Top 5 XR

and AI

marketing

trends in

2023

Here's what's in store

for marketers as

rapid advances in

extended reality and

artificial intelligence

disrupt the industry.

Recently, I had a panic attack

brought on by a sort-of existential

crisis. It’s the first time, maybe

ever, that I was so flooded with

excitement (and anxiety) over

technological advances that I

needed to pause. My recent trip

to Augmented World Expo (AWE),

the world’s largest extended

reality conference, triggered

AI-induced anxiety. I experienced

the latest AI-enabled tools and

technologies that will transform

how we interact with the world

around us.

Rapidly disrupting our personal

and professional environments

like a runaway train, AI is poised

to be more impactful than the

internet. While such rapid change

can cause us to fear the unknown,

it can also fill us with wonder and

awe as we imagine a future where

many of our biggest challenges

have been solved. As a society,

we need to collectively hit the

pause button and work out how

to harness this technology

ethically and responsibly.

I’m happy to report groups like

GatherVerse actively have these

difficult conversations as we

speak. In the meantime, I’m

taking some deep, conscious

breaths and focusing on the

positive implications of these

tools and how they are helping us

become better communicators.

Here are my top five extended

reality (XR) and artificial

intelligence (AI) takeaways from

AWE for 2023 and beyond.

1. There will be an AI for that!

AI advances are astounding.

Almost overnight, tools have been

created to do most of what I

teach my communications

students. We must understand,

embrace and learn how to

incorporate these tools into our

work ethically.

Keeping up with these tools is

impossible.However, an AI-driven

website now aggregates all these

tools, categorizes them and

demonstrates the true magnitude

of the AI tsunami upon us. There’s

An AI For That houses AI tools for

everything from finding an AI

soulmate to virtual CMOs and

everything in between. Think

social media management,

marketing briefs, email campaigns

and, of course, content.

I have been testing many of these

tools and the capabilities are

impressive! With the right tools,

you can build, design, write copy

for, optimize and publish an entire

website with a fully populated

blog in under two hours. I’ve been

writing about these tools in my

monthly XR/AI Marketing Brief.

While the benefits of using AI for

practical marketing tasks, like

writing blog posts or emails, are

apparent, the true power of these

new tools is the ability to scale

personalization. And I’m not just

talking about swapping out

images on a landing page based

on a user’s buying history. We’re

heading toward a future where

everyone can have an AI assistant,

tutor, mentor, companion,

professor, fitness trainer, therapist

or consultant trained on their

unique needs, learning style and

preferences.

The most inspiring session at the

AWE this year (2023) was about

scaling this type of personalized

learning and was presented by

Monica Ares, head of immersive

learning at Meta. She skillfully

outlined the true potential of AI to

dramatically impact how we learn,

teach and educate. You can watch

her entire presentation on

AWE’s YouTube channel; it’s not

to be missed.

A great example of this type of

personalized learning was one of

the most talked about apps at

AWE called Wol. The project

features an AI-enabled talking owl

that delivers an entertaining and

educational presentation that’s

always unique. Accessible via

Meta’s latest Quest Pro headset,

Meta Quest 2 devices and iOS

and Android smartphones, Wol

presents the future of education

and marketing — personalized

learning experiences. AI-enabled

characters will allow audiences to

guide their own experience and

become active participants

instead of passive consumers of

content.

The advances in AI technology

allow a company to effectively

scale personalization, bringing

down the costs and resources

required to deliver personalized

learning, training and branded

content. You can learn more

about Wol on Niantic’s website

and try it at meetwol.com.

Dig deeper: XR + AI: 5 tools

driving today’s content revolution

2. Coming soon — an AI version of

you!

That’s right. You will soon be

confronted with the existential

question of how to live when you

can be in two places

simultaneously. Celebrities are

already selling their AI-enabled

likenesses to brands and studios,

allowing them to take on more

work and profit from walking,

talking, life-like versions of

themselves.

These AI doubles won’t be just

for the rich and famous. Those

with enough cash can create AI-

driven versions of themselves

that can stand in on virtual

meetings, write and respond to

emails, attend virtual conferences,

star in social media posts and so

much more. I must admit that I

would love an AI version of

myself that could stand in for me

and instruct my early morning on

line spin class. And why not? I

have loads of videos, playlists

and other data that could train it

how to be a much better spin

instructor than I can ever be.

If this concept sounds far-

fetched, there’s already an AI for

that! Founder and COO of XR

agency, Exclusible, Olivier

Moingeon, is working on a new

company to help you create your

AI double. Doppl.ai is currently

being developed, but you can join

the waitlist and be among the

first to try it.

Moingeon discussed Doppl and

his recently launched and wildly

successful Hugo Boss metaverse

quest during the XR Pub Crawl for

marketing and communications.

