Mixed Reality Brand Placements: Marketing Inside Spatial Experiences

Delphin Varghese, Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer, AdCounty Media

For years, digital advertising has been defined by screens. In the realm of search engines, social media, mobile apps, smart TVs, or websites, companies have been looking for ways to attract the attention of consumers. Mixed Reality (MR) brings a new approach to the matter, with respect to developing a brand new environment for consumer interactions.

With ongoing development of various spatial computing technologies, marketers are looking deep into the area of brand experience and its implementation in the consumer’s environment, not only on the screen.

Thus, the discussion is no longer about the visibility of ads. The topic is gradually changing in the direction of the relevance of advertisement in the immersive environment. One of the main features of mixed reality is the combination of digital content and the real world. In this case, it allows marketers to escape from the traditional advertising formats and build engagement with the consumer.

The relevance of this differentiation lies in the transformation of consumer preferences over the last ten years. Every day, digital users face a growing volume of marketing communications, which fully explains the increased scarcity of attention. Consequently, marketers have been concentrating on improving the techniques of targeting, personalizing, and enhancing the creativity of advertising campaigns. The result of using mixed-reality technology is that the focus of advertising is shifted from traditional channels to a new environment of natural engagement.

However, the effectiveness of spatial marketing is determined not only by the technology being utilized but also by the benefits it provides to customers. Merely transferring the existing advertising to a 3D space will hardly boost customer engagement. The potential lies in creating the experience that will assist people in decision-making, product experimentation, and information acquisition.

This shows a subtle yet significant change in marketing techniques. In the past, the effectiveness of campaigns was often associated with reach and impressions. Even though they remain important, immersive environments bring new levels of engagement. Brands can start looking at how customers deal with online environments or how long they investigate products. Such actionable insights give businesses a better understanding of the motivation of the audience than the traditional metrics of exposure.

Mixed reality also fosters collaboration between marketing, design, and customer experience departments. Good spatial experiences are about finding ways to move from mere advertisement and understanding the role digital experiences play in customer journeys. The goal is not just to attract attention but to increase the quality of experiences customers already have in any industry, be it automotive, retail, travel, education, or entertainment.

Simultaneously, it is necessary to have the right expectations. The mixed-reality technology is still developing and its widespread adoption is still linked to hardware and software development and user adaptability. For a vast majority of companies mixed reality technology will complement existing digital technologies rather than replacing them. Traditional advertising methods such as mobile advertising, web advertising, and social advertising are going to remain relevant in developing awareness and performance.

However, the real value of mixed reality technology lies outside its practical uses. The evolution of marketing has advanced from spreading messages to interacting with customers from a single battleground to creating tools for engagement. The new term “spatial computing” infers an in-depth extension of such development, since it allows brands to enter customers’ living environments in the most natural way possible.

As technology continued to advance, marketers encountered a new creative challenge: not just placing ads, but creating experiences customers will find beneficial. Thus, companies taking a customer-oriented approach to mixed reality (instead of focusing on the technology itself) are expected to be in a better position as spatial experiences are becoming a regular part of the digital sphere.