Since we were founded in 2001, Zugara has always focused on emerging media and technology in the Interactive Marketing and Advertising industries. Throughout those years, we continually developed initiatives and innovations in some of our core areas of expertise – social media, web, interactive video and mobile. However, in 2008, it became apparent that the digital ecosystem was continuing to fragment and that it was getting increasingly difficult to try and be a “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”. We firmly believe that as these 4 core areas (mobile, web, video and social) continue to fragment at an ever increasing speed, it’s best to focus on one core area – and that area for us is Augmented Reality.
It was not easy getting here and I want to personally thank all past and present employees of Zugara for helping to make this happen. We still have a long way to go but without the help from just about everybody involved in Zugara’s world throughout the years, we would not have made it this far. It’s hard enough running a business in good times, but restructuring and ‘rebooting’ during a recession has been probably the most formidable task Zugara has taken on in it’s past 9 years.
But now we look towards the future – and that future is Augmented Reality. AR became the first technology I’ve ever seen resonate deeply with our entire group and for the last 2 years we’ve focused almost entirely on creating innovative software, executions and concepts in this field to help show others how we see AR as an integral part of everybody’s future.
With all that said, I hope you take a moment to check out our new site. The new site has a much clearer focus on what our new goal as a company is and what we now offer – Augmented Reality Software. Our flagship product continues to be The Webcam Social Shopper – Augmented Reality E-Commerce Software – that will continue to evolve the e-commerce experience for the consumer. We are also launching quite a few ZugMO Motion Capture based games and kiosk-based AR executions over the next few months, so please check the site (or our blog) to see how these areas in particular will continue to grow as people become more accustomed to the NUI (Natural User Interface and gestural interaction).
In final, I want to thank again everybody for their support of Zugara over the last few years and look forward to an exciting (and augmented) future!
Zugara and One To One Interactive are looking to do a pretty mind-blowing session at the upcoming SXSW Interactive conference. If you’re not familiar with Neuromarketing, you can read more about it here and here. Needless to say, this should be a pretty engaging panel so I hope you take a moment to make sure it’s part of SXSW’s program by voting for it here.
You can find other details on the panel here but this is the short description:
“Augmented reality and neuromarketing have been getting a lot of attention as cutting edge innovations that are available to brands to engage their customers and measure effectiveness. This panel will discuss ground breaking neuromarketing research that explores the difference between an AR e-commerce application vs. a traditional web based e-commerce application. The study will highlight perceptual changes, the level of neurological attention, and the post-purchase emotions that each experience yields. The study hypothesis is that e-commerce applications that utilize AR to enhance the buying experience will yield higher levels of positive engagement vs. traditional e-commerce applications.”
This blog post originally ran on Power Retail – you can view it here.
We’re currently in the midst of a revolution on the internet in regards to how information is interacted with, digested and shared. Social media has been the main driver of this new era in communication on the internet (both fixed and mobile), so it’s no surprise that this revolution is also impacting online retail. Social media tools are just now being incorporated into most online retail sites which are giving consumers a new method in which to pre-validate purchases through peer feedback. However, interactive video is set to alter the way in which consumers interact with product information by not only integrating what works from social media but also altering the way consumers interact with digital content.
Online shopping itself has to date been a very solitary experience and not entirely interactive. Consumers would often review listings of a product, view respective photos and maybe even see a standard product video – all to base their buying decision on. The Achilles heel of online shopping has always been the lack of interaction with the product itself to make a more informed purchase decision. However, innovative uses of interactive video are quickly changing that perception. Interactive video is providing that next step just short of reaching out and physically touching a product (that’s another installment though as 3D printing might change things in the near future). Some online retailers are even using interactive video as a customer service model to better connect with the online shopper. Though interactive video itself is a technical breakthrough, it will continue to evolve online due to its integration of social media fundamentals. Here are a few examples of how interactive video is changing the online shopping experience:
ZAPPOS’ INTERACTIVE PRODUCT VIDEOS
With a partnership with Nike and Overlay.tv, Zappos is offering interactive product videos for the consumer to get product info and other information all through an interactive video interface. Consumers can also leave their own video testimonial through their webcam. Zappos’experience has shown it increased conversions from 6% to 30% for products that use video.
