Nike Wants Holiday Shoppers to Get Their Kicks Via AR

Just in time for last-minute holiday shopping, Nike has teamed up with augmented reality specialists GoldRun, Akoo (an out of home TV network) and U.S. running apparel retailer Finish Line for an AR-based treasure hunt and sweepstakes. The contest's prize package is sure to please sneakerheads and runners alike: Nike’s Air Max Flash Pack, a collection of 15 shoe designs and colors.

Shoppers in 106 malls with Finish Line stores can download the free GoldRun app, find a virtual Nike shoe, snap a picture of the shoe in front of a Finish Line store and have a chance to win one of the 15 pairs of Nike shoes awarded daily.

“By sharing branded photos and earning rewards (such as winning a new pair of Nikes or getting a discount on a product), the consumer is incentivized and the brand wins, because they're seeing engagement in the mobile and social space while driving awareness and revenue,” GoldRun Founder and CEO Vivian Rosenthal told brandchannel.

The potential for consumers, advertisers and retailers through mobile AR marketing represents a new form of social commerce, moving from e-commerce to v-commerce (virtual commerce), adding a social layer as users share check-ins on Facebook and Twitter, and most importantly, an AR point-of-sale incentive.

The opportunities for advertising in a world that merges visual search, barcodes, and NFC, coupled with AR on mobile, introduces “the ability for ads to appear on your mobile screen as miniature virtual billboards assigned to GPS coordinates,” writes John Havens, EVP, Strategy and Engagement at Yoxi.tv, formerly EVP of Social Media at Porter Novelli.

“Brands can tag the real world via this 'Outernet,'" he adds, "and if they sponsor the AR browser you’re using, in essence they own the virtual air rights (VARs) for everything you see.”

GoldRun's past AR partnerships involving brands and retailers include partnering with Bloomingdale’s and NBC on “Look the Part, Be the Part,” the first co-branded cross-industry promotion to use AR; Airwalk’s campaign for the skateboard limited edition shoe, the Jim, where 300 pairs sold out in 24 hours; and an Esquire stunt with Brooklyn Decker in 700 Barnes & Noble stores, all covered here.

“Advertisers have put messages in our field of vision for decades. The paradigm of virtual air rights simply extends that practice via augmented reality. The life-as-product-placement model means ads will evolve to become content we choose to experience on our own terms. What’s still to be worked out is who gets the rights to what,” writes Havens.

“We were all taken in by digital seduction, making an online presence required,” says Rosenthal. “But now we’re all going off-line with AR, and a radical shift will occur in the next 5-10 years.”

Find out more in the video below.