Augmented reality marketing: How mobile AR-apps can improve brands through inspiration

Abstract Augmented Reality (AR) is a promising and growing field in marketing research and practice. Very little is known if, how, and why AR-apps can impact consumers’ perception and evaluation of brands. The following research presents and empirically tests a framework that theorizes how consumers perceive and evaluate the benefits and augmentation quality of AR apps, and how this evaluation drives subsequent changes in brand attitude. The study reveals consumer inspiration as a mediating construct between the benefits consumers derive from AR apps and changes in brand attitude. Besides providing novel insights into AR marketing theory, the study also suggests that marketers should consider evaluating mobile AR apps based on the inspiration potential (and not simply based on consumer attitudes, such as star-ratings in app stores).