I was hoping to post this before I left for Japan, but just didn’t have enough time! Now that I’m back, I thought it better be the first thing I’d post up. This is the hype video & demo video showing the new Adidas Augmented Reality Shoes in action, they were released earlier in February to fans around the globe. Waiting to hear the first month stats round up, so will let you know when I do!
This is a terrible use of the technology. Misses the mark completely. Who wants to hold their dirty shoe up, in front of their face, like a gun? This doesn’t even make it into my ‘cool but impractical’ category. Change the agency.
Brendan, I think this is more a sales promo, than ongoing coolness!
People who want to activate this experience are brand loyal and would be buying the shoe just to get the augmented reality experience.
That said, they will probably only ever use it once or twice, and just after it’s been bought. I can’t see anyone going back to play this 6 months later!
The catch here, is that there is a number of various shoes and experiences to activate, so these people will be buying multiple shoes to activate alternate augmented reality experiences.
But agree, people don’t want to hold up dirty shoes, so I think this will only be activated upon purchase! I’m looking forward to seeing the sales figures to see if this kind of activation promo can make a significant spike!
I think you’re right about it being a sales promo, but even if it does contribute to short term sales, I can’t help but feel that this ‘gimmick’ won’t add a lot of positive brand value. It just feels like old school advertising disguised in a digital skirt.
Guys, have you thought that this might be the first phase of a long term activity?
As the shoe has the code, this will be “active” for ever. So they might install cameras in shops or other POS that could recognise the shoe and interact with the user while they are walking around the shop, for example.