Automotive manufacturer makes industry first with mobile app to bring brochure to life
Audi is to become the first automobile manufacturer to offer its own mobile augmented reality platform, Audi Vision, an app designed to bring brochures to life for end users. Audi Vision will initially allow users to point their mobile device at the premium car manufacturer's spring 2013 price and specification guides, and take a picture that will unlock the static pages of the brochure, triggering additional content such as video, sound, hotspots and additional pictures and text. Consumers will then be able to look under the bonnet of their chosen model, hear the engine roar, experience the ride from behind the wheel, and appreciate the bodywork from all angles, as well as boning up on the spec. Additionally, once the Audi Vision app has taken a grab from a particular brochure, it no longer requires a data connection, unlike other generic cloud-based alternative reality platforms, allowing users to personally engage with their favourite Audi wherever they go. Audi Vision will be applied across the brand's brochures, covering all models, and will become available across multiple media in the future. It has been designed exclusively for Audi by the global mobile solutions company Somo. Hugh Fletcher, national digital manager for Audi UK, said: 'Audi Vision is the most innovative digital project we've undertaken to date and most importantly it supports a key developing trend in marketing; the overlap between digital and CRM.
'Applying Audi Vision to our brochures is just the beginning. Throughout the coming years we'll be using the Vision platform across a broad spectrum of marketing channels, augmenting printed materials, digital content and in-centre collateral to allow Audi fans to really get under the skin of our cars.' Maani Safa, Somo's global innovation director, added: 'Audi is leading the way in the augmented reality sector, embracing mobile-first and placing it at the heart of its digital strategy. We are proud and excited to be helping them pioneer the next generation of digital marketing.' The free Audi Vision app is available on iOS for iPhone and iPad and Android for phones and tablets.
