From 2D to 3D: How AR, VR, and AI Are Reshaping Brand Experiences

Data shows that 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions with companies, and 76% get frustrated when this isn’t delivered.

This is according to the McKinsey ‘Next in Personalization 2021 Report,’ which indicates that personalization has become the holy grail of engagement. For executives and brand strategists, this is your sign to prioritize personalization if you haven’t already.

One way to tap into personalization is by way of immersive experiences, either through augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR). This is because VR delivers highly personalized, interactive content that adapts to user preferences in real-time. Another strategy is through leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to drive product personalization.

According to Mario Ramic, CEO of Takeaway Reality, a virtual reality, augmented reality, and Metaverse development company, AR, VR, and AI can enable incredible improvements in processes, user experience, and employee training that save on costs and increase productivity.

“As there are more and more people using virtual reality, especially Meta’s Horizon ecosystem, businesses need to start thinking in which ways their brands are going to handle the transition from 2D screens to spatial environments.”

When it comes to artificial intelligence, many end-user experiences remain relatively unchanged due to the habits formed through using 2D environments, according to Ramic.

This means that things need to be taken a step further.

“As we move closer to the 2030’s one of the key areas to look at will be the integration of AI into new form factors such as AR glasses or VR experiences. Using AI to automate tasks will increase productivity, but using AI to generate objects in your space or recognize real-life objects will be the real game-changer in terms of how people use the internet.”

As businesses tap into AR, VR, and AI, the next big question is how to bring their brand into immersive, 3D spaces.

With these technologies changing the game, it’s time to move past 2D screens and think about how your brand will be represented in a fully interactive environment.

This shift is a real opportunity to rethink customer engagement for businesses with a physical presence.

“It is very different representing your brand in a spatial environment than just in 2D user interfaces. Brands such as restaurant chains or physical retailers have an advantage here as they already have experience in how they want their brand and presence to look like in a spatial setting,” said Ramic.

Build Successful AR and VR Experiences Without Overcommitting

How can businesses successfully make the leap from 2D to 3D environments? The key lies in starting slow, building a presence, and relying on customer feedback, explains Ramic.

This can be used to build on smaller experiences.

“Brands should avoid big ‘metaverse megaprojects’ as it is crucial to start small and develop an audience and then listen to your customers on how to proceed and what to build. Partnering with an experienced agency like Takeaway Reality can help with a better understanding of the process.”

For Takeaway Reality, the biggest challenge is balancing the different goals and turning them into features of an app or experience.

For example, one of Takeaway Reality’s projects in the medical industry aimed to achieve measurable results on a tight budget and even tighter deadline.

“We just focused on the business goals and ended up creating a very good, but quite simple AR experience showcasing their products which was so well done they ended up using it as training for their internal employees and reduced the training time for new joiners by 20%,” Ramic explained.

FFIND, an independent global data collection company, became a leader in VR market research by leveraging this type of technology.

“They came to us because they wanted to diversify their business in market research and although they were very well-known, now they are focusing most of their efforts on the product we created together – Rexee,” Ramic said.

Now, Rexee is an award-winning VR market research tool, which allows companies to conduct virtual shelf tests in shopping centers, surveys, focus groups, product tests, and more.

How Personalization Will Reshape Online Interactions by 2030

These examples from Takeaway Reality and other immersive reality innovators prove one thing: AR and VR aren’t just futuristic concepts for companies. In fact, they’re already transforming whole industries. But what’s next? As adoption grows, one thing is likely: Immersive experiences are on their way to reshaping online interactions by 2030.

That said, it will take some time as the first prototype Takeaway Reality built for FFIND didn’t achieve market fit or interest.

“While many companies would just close it off and call the project a failure, FFIND had the vision to stay patient and allow us to work with them on finding a product-market fit. Our second VR product category was a smashing success and now we are the undisputed leaders of market research in VR.”

Ramic believes the future lies in augmented reality and AI:

“There are more than 20 million people who own the latest VR headsets worldwide, we are already seeing a shift towards social experiences happening in gaming and on platforms such as VR.

The major technology will be small-scale AR glasses such as Meta’s project Orion Glasses. These are already selling very well and by 2030 augmented reality combined with AI in small form-factor glasses might be on par with the usage of mobile phones in terms of daily usage,” he added.

The future of brand experiences is unfolding now, and businesses that adapt early will set the stage for the next big shift in customer engagement.