'An amazing blank canvas': Jeremy Cox of R/GA on the power of AR for brand storytelling

AR represents a new frontier for brands to connect with consumers in exciting and novel ways. To push the boundaries of what's possible in this emerging medium, Meta paired top creative agencies with advanced technical AR creators. In this Q&A series, the AR Proving Grounds, Meta Foresight sat with participating agencies to learn what it was like building in AR and working with creators.

When Jeremy Cox, group creative director at R/GA, looks at augmented reality (AR), he sees an amazing blank canvas. It's the only medium that allows different interactive elements – visuals, sounds and even movements – to be combined and put into real-life spaces. This enables people to truly become part of the experience and opens up powerful opportunities for brand storytelling.

Cox saw the possibilities of AR in action earlier this year when R/GA partnered with a creator to develop an effect for iconic American guitar maker Fender. The AR effect creates a virtual guitar overlaid atop a user's physical space, which can be strummed thanks to a new motion-based interface.

Meta Foresight recently chatted with Cox about the effort, which was part of a Meta programme that paired top creative agencies with advanced technical AR creators. Cox spoke about what it was like working with a creator to develop the experience, why AR can be a valuable tool for brand storytelling and what he thinks the future holds for AR.

Jeremy Cox: The AR activation came from the Fender Stratoverse, a Horizon Worlds mixed reality experience we were developing. We started with Horizon Worlds and ideated there. Augmented reality wasn't initially part of the plan, but we had an 'aha' moment where we realised: "Oh, we can do this too!"

The AR activation drove to the Horizon Worlds experience through an AR ad, so figuring out how to connect the two was interesting. The AR creator, Florian Sabatier, founder of AR studio Holowisp, was at the heart of that – a lot of how it all came to life was because of him. It was amazing to see what he could do within the short timelines and technical constraints to create something truly engaging.

Sabatier didn't duplicate the Horizon Worlds experience – he adapted it in a way that leveraged the power of AR. And, for a brand like Fender, audio is such a big component, which made this unique. He did a fantastic job thinking through not only how to create an AR experience visually, but how to bring audio into it in a compelling way.

For me, working on this was a dream come true. I've been playing guitar since I was 12, and we got to come up with a completely new way for people to do it. I'm sure you can make AR experiences that are very serious, but we wanted to create a mini playground that would allow people to have fun and encourage discovery. That playfulness was the most inspirational part for me; the experience we created was pure fun.

JC: This was my second time working with AR, and what stands out is that it's different from how most brands advertise today. Typically that's a linear story – you're just an observer. AR invites you into the conversation; it makes you part of the story. You can shape it and interact with it in ways that you can't interact with video and static ads. Because of that interactivity, your engagement level really increases.

The fact that AR is visual, auditory and even tactile is really interesting; it's a huge opportunity to create interactive spaces from an amazing blank canvas. You can shape an experience based on the story that you want to tell, the product you want to promote and actually place it in somebody's world. So, all of a sudden, it's not just on your phone, it's now in the space around you. That's something you can't do with any other medium.

JC: We're seeing a shift in how this technology is being used from a purely entertainment experience to more utilitarian cases. First consideration is to make sure that AR is appropriate for what you want to accomplish. Don't just use it because you can, use it because it uniquely delivers on your campaign goals and reaches the right audience with the right experience.

If AR is a fit, ensure the end-to-end user experience is fluid, seamless and simple. Even the greatest AR experiences aren't going to be successful if people aren't compelled to interact with them or don't know how to take the next step once they have.

Lastly, find an AR dev partner that has a proven track record of innovating in the AR space – an AR creator that pushes the limits of what can be done with AR and that understands how to balance depth of interaction and fidelity of experience with technical limitations and file size constraints.

JC: I think as the technical side evolves, as things like the fluidity of interactions in AR continue to get better, the experiences will become more realistic, engaging and interesting. That'll open up even more opportunities for brands to play in the space. And it will make AR less of a novelty and make it something that can truly help drive a campaign or drive a product forwards. That'll encourage more brands to dive in and really push the medium forwards.

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