Extra large dinosaur purse

Here are some outdoor posters from China for Sanlitun Village in Beijing:

The billboards were part of the Let's Play XXL augmented-reality game.  After scanning the codes, visitors of the shopping center were able use their mobile devices to see 3D dinosaurs.

Shoppers who found all of the virtual dinosaurs received an XXL bag.

Dancing with the dinosaurs

Here's an augmented reality installation for National Geographic:

Live Augmented Reality for National Geographic Channel / UPC from Appshaker Ltd on Vimeo.

A large screen was placed in a mall where people could watch themselves interacting with a space landing, a dolphin swimming by, and turbulent storm clouds coming in.   It was delightful to watch people's reactions and the life-like, realistic movement of dinosaurs and leopards.

An unexpected beetle

Here is an augmented reality app in Canada for Volkswagen:

Passersby can download the associated app and scan Volkswagen billboards to see the animated "Juiced Up" version of the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. 

Lego augmented reality game app

I really wanted a Lego augmented reality app.  This is not what I had in mind, but it still looks pretty fun:

The Lego Life of George game comes with Legos and the associated app has several levels of building app games.  A timer ticks down as you have to replicate a Lego image from the app onto the AR mat.  Snap a pic of the Legos before time runs out to continue to the next level.

AR day

Here are a couple of AR apps.  The first one is created by Total Immersion and they tout the "Magic Mirror" as the "first AR app for the iPad."  The "magic" element is fun but I'm more excited with the fact there is finally a decent mirror app.

And here movie-tie in app with Rio:

There has been debate whether you should invest money in AR.  Some contend it is a big waste of $..., likened to QR codes being a waste of time/money*.  [*Also if you are going to do QR, don't fail like Jet Blue].  

There is a significant front-end barrier with users downloading augmented-reality apps.  I am fascinated with AR but there is a major assumption that users are going to waste their time to listen to your brand.  While AR is pretty cool, these technologies still present a massive moat to the brand message.  AR is still in its infancy, and it may become an easier, more integrated technology in the very near future, but the fact of the matter is we are not there yet.  It will be very exciting to see how marketers use this medium to communicate while reconciling the barriers AR presents.