ugmented Reality (AR) is one of the largest growing marketing trends and now, thanks to Brock University in Canada, future marketing specialists can begin their career specialising in the innovative technology on the university’s new AR marketing course.
The St. Catherine's University in Ontario, has recently enlisted professor Joachim Scholz, a marketing expert who has spent the last six years researching and lecturing AR at the California Polytechnic State University.
Professor Joachim Scholz
Scholz is the driving force behind the AR marketing course at Brock University, he is a reputed researcher in marketing and AR and a member of Adweek’s Academic Council and a lecturer of AR marketing since 2015. Scholz’s first AR marketing article, originally published in 2016, won the Business Horizons’ Best Article of the Year award and he continues to regularly publish insights on digital marketing and AR across various publications and online platforms.
When discussing his new AR marketing course at Brock University, Scholz said:
“The course has a huge experiential education component to it. Workshops and pitch presentations to industry partners take up most of the second half. Students take the AR knowledge they learn from lectures, guest speakers and research and apply it to a real-world client.”
AR Marketing Course
Professor Scholz has seen a real gap in learning and a need to cover this specific course in the academic field. Many universities who teach digital marketing do not cover AR or only have it as a small section on the overarching curriculum. However, Scholz’s new course at the Goodman School of Business at Brock University will solely focus on marketing AR techniques.
In a recent interview Scholz stated:
“Students will become marketing experts who are familiar with the types of AR experiences that resonate with customers, and they will gain first-hand experience in how to design an AR marketing initiative.”
In the interview, Scholz further explained that many marketers and students confuse AR with VR. Professor Scholz believes there is a need for in depth learning through his AR marketing course to understand the benefits and use cases of AR in business.
What Will Students Learn On the AR Marketing Course?
Professor Scholz’s AR marketing course has been structured on four specific learning blocks:
- A series of lectures that cover basic concepts of AR, its strategic potential in marketing, AR experience design, and how augmented reality is applied in advertising, retail and experiential marketing;
- Presentations by guest speakers experienced in industry practices;
- Presentations created by the students covering topics related to current AR experiences;
- The core of the course – a project developed by the students for a client.
The AR marketing course was launched in May 2020, the students on the course have already created a wine making kit brand for a client.
How the Students Work on Practice Projects
To help students get practical experience, Professor Scholz established a collaboration agreement with mixed reality company, UP360, to help students to create and develop a client project during the AR marketing course.
President and CEO of UP360, Harrison Olajos, commented that he was “excited” to offer mentorship, coaching and working space, free to the students on the AR marketing course.
During the course, the students worked with a client and other industry partners to focus on:
- Understanding the objectives of the business
- Develop skills in the creative process
- Learning how to create a persuasive pitch
- Build and implement the ideas they’ve come up with.
Developing the AR Marketing Course
Currently the AR marketing course is only available online, however, Scholz has plans to incorporate the course into the syllabus taught at the R3CL facility, an AR/VR reality consumer laboratory equipped with Microsoft HoloLens and other cutting edge technologies.
Goodman School of Business at Brock University, Dean Andrew Gaudes praised the new innovative marketing course saying:
“Beginning with the R3CL and now this new unique AR marketing course, Brock University and the Goodman School of Business is on a trajectory to become a centre of excellence in the area of AR marketing… Goodman students will be among the first to have a solid foundation on how to use AR in marketing strategy.”
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