SAMSUNG PRODUCT SUPPORT TV
Even the customer service experience will be affected as online shoppers expect to deal with a live person versus an automated response. Samsung is offering live video streaming for online shoppers to have a more personable way to solicit information from their customer service end.
AUGMENTED REALITY SHOPPING
Webcam usage is skyrocketing, so it’s only a matter of time until shoppers expect to have the ability to ‘try on’ digital clothing while they shop. Enter Augmented Reality Shopping. Tobi.com recently integrated Augmented Reality into their site to provide this innovation for their customers. (Disclaimer: Zugara created Fashionista based off its Webcam Social Shopper technology)
SUMMARY
Webcam sales alone are expected to grow to $3.2 billion by 2015 and video chat services such as Skype are currently handling 22 million users concurrently at any given time. I think it’s safe to say that as interactive video continues its growth on the web, webcam and video chat integration will as well.
Join me at my presentation at the Online Retailer Expo & Conference in Sydney on July 7, 2010 as I show even more demonstrations of how emerging media and technology are contributing to this evolution of both the internet and online shopping.
June 23, 2009, Los Angeles – Here at Zugara, we’re proud to announce the launch of our newest application, The Webcam Social Shopper. Coupling the functionality of both Augmented Reality and Motion Capture, this application will allow anyone with a webcam to shop online right from within their video feed. We like to think of it as “Augmented Reality meets Utility”. This app allows you to seemingly hold articles of clothing up in front of yourself to see “how they look”. And the Motion Capture allows the app to track your movements so you can interact with the site (e.g. cycle through a product’s various colors/styles or take a picture of yourself so you can get immediate feedback from friends on Facebook) while standing several feet away from your computer’s controls. No extra downloads, no new plug-in, no consumer headache.
To see the application in action, check out our video below.
Now that you’ve seen the application in its “Alpha State”, think about the potential an app like this has as we partner with brands to allow their consumers to do things like:
Livestream their webcam’s feed to friends and loved ones, and get comments and feedback right next to the application in real time.
Receive “clothing care packages” from loved ones who might be somewhere else in the country and set up times to “shop together”… online.
Enter their measurements into the app and get a “fitted image”.
Match entire outfits at the same time, both top and bottom.
Shop right within a branded Facebook application.
It’s not a secret that friends/family recommendations influence a consumer’s purchase decision and beat any other “consumer touchpoint”. Now, we can help brands empower their consumers to integrate their friends and family into their online shopping process like never before. The thinking is that this application will help bridge the gap between how people like to shop offline and how they are forced to shop online, subsequently providing an enhanced interactive shopping experience for the consumer and increased sales for the brand. So, what do you think? Please, feel free to share this post with anyone and everyone, or embed the video above in your own blog. And, as always, we’d love to know your thoughts below…
(UPDATE: We’ve partnered with RichRelevance to integrate their recommendation engine into WSS and create a completely unique application dubbed Fashionista. Fashionista is currently live on Tobi.com and you can read more about that launch on Fast Company.)
About Zugara
Zugara is an interactive marketing agency with a passion for emerging media and technologies. Unlike most agencies, we don’t claim to do everything: Interactive Video, Social Media, Mobile Marketing, and Website & Application Development are our core competencies. Since our doors opened in 2001, we’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the world’s best brands such as Reebok, Sony Computer Entertainment Of America, Toyota, Activision, Jelly Belly, Casio, The Air Force, and Lexus to create strategic interactive campaigns that focus on accomplishing their business objectives. Based in Los Angeles, we’re currently in the process of expanding, and opening our second office in New York (www.zugara.com) (www.zugarastudios.com).
For more information on The Webcam Social Shopper or ZugMo Technology, please contact ar@zugara.com. For all other inquiries, please contact info@zugara.com.
Copyright 2009 ZugMo Technology
Copyright 2009 Webcam Social Shopper
Copyright 2009 Zugara Inc.
Patent Pending
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.
