AR platform startup GoldRun debuts its augmented reality app today with a virtual fashion show featuring selections from H&M's fall/winter collection - part of the 10-year anniversary celebrations for CondeNast's Style.com.
The GoldRun app, available for free from the Appstore, launches with an H&M promotion that allows iPhone users to view, interact with and take pictures of virtual H&M apparel and accessories in front of any of the fashion retailer's 10 Manhattan locations. Users simply select the items they want to view and then "capture" them by snapping a picture to receive an instant 10% discount on any H&M purchase. Through GoldRun, shoppers will be able to virtually try on outfits, take photographs, and post these images to Facebook to create their own personal look books.
Mobile Media Buy
A pioneering approach to location-based marketing, GoldRun combines the visual impact of augmented reality and the precision of GPS to deliver virtual goods, user rewards and interactive advertising in the form of social media games, virtual guides, couponing and loyalty programs.
"After a decade of developing digital media campaigns for top tier brands and recognizing the explosion in smartphone sales and increasing interest in location-based marketing, I realized there was a need for a new type of media buy, one tailored for the mobile space," said Vivian Rosenthal, CEO of GoldRun.
"The Goldrun platform is agile, responsive, and context sensitive. More cost-effective and easier to implement than private-label apps, GoldRun responds to a specific user's personal tastes."
"Conceived and designed as a flexible, fun and user-friendly platform, GoldRun integrates and transforms brand-driven and user-generated content into dynamic experiences that bridge virtual and physical space," said Shai Rao, vice president of Creative for GoldRun, and former executive editor of Surface magazine. "Everyone will love how GoldRun provides a more diverse and engaging user experience. Marketers specifically will appreciate the ability to subtly deliver brand messaging through compelling game-like experiences that also provide immediate and relevant user rewards."
Hyper-Localized Programs
A focused place-based media buy, GoldRun helps brands, ad agencies and organizations create highly targeted, hyper-localized activities, or "runs," that people can select and participate in using their smartphones. "Our platform translates what brands love about the internet - trackable ROI, on-the-go data collection, performance-baed fee structures - and transplants this system into the real world," said Rosenthal. "You can reach target audiences anywhere they use their cell phones, and more importantly when they are most interested in interacting with a brand or purchasing a product."