Submission

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Overview

Remedy advertises Organic Kombucha as a sugar-free and healthy alternative to fizzy drinks. They currently have over 50% of the kombucha market in ANZ (RooLife Group Ltd, 2022). This application aims to provide a proof-of-concept for novel and informative advertising using augmented reality (AR) to increase consumer engagement and attract new buyers, particularly in the Chinese market.

Application Description

In December of 2021, Remedy expanded its products into China through distributor RooLife Group Ltd (RooLife Group Ltd, 2022). Coincidentally, the AR market in China has rapidly grown in recent years (Daxue Consulting China, 2021) and is projected to achieve significant growth in the next few years (Ma Si, 2023). By using AR marketing, shown to improve consumers’ opinion of brands and products compared to traditional advertising (DuLiu and Wang, 2022), Remedy could capitalize on the growing AR market to expand its brand in China.

The AR application runs on a phone and allows users to interact with the Remedy brand and their products by using their phone’s camera to track the product. When tracking the product, additional information and advertisements are displayed such as nutritional information, key advertisement messages, and community features (e.g. reviews or testimonials).

Interaction Design

Remedy’s advertising strategy posits them as a competitor not just in the fermented drinks market, but in the entire fizzy drink market. In 2019 they ran an ad campaign stating that they wanted "to challenge soft drinks’ place as the typical summer refreshment” (Wilkinson, 2019). To incorporate this philosophy in the AR application, a key interaction would be the ability to compare nutritional information between Remedy’s products and other fizzy drinks. This would help target consumers who are trying to make healthy dietary choices by providing an interaction that would regularly engage them with the product and the brand.

The interactions implemented in the application are:

Advertisements and information appear around the product when pointed at by the user’s camera, including video and images.

Future revisions of the application could include:

Nutrition comparison between Remedy drinks and other drinks (sugar content, highlighting natural vs synthetic ingredients).
Product reviews/testimonials.
Link to website/product webpage.

Storyboard of a potential use case of the application:

Technical Development

The application was tested on Android 13 (One UI 5.1) using a Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G.

The application uses cylinder tracking in Vuforia to track the product. To engage with the product, hold it in view of the camera of the phone and panels will appear around the product with the information about the product.

Description of 3D Models

Kombucha Image target

This is the cylinder target used to track the kombucha can in the app. The target was generated and tracked using the Vuforia Engine

UI Images

These icons, the nutritional information, and the video advertisement are how the user is delivered information about the product.

Image Target Raw Photo

References

Bibliography

DAXUE CONSULTING CHINA. 2021. How Augmented reality (AR) in China is finding its way into retail [Online]. Available: https://daxueconsulting.com/augmented-reality-in-china-is-becoming-a-reality/ [Accessed 2023].

DU, Z., LIU, J. & WANG, T. 2022. Augmented Reality Marketing: A Systematic Literature Review and an Agenda for Future Inquiry. Front Psychol, 13, 925963.

MA SI. 2023. Growth a big reality for AR, VR domestic market [Online]. China Daily. Available: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202301/11/WS63bdeee6a31057c47eba8d4d.html [Accessed 2023].

ROOLIFE GROUP LTD. 2022. Remedy - Launching Remedy Drinks online and offline in China. [Online]. Available: https://roolifegroup.com.au/case-studies/remedy/ [Accessed 2023].

WILKINSON, Z. 2019. Remedy Drinks challenges the ‘glamour’ of sugary drinks in a bid to end their ‘domination of summer’ [Online]. Available: https://mumbrella.com.au/remedy-drinks-challenges-the-glamour-of-sugary-drinks-in-a-bid-to-end-their-domination-of-summer-608197 [Accessed 2023].