Cadillac is running a new print ad campaign that animates its ATS vehicle and brings it to life as part of the company?s ongoing efforts to drive consumer interaction.
 
The company teamed up with Fallon Minneapolis on the mobile initiative. The initiative was created in partnership with Daqri and the print work adds augmented reality to the experience surrounding last year?s ATS vs. the World campaign.

?Pairing augmented reality with the ATS print campaign literally elevates the typical ad experience by bringing the car and the locations it drove to life in dramatic fashion,? said Marty Wetherall, director of innovation at Fallon Minneapolis, Minneapolis.

?Consumers who don't typically seek out a dealership or other in-person interactions can now get a feel for the ATS outside of the standard retail space,? he said.

Mobile technology
The print ad will be featured in issues of Esquire?s Big Black Book, AFAR and Vanity Fair.

Later versions will appear in additional publications throughout the spring season.

Users can scan the print ad with the updated ATS mobile application. From there, the print ad expands into a full, 3D model of the Dades Gorge in Morocco ? complete with an animated Cadillac ATS tearing through the switchbacks made famous in the 2012 TV campaign.

For the introduction of the 2013 Cadillac ATS, Cadillac and Fallon created a campaign to showcase the brand's readiness to compete on a global stage.

The ?Cadillac ATS vs. The World? campaign first debuted during the 2012 Olympics, and began with a broadcast and online video series supported by a collection of TV commercials, a microsite with longer form content, print ads and cinema events.

To make the experience more local, Cadillac created 3D chalk murals in key markets, showcasing the locations where the ATS took on specific driving challenges: Patagonia, Morocco, Monaco and China.
 
Taking the chalk mural event experience to another level, Cadillac created a companion ATS 3D mobile app for iOS and Android devices that activated an animated augmented reality version of the ATS driving the chalk-drawn roads in each location.

?We pushed the limits of augmented reality and today's smartphones to pack a virtual round-the-world tour of the toughest roads we could find into one augmented print ad experience,? Mr. Wetherall said.

?People who engage will see these locations literally grow out of their magazines, giving them an aerial view they can explore as if they were really there,? he said.

?That's not something you normally find on the printed page.?

With these new augmented reality efforts, Cadillac ATS app users will be able to tap the app to zoom in on the ATS and explore 360-degree views of the driving challenge courses in Patagonia, Morocco, Monaco and China.

Augmented reality technology is taking over the mobile space and more marketers are implementing it into their strategies to elevate consumer engagement.

?As mobile devices get better and faster, we'll continue to see augmented reality experiences that raise the bar on animation, responsiveness, and content quality past the level of anything we've seen before,? Mr. Wetherall said.

?Eventually, the app download barrier will go away, and soon we'll have wearable displays like Google Glass to make engaging with augmented reality more natural and intuitive,? he said.

?All of that is right around the corner, so get ready.?

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York