Augmented reality is a red hot space in marketing ... and it’s only getting hotter. For instance the technology that overlays virtual objects over real-world settings has touched almost everyone.

Snapchat was a major driving force behind the augmented reality accessibility. When Snapchat launched lenses in 2015, it was the first social media company to successfully bring AR features to wide audience and the new generation. So much so, the lenses turned into Snapchat’s most popular feature.

It’s also become a massive revenue generator for the company, thanks to the capability for brands to sponsor them.

In 2017, Adweek reported that Snap was making it easier for US advertisers to sponsor lenses targeting a specific host of demographics, including age and gender as well as what content people consume. Previously, brands had only been able to purchase national-focused targeting.

Taco Bell

Since its launch, numerous brands have dipped their toes into lenses. In 2016, Taco Bell enjoyed success partnering with Snapchat to launch a special Cinco de Mayo lens, viewed a record 224 million times in a single day.

IKEA

When it comes to furniture shopping, in-store visits have always been necessary for customers. However, IKEA is attempting to change that through the use of augmented reality.

In September last year, it introduced IKEA Place, an app allowing customers to virtually place furniture inside their home. Built in collaboration with Apple, IKEA Place automatically scales products in real-world settings with 98 per cent accuracy, according to the company.

The app allows users to capture and share photos and videos of virtually-placed furniture with family and friends. More than 2,000 items were available during the launch of the app and IKEA has plans to launch new product lines with it in the future.

The more than eight-decade-old company is optimistic that the use of augmented reality will boost its bottom-line over the next two years. According to Digiday, IKEA is projecting online sales to reach $5.9 billion by 2020. For the sake of comparison, online sales yielded IKEA $1.6 billion in total revenue in 2016.

L’Oreal

Like furniture, the use of augmented reality presents tremendous marketing potential for beauty companies. L’Oreal is one of the cosmetic industry’s early movers to embrace technology.

L’Oreal has developed its own AR branded apps such as Makeup Genius and Style My Hair. Both allow users to virtually try on make-up and hair looks on selfie-taken photos. L’Oreal has also embraced partnerships with other augmented reality applications. In July last year, it inked a deal with PerfectCorp to integrate beauty collections into the YouCam Makeup app.

YouCam, which surpassed 100 million downloads for iOS and Android in 2016, is perhaps the world’s most popular mobile make-up application. It recently won “Best of 2017” honours in the Google Play App Store.

What does the future have in store for AR?

Google has doubled down on AR as well with the launch of Poly, a website people can search and share virtual/augmented reality objects.

Facebook has said that there is an opportunity for augmented reality content to potentially replace many real-world objects. Zuckerberg said: “I think we’re going to get to a point where things like TVs, you no longer need a physical TV. You’ll get a $1 app that you can watch it screen on. And it will just be an interesting exercise to see how many of the things that we have that are physical things don’t actually need to be physical in that world, and how much innovation that opens up for independent developers all around the world.”

What’s important for brands is to remember that innovation has made AR much more accessible to the masses. There have been a handful of companies that have been effective and creative utilising AR technology in their marketing strategy. As a result we opened a firm that delivers AR and AI design experiences as well as other innovations.

It’s been part of developing everything from Pampers Hello Baby app pregnancy calendar to developing the world’s first three-sided hologram for the launch of Dubai South. Is it your time for innovations to make an impact?

Scott Goodsoon is the founder and Chairman of New York based StrawberryFrog.