Editorial
The Gist
- Market struggles. Brands face challenges with high interest rates and market uncertainty, needing to adapt to consumer demands and lean budgets.
- Consumer trends. Technologies like AI and VR enable better buying experiences, with brands leveraging tools like Apple Vision Pro for immersive campaigns.
- Innovative approaches. Gaming collaborations and AI-driven personalization are reshaping brand storytelling and consumer engagement, offering innovative avenues for growth.
It’s no secret that many brands are struggling in today’s economic climate. High interest rates, market uncertainty and slow consumer spending are the new normal. At the same time, consumer trends indicate consumers are less loyal and more open to brand switching — meaning even the most established brands are scrambling to protect margins.
Budget cuts and lean teams only add to the challenge, forcing brands to do more with less. In this volatile climate, brands are under more pressure than ever to meet ever-evolving consumer demands, merge brand storytelling with sales, and engage more thoughtfully and deliberately than ever before.
Luckily, AI, VR and other new technologies enable brands to deliver a seamless and intuitive buying experience. Let’s take a look at some of the ways brands can leverage these tools across all touchpoints and meet the modern consumer where they are.
1. Apple Vision Pro: Meeting Ever-Evolving Consumer Trends With Immersive Experiences
The recent release of Vision Pro, Apple’s first spatial operating system, represents one of the most significant opportunities for brands to dive into the brave new world of immersive digital experiences.
Built on the foundation of Apple’s operating system, Vision Pro allows the user to intuitively navigate AR and VR experiences with their eyes, hands and voice. Though the Vision Pro’s hefty price tag will limit its initial user base, platforms like Obsess are already allowing innovative brands like J.Crew, E.l.f. and Alo Yoga to develop native app experiences within the device. Similarly, retailers like Lowe's are launching tools like Lowe's Style StudioTM to help customers envision and build the kitchen of their dreams within VisionOS.
Here are just a few ways brands can leverage Vision Pro to create highly interactive and engaging marketing campaigns:
- Social shopping: Using SharePlay social technology, brands can create immersive shopping experiences that make customers and sales associates feel like they’re physically in the same location, even if they’re thousands of miles apart.
- Gamified commerce: Brands can boost engagement and purchase intent by creating customized, branded games within VisionOS, such as quizzes, seek & find games and more.
- Virtual stores: Brands can create 3D flagship stores to create a more contextual, engaging and omnichannel shopping journey. Stores can host virtual events that further drive engagement and brand loyalty.
- Visualization tools: Brands can increase purchase confidence by allowing customers to see and configure products in their own environments before committing.
Related Article: Will VR Drive CX in the Metaverse?
2. Gaming Collaborations: Merging Brand Storytelling With Sales
The gaming industry is projected to grow 8.76% annually over the next three years, reaching a market volume of $363.2 billion and a user base of 1.47 billion by 2027. Luxury fashion houses have already capitalized on this swiftly growing consumer demographic. Over the past few years, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Marc Jacobs have all merged brand storytelling and sales with virtual experiences for games like Roblox, League of Legends and Animal Crossing.
But branded gaming experiences are no longer reserved for high-end brands — even household brands like Walmart and LEGO are jumping on board the trend, and Disney is investing heavily in licensed properties for the gaming universe.
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Walmart x Roblox
Walmart introduced a slew of VR/AR experiences over the past few years, including Walmart Land, Walmart’s Universe of Play, and the latest immersive destination, Roblox: Walmart Discovered. The new virtual store features virtual items — like sports equipment and beauty products — created by Roblox community members, which users can purchase for their Roblox avatar.
LEGO x Fornite
LEGO recently joined forces with Epic Games to release LEGO Fortnite — a virtual, open-world game where everything is made from LEGO bricks. The partnership has been heralded as the “new era in gaming collaboration” and a “masterclass in fan engagement,” highlighting the power of collaborating and aligning visions to build a promising future.
Related Article: How Tech Brands Are Using AR and VR to Their Advantage
3. AI Marketing: Engaging Thoughtfully With Hyper-Personalized Brand Experiences
Artificial intelligence was the undisputed buzzword of 2023, and for good reason. No other emerging technology has promised to shake up our everyday reality quite like AI, from how we work to how we engage with brands.
AI is now an essential part of any strong marketing strategy, with more than a third of CMOs worldwide using the technology to create more personalized, thoughtful, and engaging brand experiences to meet with consumer trends.
Coca-Cola: Create Real Magic
In early 2023, Coca-Cola brought its international audience into the creative process. It fostered an engaging, two-way conversation with consumers by allowing fans to create their own advertisements with the AI-powered Create Real Magic platform.
Walmart: Generate AI-powered search
With the help of tech behemoths like Microsoft, retailers like Walmart are leveraging large language models (LLMs) to enhance both the customer and employee experience. A new generative AI-powered search model answers specific customer questions and gives personalized product suggestions, while a new My Assistant app helps employees summarize long documents and create new content.
Related Article: How Augmented Reality Will Impact Marketing in the Multiverse
Value-Adding Experiences: The Path to the Future
Emerging technologies like AR, VR, Mixed Reality, and AI can help brands create the frictionless, tailored shopping experiences to meet modern consumer trends. But it’s not enough to buy up a billboard in the so-called “metaverse.” To truly succeed, brands need to craft authentic, creative, value-adding experiences that align with their mission and values.
When done right, these experiences do more than help a brand hit KPIs and campaign metrics — they also deliver consumer insights and consumer trends that can guide brands into the future, no matter where the ever-evolving technology leads.
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