The 40 ft X 15 ft life-sized billboard is located near Fair Exports, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram
Bengaluru: Multinational conglomerate Lulu Group became the first in Kerala to put up an augmented reality (AR) billboard for its marketing activities, according to the company’s post on Linkedin. The 40 ft X 15 ft life-sized billboard was put up near Fair Exports at Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram went live on the 3rd of July.
It was used to promote Lulu Group’s special 50% discount offer on several products including high-priced consumer durables from 6 July to 9 July across at its malls. The discounts were part of the ongoing end-of-season sales (EOSS) across malls that began on 1 July. While the EOSS ends on 23 July, the billboard was removed after the 50% offer ended.
Augmented reality billboards carry hidden advertising content which is revealed by following links mentioned or scanning QR codes found on the billboard. These often include motion pictures.
On the AR billboard in Thiruvananthapuram, the discounted prices of products were marked as XXXX. When consumers scanned the QR code, the visuals came to life and the Xs turned into the actual prices of the products.
“We wanted the customers to have a unique experience. Therefore, we integrated elements of AR, which is a filter on the billboard. It allows consumers to scan the large QR code under the products to reveal prices,” said Ashil Sam, digital marketing coordinator at Lulu Mall, Thiruvananthapuram, in an exclusive interaction with IndiaRetailing.
“We developed this in less than 12 days,” he added. “The concept behind the whole project was to build an element of surprise and its goal was purely promotional.”
Lulu Group partnered with Kerala-based digital agency Whale Corp Media to bring the project to life.
“The billboard witnessed around 5000 to 8000 scans,” revealed Sam.
Apart from engaging customers, the other advantage of the AR billboard according to Sam is that once the billboard is printed, the prices can be changed dynamically from the backend. “There is no need for re-printing,” Sam added.
Recently, the Abu-Dhabi headquartered group also used AR in a newspaper advertisement for the first time in Kerala to promote its EOSS. The ad appeared on the front page of the 6th of July Thiruvananthapuram edition of Malayala Manorama, a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala.
“LuLu Group India’s end-of-season sale promotion took innovation to the next level by seamlessly blending the real and virtual worlds through a QR code featured on July’s 6th Thiruvananthapuram edition of Malayala Manorama Co. Ltd.,” Lulu Group said in a LinkedIn post about the ad while sharing pictures of the advertisement.
“This is just a start. Bigger, more refined and polished projects are coming up,” added Sam.
While Lulu Group introduced the first AR billboard in Kerala, this is not the first innovation in tech-based marketing in Kerala. Recently, Kerala’s first 3D billboard was launched in Kochi at Q1 Mall by Nippon, Palarivattom.
In December 2022, footwear retailer Bata India also launched a 3D billboard in Bengaluru at Garuda Mall to become the first footwear brand in India to bring the disruptive format of 3D OOH advertising to the country.
