Dive Brief:

• With more than 100 agencies, including SapientNitro APAC, as its launch partners, augmented reality company Blippar is opening up its proprietary augmented reality and computer vision APIs to the public, according to a release.

• The APIs enable any developer, ad agency or even consumer to design and create AR experiences across gaming, advertising, design and more. 

• The self-service AR suite is called Blippbuilder and includes a basic level with drag-and-drop tools that requires no coding to build AR experiences as well as a more advanced level that uses JavaScript. 

Dive Insight:

While AR has been around for a few years, the viral popularity of the Pokemon Go game this summer suggests the technology is primed for broader use. Blippar, which has been working with agencies and marketers to build AR experiences for several years, hopes that by opening up its platform, it will be in a position to benefit as demand grows. 

Both virtual reality and AR have been hot topics in 2016, but there is debate over which technology will have the most immediate impact. Some industry insiders, such as Apple’s Tim Cook, believe AR has the bigger near-term potential. By bridging digital and real-world experiences, AR has the potential to help marketers offer exciting experiences that drive engagement.

Blippar is well-positioned to take advantage of the growing market for AR-driven experiences. The company has been developing the technology in-house for the past five years, working with marketers like Porsche, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble during this time.

For agencies, they can use Blippbuilder to build AR experiences that tell a brand story or support shopper marketing, integrating the kind of advanced technological solutions that their brand clients are looking for. The development represents another advance for AR's use in the marketing world.