A Printer’s Guide to Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality & Interactive Print
Who we are “at work” and how we make business buying decisions is very often quite different from how we shop online from home. At least that used to be the case. When working from home became the new normal, these worlds collided. Even if you were used to working from home, complete with a dedicated home-office, you were impacted. Suddenly it was OK (almost expected) to be on Zoom calls in a t-shirt, hair a mess with kids and pets running around.
Suddenly, companies were forced to re-think their approach to every aspect of their business. As the consumer hat continued to encroach upon its business counterpart, buyer expectation morphed as well. There is no disputing, denying or ignoring the fact that understanding who wants to buy from you and providing them with solutions that matter to them is critical to business growth. When that buyer expects a seamless, fluid, hyper-personal and engaging customer experience – they spend their money with the companies that indulge them.
A study out of the University of Ohio exposed how haptic (touch) memory is - the type of memory that has the strongest impact on the human brain. When you make print interactive – with QR codes, AI, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) – you bridge analog and digital worlds, capture the attention of prospects and customers for a longer period of time and foster smoother business operations. Not only do these technologies literally bring print to life – they elevate digital-only tactics with long-lasting, memorable and sensory experiences that only print can provide.
The Data: The Lifeblood of Artificial Intelligence
The first AI program – called Logic Theorist – was developed in 1956. However, the lack of computational power meant that the program could not engage in self-learning, which is how most people conceptualize the nature of AI. Research on AI was reinvigorated in the 1980s, and great development occurred in the 1990s. IBM put its Deep Blue (a chess-playing computer) against a chess champion and won. While Dragon Systems’ speech recognition software was implemented on Windows operating systems.
The most basic form of AI is one in which machines react to particular situations, but do not use experience as a determinant of decision output. Limited memory systems are slightly more advanced than reactive ones, and can make decisions based on the data presented to them by their surrounding environment. Print providers are discovering that the most lucrative new revenue streams to come from having artificial intelligence stem from Reactive and Limited Memory AI technologies, according to Dragana Pavlovic, senior vice president of Global Development Group, Xerox.
Fueled with your real-time data, here are five ways that AI drives print and manufacturing operations:
- Deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences
- Optimize equipment and production workflow
- Boost efficiency
- Reduce Waste
- Streamline customer support operations
Key players in the industry putting this technology to work include: Ricoh, which utilizes AI developed by Microsoft to streamline its operations; HP, which also uses Microsoft AI, particularly for its customer support operations; and Xerox, another key player that has recognized the benefits to AI, and has developed their own AI programs in recent years.
Atif Khan, vice president of AI & Data Science at Messagepoint, providers of AI-powered customer communications, boasts of AI’s power to enrich textual content with visual cues, like branding, color and images. He encourages hyper-personalization, gearing content to the audience and adjusting it based on demographics, readability and engagement.
The Experience: Delivered through QR, AR, and VR
Whereas AI is oriented around data, other interactive print technologies – such as QR, AR and VR – are designed to deliver an immersive customer experience.
QR codes were first developed in 1994 by Denso to streamline operations in Japan’s automotive industry. However, they were not introduced in the U.S. until 2010, when the first QR scanner app was released for mobile devices. Until recently, QR codes were platform dependent – you couldn’t just point your phone at it to launch. As a result, adoption waned; as seen by Microsoft Tag, which launched in 2010 – and was discontinued in 2013.
In 2015 QR codes were revived, when messaging app Snapchat, introduced them as a way to add friends. Eventually further features were added, such as being able to unlock filters and lenses – via QR codes. In the wake of Coronavirus, restaurants are embracing QR to provide touchless menus as they re-open for dine-in patrons. SmartLabel, for example, provides detailed information about food, beverages, over-the-counter products and more – using QR codes right on the packaging – that can be easily scanned by any smartphone, computer or tablet.
The birth of AR and VR is rooted in a head-mounted display system developed in 1968, long before the advent of QR codes. The first fully functional AR system was developed by the USAF in 1992. However, it did not reach commercial areas until 2000, when an AR game called ARQuake was released. When the smartphone boom occurred circa 2009, AR began to take off. Now, many companies in many industries are either testing or using AR systems, including Boeing, DHL, IKEA and LEGO, to immerse customers in an interactive experience that pops off the printed page and facilitates the buying decision.
Jonathan Malone-McGrew, EDP and senior director of engagement at Solimar Systems, explains AR like this: “If you can put a QR code on it or a 'marker' to trigger the image recognition, then you can place an AR experience on it.” And you don’t even need an app.
There are also postal discounts – up to 2% – for AR used on what the USPS specifies as “regular and non-profit marketing mail letters and flats, and First-Class Mail® pre-sort or automation letters, cards and flats.”
For VR, the story is similar to that of its AR cousin. The first proper VR system was Sega’s VR headset released in 1994. The following year, Nintendo released its VR-32. Fast-forward to 2007, and VR begins showing greater potential outside the gaming industry, with Google introducing street view. A few years later, Oculus began fundraising and was eventually acquired by Facebook in 2014. In 2015, VR was made available to the public with adoption by many print media outlets, including newspapers and magazines.
The BBC is one example - they generated a VR experience of a Syrian migrant camp, while the Wall Street Journal developed a VR roller coaster, designed to follow the ups-and-downs of the NASDAQ’s history. Print providers have also begun rolling out VR products, such as Ricoh’s THETA, which allows one to capture a 360-degree image to generate a VR experience.
Maracle is a 100-year-old printer/publisher. In 2017, they partnered with Brainspace Publishing to develop "My Wondrous World of Kindergarten." Each story page comes equipped with AR videos for both children and parents to help guide them through the partnerships of home, family and school in more detail. According to George Sittlinger, Maracle’s president, the process was really straight-forward.
“All the image tagging was done in the file-prep and provided by the author/illustrator,” he said.
One piece of advice he offers printers is to test links periodically. Much like a website, links can break for any number of reasons, the most common being software updates.
Interactive Print: The Opportunity
Interactive print technologies blend physical and digital worlds to engage the senses, as customers discover your products and services in exciting new ways. QR codes make it easy to drive customers to pURLs, URLs, landing pages, surveys, videos, contact information, featured promos and more – without having to navigate through website menus and sub-menus. Adding AR and VR elements helps keep them there.
The more you understand who you help and how, the more you can channel the power of Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and print – and accelerate the prospect to customer journey. From uploading contact details directly into your CRM by scanning a QR code on a business card, to delivering virtual equipment tours through a direct mail piece, these technologies are making it possible to seamlessly interact between physical and digital worlds and attract buyers – no matter which hat they’re wearing.
