The State of Augmented Reality Advertising Around The Globe: A Multi-Cultural Content Analysis

As a new form of advertising, augmented reality (AR) advertising offers a unique opportunity to study how new technology-facilitated ad campaigns are constructed across cultures. This research analyzes the content of 117 AR ad campaign videos uploaded on YouTube, and reveals the prevalent characteristics of AR campaigns. We compared videos from individualistic countries with those from collectivistic countries. Results suggest that AR ad campaigns from more individualistic cultures tend to include product information and enable a user to control the virtual AR content, whereas AR ad campaigns from more collectivistic cultures tend to allow a user to become part of the virtual AR content without manipulating it. In closing, we discuss managerial implications for marketers and advertisers as well as opportunities for future research.