Augmented Interactivity

Paper presented at ICORIA 2021 conference. The augmented reality (AR) technology allows brands to integrate messages into the consumers’ world in an interactive way. This study explores the effects of ad interactivity generated via an AR feature on consumers’ engagement and attitudes towards the ad and the brand. We conducted two online experiments using an animated banner ad and an ad with an AR element. Experiment 1 used the A/B test tool of Facebook and showed that the AR ad led to more engagement with the post in general than the control ad, and more users watched the whole ad. Experiment 2 used a set of self-reported questions and demonstrated that the control ad is superior in some marketing metrics. The results revealed that the effectiveness of an AR ad in a real-life setting seems to be linked to enabling consumers to interact with the AR element or, at least, to give them this possibility