Growing at a CAGR of 19.9%, the Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) market is all set to hit $13.44 billion by 2028, making it the future of advertising. Defined as the art of creating photorealistic animations and images with computers, CGI allows marketers to draft 3D visualizations of their products.
From the bags-on-wheels campaign by Jacquemus in the streets of Paris to Nike sneakers leaping out from three-dimensional billboards, 3D marketing connects with your customers on a whole new level. It helps businesses display their products as experiences and stories, engaging customers from the get-go — something that flat, 2D images could never do.
Apart from boosting user engagement, CGI and 3D marketing campaigns translate into higher conversion rates and a better customer experience. Want to draft memorable campaigns that users are likely to share, remember, and return to? Read on for the best CGI and 3D marketing trends and add these to your marketing mix.
Traditional out-of-home (OOH) adverts placed in public spaces like billboards, subway signs, and bus stops no longer have the appeal they once did, thanks to COVID-19 and social distancing regulations. This is where faux out-of-home adverts step in, bridging the distance between brands and their customers through social media and digital mediums.
Using the latest CGI and AR technologies, these online adverts draft lifelike campaigns that have no presence in the real world. This is done through staging techniques and digital manipulation that help stimulate outdoor marketing campaigns. In this way, faux OOH ads create buzz and boost brand awareness, apart from having a 20% higher recall rate than the age-old billboard advertisements.
You may have scrolled past the Maybelline ad going viral on TikTok and Instagram. The mascara promotion campaign featured huge eyelashes on London’s tubes and buses. In the ad, a train enters the New York City underground station and is given a lash makeover as it goes. Gaining over 12 million views within a few hours, this Maybelline ad shows what augmented reality (AR) and CGI techniques are capable of.
As an advanced form of advertising, 3D product visualizations use three-dimensional holograms and animations to display a product in a more engaging manner. Unlike age-old ads, which might use a few plain images and videos, 3D product visualizations help potential customers interact with a product virtually.
Want to see a sofa set from the back angle? 3D ads let you rotate and examine a product on a 360-degree plane. Confused about the quality and texture of that beautiful red gown? Get a better feel of its texture and how it drapes through a 3D view.
Put simply, these visualizations display products in a lifelike manner, allowing the customers to virtually touch, move, spin, and even zoom in on the details. Thus, 3D ads help reduce the perception of risk associated with online shopping, improving customer engagement, understanding, and the probability of conversion by 11 times.
Blending the lines between the physical and virtual world, spatial computing in shopping is your answer to the “try-before-you-buy” concept. Using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), the idea allows customers to interact with products in a new manner. Studies suggest that customers are willing to splurge up to 40% more on brands that offer an AR experience, making spatial computing one of the top CGI and 3D marketing trends this year.
Through augmented reality, you can introduce a virtual-try-on feature that lets the consumers interact with the product before they buy it. For example, Sephora recently introduced a “Virtual Artist” feature, which allows you to try different makeup products in real-time. All you need to do is use the camera on your smartphone, and you’ll see how hundreds of lipstick shades, eyeshadows, and foundation variations look on your face.
The technology also extends to clothes, glasses, and footwear (read: Nike Fit), letting consumers test and pick their choices. Thanks to CGI marketing, you can even create an AR shopping avatar that gives personalized recommendations to the buyers. This helps replace human salespersons by catering to online queries and providing styling tips to the shoppers as per their needs.
When it comes to e-commerce, no one would prefer blocks of product descriptions, plain images, and technical details over a 360-degree virtual tour. As a digital form of a physical store, these showrooms employ AR and 3D technology to let buyers engage with the articles and check them out from all angles. Plus, you can even test how a particular product looks in different lighting conditions, by placing it in your room, lounge, or garage.
If you’re redecorating your living room and aren’t sure if that chic, stylish sofa will actually feel or look good, hop into a virtual showroom. The IKEA Place app is a real-life example, letting customers use their phone’s camera to place a 3D sofa model right in their home.
You can stroll around it, see how it complements your decor, and check if the size is just right, all through your phone. The furniture giant noticed a 35% boost in sales and 20% fewer returns since the launch of IKEA Place, its augmented reality app — ranking virtual showrooms among the best 3D and CGI marketing trends for customer engagement.
With different taste palettes and changing customer preferences, customizability has become a cornerstone of delightful shopping experiences. This is where 3D product configurators come in, letting buyers tailor their products in real time. Using CGI marketing techniques to personalize articles, configurators let you play around with colors, lighting, accessories, and even materials.
When customers customize a product according to “how they like it”, they develop an emotional connection with the article, reducing the chances of cart abandonment. By taking the buyer into confidence, this technology lets businesses can cash on higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Plus, when using 3D marketing configurators, Amazon, the retail giant, reported a 66% hike in customer engagement compared to 2D campaigns.
Projections suggest that the industry for in-game advertising will hit $13.3 billion by 2028, making it a promising avenue for CGI and 3D marketing. Placed in video games in the form of audio ads, video ads, and banners, in-game adverts allow marketers to deliver targeted campaigns. Here are a few common types of in-game 3D marketing techniques:
Roblox has recently launched video ads within Roblox experiences.
Metaverse experiences are interactive environments where users can meet, work, play, and socialize in 3D virtual spaces. Using a spatial computing network, these experiences often employ AR and VR techniques to simulate real-world surroundings. For example, Roblox (an online game platform) combines social commerce, gaming, and social media elements, bagging the title of the “ultimate virtual universe.”
The game art utilizes CGI marketing in many of its titles, including TTTE CGI Railway. Plus, Roblox is a go-to for creating immersive brand experiences, with companies like Nike, Vans, and Gucci already cashing the platform with their own virtual worlds. NIKELAND, for example, is a 3D marketing space that is customized as per the brand’s values. Here, you can catch up with friends, dance, skate, dunk, and even play dress-up using Nike’s apparel and sneakers.
Fortnight, developed by Epic Games, is also a representation of the metaverse concept, letting players attend virtual concerts, interact with brand integrations, and take part in exclusive events. The game has hosted live concerts with many artists, including Travis Scott.
Featuring a 10-minute performance by the rapper, the concert drew over 27.7 million players during the five-day event. Apart from this, the game has also hosted 3D marketing campaigns by popular franchises, including Star Wars, Marvel, and Stranger Things.
The 3D and CGI marketing industry is constantly evolving, with businesses using these mediums to attract audiences and drive engagement like never before. From 360-degree virtual showrooms to in-game adverts, adding 3D and CGI marketing segments to your marketing mix helps draft lifelike, memorable customer experiences. With such campaigns up your sleeve, you’re sure to not only convert customers but also retain them as loyal patrons who keep coming back.
If you want to create high-quality, premium 3D assets for your brand or game art, Cominted Labs is your one-stop shop. Trusted by over 50 companies, we have collaborated with some of the major players in the industry, including MadWorld, TCG World, and Ethereum Towers, to name a few. So, whether you want to create your 3D virtual showroom or a branded experience in Roblox, we’re here to help, thanks to our expertise in game art outsourcing and CGI video production.
