We’ve all heard about virtual reality ad nauseum, and quite frankly I thought it would be a lot cooler and part of our everyday lives by now (at least if we believed what all the sci-fi movies told us our “now” would be like). However, a pretty amazing tech that’s soon to hit a smartphone near you is called Augmented Reality.  Our new copywriter turned me on to this website, and then three days later the New York Times reporter Leslie Berlin wrote a story about it called “Kicking Reality Up a Notch.”

Basically, Augmented Reality is when the real world is overlaid with virtual information, and the example using Layar is pretty darn cool.  Utilizing their tech, it is possible for you to hold your phone up and view through the screen the streetscape in front of you — except that Layar lays on top of your real-time view all sorts of information about ATM locations, nightclubs nearby, houses for sale, etc.  All this is shown by pointers on your phone screen with proximity details, walking/driving directions, and even links to call businesses you can see from your phone directly.

THIS IS MIND BLOWING – check it out:

No more directory assistance, no fumbling with google maps or GPS or FindIt or any of the other tons of applications we all access on our phones every day. You just hold your phone up, and the information around you automatically pops onto your screen.

Another example is Wikitude, which allows the user to view information through his mobile screen about nearby landmarks, points of interest, and I’m sure ultimately, tourism destinations, hotels and restaurants that advertise on the wikitude “network.” Wikitude’s site says they are coming to an iPhone near me, and my shiny new 3G and I cannot wait!

The ramifications for advertisers is staggering.  Our clients in the retail, hospitality and real estate categories are prime candidates to benefit from such a marketing tool – being able to target people in the immediate neighborhood as they search to fill their needs is an incredible advantage. Marketers could target users by geography, by interest, even by demographic/psychographic profiles (ooh, how big brother). But seriously, how cool would it be to get an offer from a pizza joint with a $5 coupon that you and they both know is only a 2 block walk?

All of the examples of this technology I have been able to find are currently only available in European cities and in beta-test circumstances. Just give it a few months, and I’m sure we’ll see it in action right here.

Mobile marketing is changing our lives forever — and it’s pretty darn cool, in a sci-fi kind of way.