It wasn’t long ago that when a major brand used augmented reality as a marketing tool it amounted to little more than holding up a marker to see an image with very little in the way of interaction. Augmented reality marketing campaigns are getting more and more complex with advertisers looking to build engaging content to keep consumers coming back for more. Enter Hotels.com who are the latest big brand to test the water with augmented reality

The campaign takes the form of a virtual travel guide who helps you find the ideal vacation or short break in up to 10 cities in the USA. Your guide gives you helpful advice on where you may want to travel based on a short questionnaire and then helps you explore the cities.

explore 10 US cities

Once you are ready you can hold up your marker to the screen and view the city in 3D as well as get up to date information on the weather and events taking place around the city. Your guide will give you highlights on things to see during your real visit as well as things to do during your virtual visit.  These take the form of interactive activities such as taking pictures and sending them to your friends or renaming the Hollywood sign. A particularly nice touch is the microphone interaction where you can clap to set off fireworks.

Hotels.com have done an excellent job in putting this together, it is nice to see more examples of well thought out campaigns that add value to the viewing experience.

You can access the augmented reality campaign here: www.virtualvacay.com

Hotels.com

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