Brief Reality: Don't Drink & Drive, Unless It's in AR

ARKit is a marketer's dream. By providing tools for creating augmented reality experiences on mobile devices, AR apps can now be deployed easily alongside just about any campaign. As expected, we now have ARKit apps pushing wares ranging from automobiles to tequila.

Of course, AR and marketing were familiar bedfellows before ARKit. As such, new examples have arisen to engage football and music fans.

ARKit & Facebook Drive AR Apps for Porsche & Nissan

Two automakers started their augmented reality engines via two different platforms over the past week.

Porsche Cars North America tapped You Are Here to assemble the Porsche AR-Imagine app using ARKit. The app lets users view three Porsche models in their own driveway, customize the appearance, and then "test drive" the sports cars.

Brief Reality: Don't Drink & Drive, Unless It's in AR — Where we're going, we don't need roads. *Image by Tommy Palladino/Next Reality*

"Innovation is at the heart of Porsche. We're excited to offer consumers and enthusiasts a completely new way of experiencing our sports cars. For us to be wherever our fans are -with the Porsche of their dreams -is the road ahead," said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO at Porsche Cars North America via a news release.

Meanwhile, Nissan turned to Facebook Camera Effects for a more in-direct promotion. With the Nissan Die Hard Fan App, which is also available on iOS and Android, users can paint their faces with the team colors of more than 100 college football teams.

"As one of the first brands to leverage Facebook's new Camera Effects, Nissan will now be able to reach and engage with college football fans faster and easier than ever before," said Jeremy Tucker, vice president, Marketing Communications & Media at Nissan North America, in a statement.

Packers & Seahawks Line Up Their Own AR Fan Experiences

Two more National Football League teams have joined the New York Jets and the league itself in drafting augmented reality to enhance the stadium experience for football fans.

The Packers are offering a Virtual Photo Experience, which gives fans attending games at Lambeau Field the opportunity to pose for photos with a virtual likeness of one of four players.

Meanwhile, the team that lost to the Packers at Lambeau to open the season, the Seattle Seahawks, have updated their iOS and Android apps to unlock videos by scanning images in the team's program. Last season, the team's app invited fans to hoist virtual "12" flags in their yards.

Patrón Serves Shot of ARKit with Mobile App

Want to experience tequila without the hangover? Patrón Tequila has the app for you!

The Patrón Experience, running on ARKit, pours out a virtual replica of the Hacienda Patrón, a private distillery in Jalisco, Mexico. Users can plant virtual agave and learn more about Patrón's varieties of tequila from a virtual bartender.

Alas, the bartender does not serve you real tequila.

AR Struts onto Cover of New Michael Jackson Compilation

If a new dance mash-up is not enough reason for Michael Jackson fans to buy another anthology of assorted hits, perhaps augmented reality strikes the right note.

The cover art and poster included in physical copies of the album Scream, a thirteen-track anthology of hits by the King of Pop releasing on Sept. 29, will host an augmented reality experience.

The experience is presented through the Shazam app for iOS or Android. Users scan a Shazam code included in the CD (or LP, which will be released on Oct. 27) and then scan the poster included in packaging. Luckily, a tutorial video on the album's website provides clear enough images for both scanning steps. Screenshots are included in the gallery below.

Every Tuesday, Next Reality gives readers a rundown of the augmented and mixed reality news briefs from the preceding week that we didn't cover already. This way, you'll never miss anything of importance in the Next Reality landscape, and will always know what's going on with new augmented and mixed reality tech and applications. You can browse previous Brief Reality reports, too, if you'd like.