In B2B communication, more and more companies are recognizing the potential of the virtual representation of products. However, there are still big questions when it comes to the correct implementation: A look at the market shows that today it is easier than ever to make your own product “tangible”.
AR HeartCenter Solution app at the Siemens Healthineers measuring stand (Image: mld digits)
[Hinweis der Redaktion: der Artikel stammt von Dezember 2019.]
If you first look around in B2C marketing, you will find AR applications and tools for content creation and viewing. Augmented Reality is already part of our everyday life. What began, for example, with virtual cat ears and brightly colored cheeks on Snapchat, ended up in Snap’s Lens Studio, which enables every user to create their own individual “AR applications” with just a few clicks and to share them with their own community. Above all, the technology suggests to the end user that it only takes a few clicks to create, for example, a dreary office landscape with a smartphone into a fantasy world by designing your own 2D or 3D objects and using them as augmented reality content .
In theory, anyone can develop an AR app today. The fact that the practice looks different is shown by the still low prevalence of such applications, especially in the B2B area. If you are looking for examples of success, you will end up with nice gimmicks from the big tech and entertainment groups. The US pay TV provider HBO launched the first branded AR lens via Snapchat for their hit series “Game of Thrones”. New York passers-by were able to watch an undead ice dragon perch on the roof of the famous Flatiron Building.
AR and VR in B2B can do more
In the B2B area, the use of AR and VR is currently still in its infancy. Manufacturing, industry and many medium-sized companies often don’t even think of using augmented reality for their marketing. But the potential is enormous.
A study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied InformationTechnology (FIT) predicts a bright future for AR and VR, even with a conservative assessment of the market potential. According to this, companies in Germany should spend around 840 million euros on virtual, augmented or mixed reality by the end of 2020. Interesting here: only a comparatively small part flows into the hardware. This fundamentally differentiates the B2B market from the consumer segment, in which device sales currently make up the largest share. In the B2B area, a large part of the turnover is accounted for by development, licensing and maintenance, since every project, every order requires individual implementation.
But the effort is worth it. This is shown by countless use cases in which the benefits become very concrete. The real-time production company mld digits provides two examples: In addition to the complex internal structure of metering diaphragm pumps and process pumps, the Munich developers also digitized a complete heart center including the medical devices, some of which weigh tons, for diagnosis, imaging and therapy of heart diseases in an AR app. In this way, the respective manufacturers were able to demonstrate their devices at trade fairs around the world without having to physically transport them from show to show at high costs – and incidentally to a more positive CO2– Contribute to the balance sheet!
AR-HeartCenter-Solution-App (Image: mld digits)
CAD data keep costs low
Many marketing departments are already using Snapchat & Co. today: The communicative benefit rarely exceeds the short-lived “aha effect”. Today it would be easier than ever to make your own product “tangible” at relatively low costs. The basis for this is formed by data that is mostly already available anyway: CAD data from development that result in a detailed image of a product that is true to the original. This already lays the foundation for a solid AR real-time application. The CAD data are already available within the development department and only need to be made “usable” for marketing.
The big advantage: Once developed, AR, VR or XR applications can then continue to be used with a steadily increasing ROI and expanded with additional content and new features.
LEWA product presentation using the AR app (Image: mld digits)
Use construction data efficiently for your own marketing
In general, CAD (Computer Aided Design) means the computer-aided design of a product, often directly in 3D. However, in order to be able to use the necessary CAD data for marketing presentations in real time for augmented reality, virtual reality or as an interactive application, you need someone who has the expertise to reduce the often very complex technical surface and functional descriptions to the desired Functions and materials can be correctly represented and presented at the end.
Because the final visual quality of the animations depends essentially on the preparation of the CAD data and the reduction to the correct “setup”. Then even the most complex products can be clearly demonstrated via 3D representation, because you get a completely different insight into the “inner workings”.
Specialists know how to further develop CAD data in a structured manner for AR applications. It is not only crucial to develop a meaningful hierarchy of the individual components, but also to pursue the highest possible level of detail, which in particular takes into account the technical limitations of the desired target platform (iPad, PC, Mobile, GearVR, HTC Vive, etc.). Of course, always with the proviso that certain parts can be optimized, simplified or combined.
Existing CAD data from product development are optimally used for marketing and form the basis for a number of interactive applications on all possible platforms. Such a solution requires a higher initial investment than all the “do-it-yourself” apps on the market. On the other hand, they provide real added value for your own marketing and, thanks to their longevity and expandability, a guaranteed and, above all, fast ROI.
About the author:
Philipp Hellmann, co-founder of the real-time production company mld digits GmbH (Image: mld digits)
Philipp Hellmann is co-founder of the real-time production company mld digits gmbh and, as Head of Production, leads the team through marketing projects in the age of AR, VR and real-time visualizations. After successfully studying “Digital Animation” at the SAE Institute in Munich in 2006, Hellmann worked for a long time as a freelance artist in the game, film, advertising, and visualization industries and as a lecturer.
