Trend Alert: Augmented Reality

Sports fans are always looking for new ways to interact with their favorite teams and their favorite players. For the past few years sports teams and associated products have been using augmented reality to give fans this new experience that they crave. Augmented reality is, in short, incorporating aspects of a virtual world into the real world.

EA Sports and ESPN have teamed up to create EA Sports GameView. This technology allows analysts to interact with virtual players to show players’ techniques and provide insight into the game.

Red Bull has joined in the game with their interactive racetrack experience. Racing fans can use the Red Bull cans to create their own track, anywhere. You simply scan one can and then scan in the position of the rest of your cans and you can have own customized track on which to race.

The English soccer team, Manchester City, won the FA Cup in 2011 and wanted to give their fans a chance to celebrate with the players. They have created an app where fans can lift the cup with the team. They hope that this will keep a buzz about the win and help the fans maintain excitement about the team. 

Adidas has done this with the creation of new soccer shirts for the Scottish national team in Glasgow. They set up a screen and footprints in a shopping center and when someone stood on the footprints they could interact with players, attempt to kick a goal, take pictures and view the new shirt. They have also done this with a style of their shoes. The shoe comes with a code on the tongue, which when held up to a computers webcam, allows the shoe owner access to a virtual neighborhood, with games and competitions.

I am sure that we can expect to see a lot more augmented reality experiences popping up within the next year. With this growing technology the possibilities are endless and it will be up to the companies to create more creative and fun and interactive experiences for their users and fans.

*Be sure to click the links for videos and a better understanding of the augmented reality experience!*