Immersive Marketing as the Future of Brand Building

World is saturated with choices, and to get customers' attention is difficult. One of the main challenges for B2C companies is therefore connecting with consumers on a deeper level. Digitalization accelerates and the market is flooded with information and options. At Digital Tails Group, we’re on a quest to provide businesses tools to capture people’s attention – with immersive marketing.

Shifts in Consumer Behavior in Digitalized World

The pandemic didn’t start the shift to e-commerce, but it certainly accelerated the transition. 85% of consumers are now spending more time in front of screens than they did just three years prior. Out of this number, almost all of them (95%) increased their online purchases.

Shopping online is the new norm, but the digital world works differently from the physical. If you have a bad experience with one seller, it takes only a few clicks to find an alternative. If we pair it with a shortening attention span due to social media platforms like TikTok where short quick content is the most common format, we are faced with a brand new challenge.

In this digitalized world, shoppers enjoy a vast array of choices, and the cost of switching between brands has plummeted. A single bad experience? No problem—finding a comparable alternative takes only a minute. Coupled with a significant decline in attention spans, brands now face the challenge of navigating a non-linear purchasing journey with numerous touchpoints. The pursuit of consumer loyalty has never been more demanding.

Pillars of Building Brand Loyalty

So, how can brands enhance long-term customer loyalty? There are three things to consider:

Collecting information - Companies need to collect and process data from their CRM database, and find a key to identify what it is that will extract the maximum value from what they know about their customers. What do they want to see, read, experience and finally buy?

Building the channel - Companies with products to sell must engage with consumers across three verticals – the product itself, the channel, and communications. To successfully build these, it’s necessary to have the right strategy for the message delivery.

Designing a memorable experience - A brand is built by associations that are linked to memory. Consumer loyalty dwells on consistency of experiences offered by the brand, which is illustrated by the customer journey. To be able to send out triggers for engagement based on consumers’ past interaction with the brand.

What is Immersive Marketing?

If a brand is built by a total sum of interactions, increasing the number of interactions – quality interactions – is important. An interactive omni-channel can target multiple trigger points for engagement that can be achieved with immersive marketing. It is proven to significantly prolong the engagement sessions.

Immersive marketing creates brand experiences based on 3D and AR technology. We can also call it experiential marketing as it engages multiple different senses and it can be viewed through multiple modalities like mobile phones and wearable AR headsets. But not only that! There are many different approaches and forms of immersive branded content that can be delivered to audiences via multiple channels. Let’s have a look at the most popular methods.

Types of Immersive Brand Experiences

1. Product Showcases and Interactive 3D

3D product visualizations is our forte at Digital Tails Group. We tailor 3D product showcase solutions for our clients to increase engagement of their audiences in real-time. Without physical presence, they work as a "try-before-you-buy" experience. Out of 2,14 billion online shoppers globally, virtual try-ons are becoming highly appealing.

2. Augmented Reality (AR) Ads

AR ads have evolved to a highly effective tool that captures significant attention from audiences and generates strong demand from creatives and marketers. Most people are familiar with AR filters that are available on social media apps, and can be paired with videos or reels. With their support, 90% of brands triple their brand lift. On top of that, AR advertising increases the likelihood of purchase by more than half.

3. FOOH (Fake Out-of-Home) Advertising

These are real advertisements, but exist only in the virtual world. FOOH format combines video andimmersive design to create vivid experiences, often times in the streets of large cities. These ads have the tendency to go viral, and are viewed by millions worldwide. There is a significant investment in creating these, which always pays off. Since there are almost no limits to what we can creat in the virtual realm, it can go as high and big as can be. We can find these as virtual street art or characters as large as skyscrapers popping out of buildings.

4. Branded Immersive Rooms

Immersive rooms tailored to brands are a strong tools for marketing campaigns. They use AR and VR specially designed for physical spaces, creating effects, atmospheres and powerful experiences that the visitors won’t forget. There is something about life-sized immersion that completely captivates audiences, which of course results in associating them with companies and their brands.

5. Event-Based Experiences

A large portion of demand AR comes from event-based experiences. Combined with branded rooms, they make any event stand out, whether it’s a trade conference or an entertainment show. If you include an immersive element in your booth at a business fair, you most likely won’t be forgotten by the visitors, and many attendees will happily spend extra time engaging with your content.

Conclusion

Consumer attention is scarce and choices abound - this is where immersive marketing offers step in as a powerful way for brands to stand out. 3D and AR technology can be utilized by brands in creating memorable experiences that deepen engagement and foster lasting loyalty. Brand building evolves, immersive marketing is the key to capturing and retaining consumer interest.