Sex sells. In public relations, advertising, and marketing that’s common knowledge, and as digital becomes an increasingly dominant aspect of our world- both as industry professionals and consumers- the potential for brand promotion via seduction expands. That’s certainly something US clothing store Moosejaw is aware of, as its new winter-season X Ray catalogue proves.
The company- which stocks, designs and distributes quality outdoor gear (including products made by one of our own clients, Mountain Hardwear)– has created the brochure to work with the iPad, iPhone, and Android devices, so when readers look at a page ‘through’ the screen and camera lens the models appear in nothing more than their underwear. Users need to download an app via the App Store, Android Market, or by scanning a QR code included in the catalogue. Then, wherever they see a specific symbol, they simply hold the device over the page and get more of a view than most will have bargained for.
It’s the latest example of AR, or Augmented Reality- a type of virtual reality that alters the way the real world looks, through a computer, by reproducing what it sees with additional features. This kind of thing has been used by military, science, and other such high-tech types for some time, and has more recently become an increasingly popular basis for smartphone applications, allowing us to truly visualise things like what our friends would look like obese, just how obvious it would be if we had an accident in public, and where the nearest taxi-rank is. All very useful then.