You can watch the full interview

on my YouTube channel, and

Moingeon will return to the pub

crawl this fall once Doppl.ai has

launched.

3. 3D content made simple

Generative AI is the hottest thing

to hit our industry since the

internet. Seriously, it’s that big of

a deal. Anyone can now create

beautiful images, videos, articles,

3D worlds, 3D products and more

within seconds. These

capabilities are being used by

about 80% of creative agencies

and are turning the old model of

copyrighted content on its head.

Currently, AI-generated content is

not protected by U.S. copyright

laws, so anyone can use that

content if you use a tool like Midj-

ourney to create an image. The

court rulings on this stuff are

changing by the minute, and

we’re nowhere near a conclusion.

Read Built In’s “AI-Generated

Content and Copyright Law:

What We Know” for a more

nuanced perspective on AI and

lots of cool tools to help us create

3D content. Curie is a practical

tool that uses AI to turn your 2D

images quickly and cheaply into

3D content. They are creating

libraries of 3D products for

brands such as New Balance,

Adidas, Vans, Gucci and many

others. Their website boasts an

80% reduction in production time

for your 3D assets and 94%

increase in conversion rates, a.k.a.

sales, after a customer has

engaged with your 3D item. You

can visit their website to request

a demo and get pricing

information.

If you are looking for a more

creative application of 3D content,

then EyeJack is a great fit. The

founders of EyeJack are

responsible for the award-winning

AR campaign, Breonna’s Garden,

which is one of my all-time

favorite AR experiences. They

provide artists with plug-and-play

tools that bring their artwork to

life in 3D. They combine

immersive and 3D moving artwork

with audio to create a truly

memorable experience.

They just launched their newest

offering, EyeJack X, an inter-

operable XR platform that allows

content creators to create, share

and sell their XR content. These

interactive, cube-like, 3D platforms

are easy to update with content

and can be deployed as AR

content in the real world or a fully

immersive virtual world.

4. Hardware transcends the headset

slump

How all this AI-enabled 3D

content will be consumed is still

an open question, as headset

sales have been woefully

disappointing to those wanting

VR to go mainstream (Meta). We

all know that the masses won’t

be stumbling around with current-

day headsets as they are heavy

and block out the real world.

That’s all about to change. Apple’s

announcement of their spatial OS,

Vision Pro, provided a glimpse of

a future where a headset or AR

glasses can allow users to

engage with 3D content and see

the world around them. What has

been hailed as the holy grail by

analysts for years, the mixed-

reality headset is on the way. I

don’t believe this first version of

Apple’s AR headset will go main-

stream, but I do trust Apple to test

and learn quickly, eventually

bringing to market eyewear for

the masses.

There are also many start-ups

building compelling hardware

prototypes. One of the most

promising is the AR Laptop, which

I got to demo at AWE. A partner-

ship between XREAL AR glasses

and Sightful, this new laptop

allows users to simply put on a

pair of lightweight glasses and be

immersed in a 3D virtual desktop

with multiple windows and

screens. Ever wish you could

travel with your double-monitor

desktop set-up? Well, for a $2,000

investment, now you can.

Like Apple’s AR glasses, this first

version of the AR laptop isn’t

ready for prime time, but it’s a

huge step forward in hardware

that will eventually support 3D

computing and content

consumption.

5. Scaling XR experiences enabled by

immersive ad units

Your paid media and

programmatic campaigns no

longer have to be boring 2D

videos or, worse yet, images.

With the help of publication

platforms like Undertone, you can

create entertaining and interactive

ad units that can be delivered

at scale.

The example above for Target

shows how audio and simple

interactivity can provide an

engaging and immersive

experience with a smartphone.

Undertone has a creative studio

that helps brands build these

types of experiences and a

syndication network that

amplifies them with paid media.

Super smart!

You can also work with social

network and gaming platforms,

building fun and immersive

experiences in the native

environment. Snapchat is a great

place to start if you’re looking to

engage 15- to 25-year-olds and

are new to XR. The most popular

age group on Snapchat is those

ages 15-25, as they make up

roughly half of all users,

according to Hootsuite.

Snapchat’s advertiser offerings

are compelling, and their AR

mirror was on-site at AWE

engaging attendees. The

Snapchat studio provides brands

with a global, turnkey solution for

creating engaging AR mobile

experiences that can be used by

millions of users worldwide.

Connecting with your audience

through XR

So, are you as excited (and

terrified) as I am about the future

of marketing and

communications? Remember,

you are not alone on this

unprecedented journey.

The more enlightened AI version

of myself would remind us all:

“Great things in business are

never done by one person.

They’re done by a team of people.”

Healthy wealth

Friday, October 18, 2024

A.I & XR