A Message in the Medium
Using a smartphone to visualize how a chair you’re eyeing online fits into the living room.
Downloading an app to virtually try on clothes, shoes and jewelry without ever leaving your couch. This is the future retail.
Inspired by the innovative technology retailers use to enhance customer experiences, Adfero came to its longstanding client, the National Retail Federation (NRF), with an idea: include an augmented reality experience in its 2017 annual report.
What better way to position NRF as a thought-leader and partner to members, than employing the very technologies that push the sector forward?
First, Adfero went on a fact-finding mission to understand the technical specs, capabilities and hurdles that come along with this emerging technology. We needed to understand where the opportunities and limits lay, so we could successfully structure the report to tell the stories we wanted with the space and technology we had.
We also worked closely with NRF to identify the key themes of the report early, in order to anchor the narrative and augmented reality triggers around them. Adfero established a content intake process that allowed us to produce the actual report quickly, efficiently and in conjunction with our deep dive into researching the possibilities of augmented reality.
The result was a beautifully designed book that includes four opportunities to see videos come to life right on the page. To trigger the videos, readers must download the NRF Annual Report app through Google Play or the App Store, look for pages with a red retail tag, hover over the image with their mobile device's viewfinder and enjoy the interactive content.
The app interacts with the paper report and adds a layer of content without producing any more printed collateral. By mixing mediums, NRF not only provided its members with a more immersive experience, it also positioned itself as a leader in this budding technological space.
At Adfero, we help our clients evolve with the technological advancements that drive their industries and fully embrace the “medium as the message” concept. We eagerly welcome any challenge that pushes us to the precipice of innovation.
