Marketers are just beginning to explore what augmented reality can do for their campaign and brands. However new research - along with some speculation - suggests that the promise this technology holds is only just beginning to unfold.

Consider what the technology can do once it is able to recognize the signal of nearby smart tags, the advanced RFID tags. "Initially a way to work around imprecise GPS, smart tags now are used primarily to provide AR data, either to give pinpoint information - in a store, for example - or to add an AR layer to something that moved around frequently, like a vehicle… or clothing," writes Fast Company.

Fast Company does an excellent job describing this future world: "It's 2020, and at least half the people you pass on the street have some kind of Augmented Reality device in operation. Most of them use "arglasses," which look like a normal pair of eyewear, with again-trendy thick frames. Some still use a handheld system… A handful have opted for the fancy new digital contact lenses, with all of the AR capability of arglasses but none of the bulk."

In this scenario that Fast Company paints, the technology is used purely for fun - a staid black dress is augmented as a diamond-encrusted ball gown for viewers with the supporting devices.

But given how quickly marketers are adopting AR, it is easy to envision uses in which this advanced technology can promote a brand. Such a development is not inevitable, Fast Company also said. "It would require a couple of big developments that aren't here yet: wearable AR systems that don't make you look like a dork; ubiquitous RFID-style tags that can actually hold a fairly large amount of data; and a display standard so that every AR system translates a data signal into the same look. All of these are more than plausible, but certainly not inevitable."

Already There?

Certainly the current iterations of AR suggest this is the track we are on.  Shoe designer Adidas recently used augmented reality to promote its brand - but unlike other AR marketing endeavors, Adidas embeded the code directly into the tongue of the shoe. Consumers hold the shoe in front of a webcam, and the code then gives access to an area on Adidas' website that has a series of interactive games in which the shoe actually becomes the game controller. Adidas developed a series of five shoe styles, with the first having debuted Feb. 15.

In another recent example fashion brand Benetton is using AR to entice consumers to try out to become a model for the edgy fashion line. It took its search online using augmented reality technology that allows viewers to become part of the campaign.

$732 Million

Jupiter Research also believes more dynamic AR uses will unfold - the consulting firm recently predicted that mobile AR sales will reach $732 million by 2014, writes MarketingCharts.

In its recent report "Mobile Augmented Reality: Forecasts, Applications & Opportunity Appraisal 2009-2014," Juniper defines mobile AR applications as devices that use cameras, GPS finders, broadband connectivity, tilt sensors, and a digital compass to provide layers of metadata about a user’s surroundings.

The devices detect physical objects which have been geotagged, either by 2-D barcode or markerless tracker/image recognition, and provides a digital overlay with a link to metadata. AR technology has been used by the aircraft industry since the 1990s, but a recognizable consumer market only emerged last year. Juniper estimates about 20 consumer-facing mobile AR applications currently exist, with sales this year expected to reach only about $2 million.