Blippar

For a while now, social media has been a key tool that brands have used to engage with their customers, but a new channel has opened up.

Blippar is an "augmented reality advertising" app that allows users to access exclusive content by holding their smartphone or tablet up to a "blippable" interface: this could be a poster, magazine, or a product label or logo. Pre-programmed content "magically" overlays itself on to the user's screen; it might play a video, launch an interactive game, offer a virtual product trial, etc., the possibilities are almost endless.

Augmented reality advertising will increasingly become an important area that brands will seek to measure, especially relevant for those of us conducting in-store research. How long will it be before retailers ensure we recruit Blippar users when we conduct accompanied shops?

Darren Till
Research Consultant, Discovery

This article was first published in InBrief magazine, April 2014
Copyright © Association for Qualitative Research, 2014