Coffee Cup Makes Hearts Soar

Shove over QR codes. There’s something faster and slicker moving in on your turf.

Yesterday I picked up a drip coffee from Starbucks. It came in a Valentine-themed cup. The fine print underneath the cup’s giant love heart was a message instructing me to download the free “Magic Cup” app.  I did so of course and when I held my phone up to the cup – suddenly I could interact with that giant heart on my cup, peeling it away and having it fly toward me. This was followed up by a bunch of smaller, fluttering hearts flocking wherever my finger moved on the screen. (See the video demo below) Pretty cool foray into augmented reality for Starbucks, but I would argue this may also represent a significant shift away from the need for QR codes. The steps involved to connect audience to content with augmented reality (AR) are similar to those involved with QR codes. However, I would suggest the impact of that connection is more interactive and potentially more powerful. Do you agree? Have you tried both a QR code and an AR experience?

One caveat, the prices involved in creating a QR code vs. an augmented reality offering, are vastly different: virtually free vs. virtually prohibitive.

Erin

Tags: Augmented Reality, mobile, QR codes, starbucks