GOAT sneaker shop kicks up AR, location-based marketing for Black Friday

Brief:

GOAT, the secondary marketplace for authenticated shoes, will add an augmented reality (AR) experience to its annual Black Friday raffle. The company is giving away more than 1,000 prizes including a $10,000 grand prize in credit toward future shoe purchases, according to a statement.
Participants can earn extra raffle tickets for visiting more than 125 points of interest that are significant to sneaker culture, such as "Sneaker Street" in Hong Kong and a location in Armenia where the oldest known leather shoe (5,500 years old) was discovered. App users will receive notifications when they're near a featured point and can then activate and share the AR objects on social media to redeem the bonus drawing entries.
The shareable AR experience, created through Apple's ARKit, includes five 3D models of interactive objects that superimpose a "Greatest Of All Time" graphic on the real world through a smartphone camera. Sneaker fans can enter the the Nov. 23 drawing by downloading the GOAT app and clicking on the "GOAT Black Friday" tab at the bottom of the screen.

Insight:

GOAT's Black Friday promotion this year adds a new dimension of interactivity with AR features that urge customers to perform actions like visiting geofenced sites or sharing their experiences on social media to increase their chances of winning shoes and other prizes. The campaign likely will help to drive foot traffic to participating brick-and-mortar locations like Flight Club, the shoe retailer that merged with GOAT in February to combine their mobile, web and retail shopping experiences. Other sites to visit places made famous by top athletes such as Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Muhammad Ali and Wayne Gretzky.

The Black Friday effort comes as AR technology continues to transform the creative strategies and promotions of retailers, especially in the shoe industry. Adidas Originals last week debuted an AR feature at ComplexCon that let attendees buy sought-after shoes such as the Dragon Ball Z collaboration. To claim the sneakers, attendees could download the ComplexCon app that sent information on where to go to "Unlock the Drop." After reaching the drop location, iOS or Android app users could point their smartphone cameras at AR-powered "Adidas Pick Up Spot" signs and follow instructions on how to select a size and complete the transaction. The final step was to reach a designated locker at the convention center to pick up their new kicks.

Worldwide spending on augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technology will grow 71.6% a year from 2017 to 2022, according to the International Data Corporation. Spending on AR/VR products and services is forecast to reach $27 billion this year, a 92% increase from 2017. The consumer industry will be the biggest source of spending on AR/VR products and services, reaching $53 billion by 2022, followed by spending in the retail, discrete manufacturing and transportation industries, IDC estimated.