Abstract

Title: Touching Is TrustingUse of Augmented / Simulated Reality in the CPG Industry

For GIC CPG Sharenet 2015

By:Ruchismita Mukherjee

Category: Implementations of IBM Growth Themes for CPG industry (Mobility)

Abstract Details: The CPG industry is one of the fastest growing industries, where consumer interfacing is of prime importance. With very high adoption of internet among consumers, buying behaviors are going through a sea change.

Earlier the first ‘moment of truth’ [consumers’ first real interaction with products – theory by P&G, 2005] was when they would look at a product on a store shelf. In the internet era too, the consumer (though enlightened by both online and offline advertisements), it remained the same.

Now, with the influx of online shopping, consumers are even buying groceries online! In cases where the consumer is buying packaged stuff online, the first ‘moment of truth’ is being uncannily skipped.

Truth is we all want to touch, see, feel, sniff (if not always taste) the product that we are buying. Technology can enable this virtually by the use of ‘Augmented Reality’ and ‘Simulacra’ [a simulacrum (plural: simulacra from Latin: simulacrum, which means "likeness, similarity"), is a representation or imitation of a person or thing].

Interactive content along with 3D Graphics /Stopmotion/Flash Animation/Real Images can be used together to create a near-life experience for a consumer. An app shows the consumer all new shelf-launches of a CPG company. It lets them see the packaging, zoom in and out, rotate it, or even unpack to see what lies beneath. Often it happens that we want to see the color and texture of a shampoo we are buying, or read the nutritional facts of a juice on the carton itself. All this is possible via augmented reality apps. Via simulacra apps, we can let a consumer view a package across all dimensions, even unpack a package by simply tapping on a 3D image.

Objectives: This kind of an approach completes the digitization of the CPG market and magnifies its ability to reach out to the consumers in a very big way (especially in this era of complete mobility and internet penetration). Augmented Reality / Simulacra is the new tool in Strategic Branding that helps tap consumer buying decisions like never before.