The ghost of Covid 19 will not probably leave us even during this 2021, or at least not immediately.
It is not necessary to repeat that this pandemic has caused an upheaval on our existences, limiting human contacts, trips, travels and all the funny activities on which a great portion of the global economy is based.
Some of the most compromised commercial sectors are the travel and cultural fields, that have lost one hundred billiards of euros and recorded sixty-five millions less of tourists in Italy.
Even the show business industry, concerning live concerts and theatral plays, have recorded a negative impact due to the restrictions, leading the event managers to realize live performances broadcast in streaming (for free or under payment).
In this almost dystopian scenario, digitality has reinforced its position and its role in our daily life, offering services and opportunities to the companies that immediately have taken the chance.
Let’s be honest, nothing can substitute the human physical interactions, those that don’t need any kind of
So, it is time for augmented reality to make its appearance, that had already started to be used and implemented in the past years and that is now becoming a great tool to face this new lockdown.
Augmented reality is a recent and constantly evolving technology that uses tools and software to represent an alternative reality where, aside the “normal” reality that we perceive with our senses, there is a juxtaposition of artificial and virtual information.
First experimented in the military field, to generate realistic simulations during the exercitations; nowadays the AR is also used in a playful context, mostly in the world of videogames.
Let’s have a look at the new applications fields of AR after the Covid 19 outbreak.
Retail marketing: the virtual shopping is possible
It doesn’t seem an option to offer shopping experiences to the customer inside the shop in a period where people are supposed to move as least as possible and only for what is strictly necessary, but it is actually possible: augmented reality permits to visit the shops, to have online consulting and more, guaranteeing safety and reducing the presence in the shop, without losing the side of personal relationship.
A good AR application for the safe shopping is the 3D Video Streaming Smart glass. Sellers can offer a service where, after an appointment with the customer, they wear these glasses and share a virtual high-quality tour of the shop. This gives the chance to the customer to stay inside his home and visit the store, discovering the products inside the shop, asking for advice in real time and establishing a personal relation with the employee.
This kind of service has started to be tested in Milan during July 2020, with the promise to become a new trend during the 2021.
Museums and artistic sites: AR bring art in your home
Augmented reality is often being used as a tool to live art in an innovative and potentiated way, sharing more contents and adding new emotions and values for a meaningful experience in the museum.
In the last few years, we saw several interactive and immersive art exhibitions, so the lockdown has contributed to encourage this trend in the cultural sector.
The digital evolution has given the chance to the citizens who were obliged to stay home or to move as little as possible to join virtual and interactive tours, according to the idea of “home museum”, visiting the museum from home.
There are more and more app and social media platforms that give the virtual visitors the possibility to admire the masterpieces exposed, but also to interact with them, getting more information, choosing a personal and specific thematic path, exploring educational, informative, and scientific contents.
A great chance for the distance learning, so it is possible to guarantee the education of the students overcoming the impossibility to organize school trips.
The future of traveling: revitalizing tourism with AR
AR has been known in the touristic field in the past years, mostly in Asia, where there are many high-tech countries that are constantly updated with the newest digital trends: for example, in Japan some hotels have robots that welcome the customers and clean the rooms.
What if I want to travel from home, to dream the next trip or starting to organize it in the details, getting ready for when it will be possible to pack the luggage and leave?
Well, it is possible thanks to the AR and VR apps and platforms for the traveling market.
One of the most popular platforms is Google Earth that thanks to apposite viewer permits to explore some of the most suggestive wonders of our planet.
E-Business Consulting is a marketing company operating since 2003 and has always been oriented towards the major digital and technological innovations. Contact us to discover all the advantages that a good digital marketing service can offer and to keep up with the ongoing evolution of the digital world.
