Based on analytics from the reputable research institute Statista, the total number of users who will be attracted to VR and AR advertising will grow to 2 million and 593 thousand by 2027. This prospect is a powerful motivator for the advertising world, and this opportunity should not be missed by any profit-conscious market unit. And if we also take into account what VRARA says, AR and VR advertising motivates approximately 45% of customers to make a purchase decision faster. At the same time, such formats are also useful in the long run – users better remember the brand through AR and VR formats.

So, in this article, we will see what VR advertising and AR advertising is, what the differences between them are, and how you can run these types of advertising if you’re working on a budget.

AR in advertising: types of AR advertising

AR is a much more popular thing than VR, especially in Asian countries. AR advertising is easier to create and more accessible to the mass user, but it has a significant disadvantage – you will have to compete much more in this sector than in the segment of VR advertising.

Masks

Perhaps, it’s the most popular example of the use of AR in advertising. Designers create a mask, adding the brand logo to it, and then users are motivated to use this mask (for example, as part of a contest where the mask is a necessary element).

Additions to the offer

Such mechanisms of AR in advertising will require a special application, with the help of which virtual objects will appear in real life – you just need to connect the smartphone camera.

For example, the Monetka grocery store offered customers to take stickers, download an application, read the R-code off of the stickers with a smartphone camera, and see AR dinosaurs right in their room. This feature surprises and brightens up everyday life a little, so users rummaged around virtual dinosaurs on social networks, thus advertising the store.

VR in advertising: types of VR advertising

In 2023, VR is only starting to cast its tenacious powers into the field of advertising, and considering its current beginner stage of development, there are now a lot of VR formats. The main advantages of VR in advertising are record low competition and, at the same time, high brand recall. Cons include its expensive and difficult development process and way narrower audience. In 2023, VR technologies aren’t even available to every member of the middle class.

360° photo and video

In general, this is a standard advertising format using photo and video content, but the approach here is way more special with a 360° perspective. The main advantage of such use of VR in advertising is that no additional equipment is needed – it can be viewed fine on smartphones, PCs, and tablets.

Virtual branded room

In VR games, these rooms are separate ad spaces that the user can enter to view ads for rewards.

A living example is the StartApp company and its Rollercoaster application – through a branded room, their player can enter their app store.

VR games

These are promotional mini-games built into the main game. The main task of this VR mechanic in advertising is to keep the user active and motivate them to complete the target action. The main incentive to complete the VR game from start to finish is a reward in the form of virtual currency.

One example of a VR game is Vacation Simulator, where you can get money and various entertainment options for completing just one mini-game.

The difference between VR and AR technology in advertising

If you plan to work with one of these formats, it can’t hurt to clearly understand their core meaning. But how? Repetition is the mother of not only skill, but also profit.

AR technologies in advertising stand for augmented reality, where virtual elements are superimposed on the real world. Two prime examples of AR are the Pokemon Go game and well-known Instagram masks.

To see AR in all its glory, you need a smartphone or tablet that has a camera and a special application. So, the essence is that the user sees the real world around, but digital objects are superimposed on this real world.

VR is virtual reality, in which the user will see only virtual objects and interact only with them. The most common examples are: Robo Recall, The Elder Scrolls V, Resident Evil 7.

And to see all this VR beauty, you need to have VR glasses or helmet.

And if you want to get a strong wow effect, then you’d also need to add joysticks, VR gloves, and a suit + body movement control systems to those VR glasses.

So, here’s the difference between VR and AR technology in advertising.

AR and VR on a budget

AR is the easiest of the two to implement. Developers create an application that recognizes planes, special marks, and various objects. The user installs the software on the smartphone, points the camera at objects, and gets access to augmented reality.

If the tools allow you to create an application, in this case, you can use ready-made layouts and make masks for social networks with branded advertising. We have a good example of the implementation of such technology below.

The most inexpensive form of VR is 360° video. To realize it, you will need special equipment and, as a result, a video shot with it. The 360° video format will allow the user to see everything that happens around the camera without special VR glasses – with just their smartphone or video player on a PC.

For example, a brand representative can film a 360° production tour to show everything that happens at the enterprise in detail.

We took a comment on this topic from one of our experts:

Gadel Zagirov, Telegram guru, web process automation specialist, owner of the Telecobra platform

I can offer another effective method of promoting your brand using 3D modeling. You can create a collection of NFT tokens with 3D mascots or company logos and arrange an airdrop. NFTs can be added as avatars with certain usability added to them, and a lot of other things. If the collection is successful, it can be embedded in meta universes, games, emojis, stickers, and so on. It seems to me that every company should have it and it must be done.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, neural networks currently can’t generate AR and VR advertising, and therefore, anyone interested in these formats will need a specialist. Nevertheless, it is possible to create advertising with virtual or augmented reality with a small budget, the main thing is the correct approach and your creativity!

Thank you for tuning in, talk to you soon!