Revolutionizing Brand Engagement with Augmented Reality

The Real Scavenger Hunt Campaign Case Study

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, brands must go beyond traditional marketing to capture the attention and imagination of their audiences. Augmented Reality (AR) offers a solution — immersive, interactive, and highly engaging. In June of 2024, Baato Maps embarked on a mission to revolutionize how brands in Nepal connect with consumers. The result? Nepal’s first-ever AR-driven marketing campaign: the Real Scavenger Hunt, in partnership with Real Fruit Power and executed with the creative brilliance of Happy Works.

This case study explores the campaign’s execution, its extraordinary results, and the promising future AR marketing holds for brands.

Campaign Objectives

The Real Scavenger Hunt had clear and ambitious goals:

• Use AR technology to market Real Fruit Power products in a way that was engaging and innovative.
• Enhance brand recall and build meaningful, lasting brand associations through an immersive experience.
• Align with Dabur Nepal’s sponsorship of Miss Nepal 2024, tying the campaign into broader brand narratives.
• Explore new frontiers in audience engagement by appealing to a tech-savvy, younger demographic (up to 30 years old).

Execution and Technology

At the outset, even the team within Baato wasn’t fully convinced of the potential impact. In fact, early 2024 saw some rough pitches to prospective clients. Marketing executives openly critiqued how unrefined the pitch was, but they couldn’t help being excited by the idea. Their enthusiasm gave us the push we needed to fully develop the AR campaign concept.

The Real Scavenger Hunt was built on Baato Maps’ cutting-edge AR technology, allowing users to experience the campaign in an entirely new way. The mechanics were simple but powerful:

• Participants used the Baato Maps app to explore real-world locations, collecting virtual Real juice bottles along the way.
• These virtual bottles, scattered across Nepal, encouraged users to physically engage with their surroundings, adding an element of adventure.
• Participants could also submit photos of themselves with the virtual bottles, contributing to both the gamified experience and social media engagement.

The beauty of AR lies in its ability to create immersive experiences, and Baato Maps ensured a smooth, geolocation-based experience with minimal technical error. Users were not just passive observers — they became active participants in the brand story.

Key Metrics and Results

The campaign’s success was nothing short of remarkable, both in terms of reach and depth of engagement:

• 17,220 virtual Real juice bottles were collected by users across Nepal.
• 11,326 photos were submitted as part of the scavenger hunt, contributing to viral social engagement.
• Participants spent a combined 2,196 hours on the Baato Maps app over the 5-week campaign period.
• The average session time was 7 minutes and 35 seconds, a testament to the immersive nature of AR.
• An impressive 28.3% of users returned every single week to continue engaging with the scavenger hunt.

In addition to these direct engagement metrics, the campaign reached 1.8 million people and achieved 650,000 engagements on Facebook and Instagram, creating an enormous social media buzz around the campaign.

Happy Works deserves special recognition for their promotional efforts, especially their strategy of leveraging nano-influencers and Miss Nepal 2024 participants. While these influencers were not factored into the official campaign metrics, their content played a crucial role in amplifying the campaign’s reach and engagement, making the experience feel even more personal and accessible.

The Power of AR in Marketing

What truly set the Real Scavenger Hunt apart was the quality of engagement. Unlike traditional ads that might earn a few seconds of attention before being swiped past, AR provided an interactive experience that captured and held user interest for extended periods.

• 7 minutes and 35 seconds of average session time is unheard of in the digital marketing world, where ads are lucky to hold viewers for 15 seconds.
• 28.3% of weekly active users returning to the app showcases how powerful AR experiences can be in building ongoing brand interaction.

AR didn’t just deliver a message — it invited users to play, explore, and create memories with the brand. This kind of deep engagement is what sets AR campaigns apart from static ads or even video content.

Challenges and Learnings

Every pioneering campaign comes with its own set of challenges, and the Real Scavenger Hunt was no exception.

• User engagement: While we saw high levels of interaction, getting participants to fully immerse themselves in the game proved tricky, especially convincing latecomers to stay engaged.
• Fair play: Some participants had advantages due to the timing of their engagement, leading to challenges in maintaining a level playing field throughout the campaign.
• Incentivization: The grand prize structure initially discouraged late entries, as it became difficult for new participants to catch up to early leaders.

From these challenges, we learned that future AR campaigns could benefit from incorporating elements of chance or surprise, keeping the competition exciting and open to everyone regardless of when they join. Additionally, better user education on how to participate and the value of the rewards would encourage more comprehensive engagement.

The Future of AR Marketing in Nepal

The Real Scavenger Hunt is just the beginning. This campaign demonstrated the immense potential of AR to elevate brand engagement in Nepal. As AR technology becomes more accessible and integrated into everyday life, brands have a unique opportunity to create immersive, unforgettable experiences that go beyond traditional marketing methods.

For Baato Maps, this is just the first of many AR-driven campaigns we hope to deliver. The future is bright, and AR is poised to become the go-to tool for brands looking to connect with their audience on a deeper, more interactive level.

Conclusion

The Real Scavenger Hunt proved that with the right combination of technology, creativity, and strategic partnerships, brands can create lasting, meaningful engagement with their audiences. Baato Maps is proud to have led Nepal’s first AR marketing campaign, and we’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

If you’re a brand or marketer looking to create unforgettable experiences, let’s talk about how AR can elevate your next campaign. You can communicate your interest here: https://forms.gle/r9YjPgoGExN4krNWA