Carina Rogl, Ninjar's Marketer, interviews Andrea Baldini
Andrea Baldini's Creator Story
Andrea Baldini is CEO of several companies, among others AR Market, located in Rome. Today he is sharing his story with us to inspire and help others with his knowledge.
How long have you been working with mixed reality? What made you fall in love with AR/VR?
We’re fairly new in the market, we started AR Market in June of 2018 as a spin-off of our other company Herotech Srl that works in marketing and software development.
As soon as I saw the potential of AR with the latest mobile devices it was love at first sight, the incredible and unlimited opportunities that opened up to the developers in this field are amazing! AR/MR/VR have the chance to shape the new generations, as the first videogames did in the early 90s, disrupting barriers between business sectors and enhancing knowledge through gamification and entertainment.
This technology is able to empower, engage and give the chance to innovate business, brands, lifestyles and, in general, the way we approach everyday life.
My company as an example has two souls:
On one side, we offer AR development and content creation for B2B through an App Marketplace geo-localized and free to use for end consumers offering multiple experiences. In our App any business owner, brand, industry or retailer has his own page: we consult them on how to reinvent their business or the marketing rules and we create for them personalized AR content, to drive awareness, engagement, customer retention and finally increasing revenues and ROI. More important, big value for the business is in gathering data and analytics on products and users to perform remarketing and loyalty activities.
On the other side, we are an AR/MR Publisher that creates unique experiences for entertainment and education starting with books/comics/kids topics/games/educational kits to mix all arts together in new innovative products.
The aim is to offer interactive content and revamp passion for every person in the world, using AR and in general, gamification to empower people and shape a new society with a rich awareness.
Which technology trend will have the greatest impact on our industry over the next year?
One of the tech trends which could impact the AR/VR sector will be 5G: it will improve the value and power of IOT, will give easy access to data, and will allow to create incredible experiences and work efficiency everywhere.
The world will be a smaller place allowing a different approach to how things are done. Also, AI could revolutionize the way we interact with gamification and with our everyday life: In 2020 the world will be faster and smarter thanks to these technologies and AR more than VR will be accessible for everyone with just a smartphone in their pockets.
Finally, the use of Cardboards less expensive than Hololens to experience AR content will likely impact industry and multiple fields, with the advantage to allow people to enjoy the AR content while staying connected with the real world and not taken into a completely virtual and fake environment.
What was the coolest AR/VR Project you've seen lately?
I loved Burger King’s AR advertising campaign, “Burn that AD”. We are on the edge of a revolution where advertisement can be entertainment, with a two-way communication.
They created something engaging and fun: with AR all people have to do is pointing their smartphones at one of BK direct competitors’ advertisement anywhere (paper ads or billboards) and through AR recognition the competitor’s ad goes up in flames revealing a coupon for a free Whopper. I believe there is so much to do and so many dots to connect to make the difference by creating multidisciplinary experiences using this powerful technology.
What is the biggest challenge you are facing right now in your AR/VR Project?
The first issue is to educate people to the use and benefits of AR technology: everyone has heard about AR but at the end, they don’t really know what we are talking about and what is the true value for them, the confusion between AR/VR is still an issue.
The second issue we face with our proposition is that we want to be quite horizontal in our offering to the level of complexity for working in different fields at the same time is high…..However, we strongly believe this is the right way to go as our philosophy is based on inspiring everyone to live at full their daily life everywhere and every time, to enjoy multiple experiences in an easy, fast and interactive way… at smartphone’s reach!
We are looking for partners who share our vision, to create an engaging network of experiences in order to educate people to the potential of AR technology and to the freedom that can give adding interactive, informative and engaging content to everyday life.
What tips would you offer an independent freelancer or newly created studio to land the first few clients?
Well, I would say keep it simple but not too much. Let me explain, you need to start from basic without trying to use the AR technology at its maximum potential as people need to understand how it works first before jumping in with full power and incredible things. Importantly, business owners need to understand the business application side of the AR technology to engage their clients and offer them value. We can start with simple experiences customized on a client need (ie: App menus with the possibility of seeing some AR content, before offering Hololens experiences that show the kitchen while people are waiting for the food).
Importantly, I would suggest building a great team with high-quality assets, because low budget experiences will last only in a short time.
What do you hope to get from being a part of the NINJAR Community?
Ninjar is a great opportunity for my company to share experiences and failures to foster knowledge about AR/VR/MX market. We want to build relationships across different sectors and find partners and, why not, new business opportunities. The Ninjar community is a nice window for everyone to learn, advertise, and increase the penetration of AR/VR everywhere!
Let’s shape a new world together!
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