NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 8, 2017) - Blippar, the technology company building the world's first augmented reality browser through artificial intelligence and computer vision, today announced the launch of Augmented Reality Digital Placement (ARDP), the industry's first-ever AR digital ad unit. This new technology enables rich media units to leverage a user's smartphone and desktop camera to bring brand experiences to life without the need for a separate app. The ad unit delivers content and features designed to drive active engagement and interest in products, and is applicable to virtually every industry, including automotive, Entertainment, Retail and consumer-packaged goods. The technology will enable any advertiser, brand, agency, or digital publisher to deliver and scale interactive and contextually-relevant AR consumer experiences directly from digital banner ads.

Augmented reality experiences are activated when the viewer clicks or taps on a call-to-action digital banner. ARDP can be launched from any rich media browser inventory on camera-equipped Android devices and via the Chrome browser on Desktop devices. The inventory will soon be accessible on iOS.

ARDP extends the ability for brands and agencies to embrace the power of augmented reality and engage with consumers through diverse formats. This includes product packaging and digital ad banners today, and video and social media hashtags in the future.

"It's exciting to see that advancements in augmented reality technology can now yield tangible campaigns for marketers," said Cary Tilds, chief innovation officer at GroupM. "Many of the most engaging AR formats today are limited to individual publishers or platforms, but Blippar's ARDP solution allows us to work in almost any camera-accessible web and mobile environment. That makes the issue of scaling exposure across publishers and audience segments much more simple. With contextual consumer targeting and data on the physical world in real-time, we're enabling our brands to understand more about their consumers' interests and behavior."

The growth of the rich media market and investment in digital display advertisements show no signs of slowing down. According to a recent eMarketer forecast on US Ad Spending, display will continue to be the most popular digital ad format in 2017. Industry appetite for display advertisements and rich media suggests huge market opportunity for AR ad units in the US and worldwide.

"From being a pioneer of AR six years ago, this latest launch shows that Blippar remains a leader in this technology, bringing further innovation to the digital ad industry," said Danny Lopez, Blippar Chief Operating Officer. "The app-agnostic nature of ARDP technology allows agencies and brands across all verticals to take advantage of the power of AR to build rich media experiences at scale and spur deeper consumer engagement."

Blippar will work with agencies and brands to build AR rich media CPM campaigns with plans to have ARDP integrated with Blippar's self-service platform, Blippbuilder and Blippbuilder Script in the near future.

About Blippar
Blippar is a technology company that specializes in augmented reality (AR), computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI). Blippar's consumer product is the Blippar app, which is the first augmented reality browser, bridging the gap between digital and real-world experiences using AI and AR. The app allows users to 'blipp' (scan) real-world items they are curious about -- from objects to buildings, animals and people -- to unlock useful and entertaining content. The content experiences are drawn from its proprietary knowledge graph or are augmented reality experiences created by Blippar and its partners. Blippar's AR technology has been used by world-leading brands such as PepsiCo, Porsche, Nestle, L'Oréal, GSK, General Mills and Procter & Gamble to create exciting and award-winning experiences which deepen consumer engagement. Blippar also offers enterprise solutions including Blippar's Computer Vision API and AR self-service creation tools, the Blippbuilder Suite. These are licensed to agencies and developers to create rich AR experiences at scale, including those with no coding skills. Blippar was named 9th most disruptive company in the world by CNBC in 2016. To learn more, visit blippar.com.