant in an immersive, machine driven and smartphone-dominated world.

More brands than ever before are looking at augmented reality to re-shape their marketing strategies and leverage greater customer engagement in the face of mobile technology and wearables domination.

Given our love of marketing and technology over at CMO, we decided to round-up five recent marketing programs based around the utilisation of augmented reality (AR) technology to see just how creative technology can get.

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.