Ericsson Emodo Launches First 5G-Powered Augmented Reality Ads for Mobile Advertising

Emodo, an Ericsson company providing high-impact audience, inventory, and creative advertising solutions, today launched Emodo Creative Lab and premiered the company’s first 5G-powered AR campaign. The ad transports mobile users to New York City’s Times Square through AR and allows users to engage with entertaining content from Seventeen Broadway musicals and plays. The campaign promotes the return of Broadway following its 18-month closure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s estimated by the end of 2021, more than 40 million U.S. consumers will have 5G devices. The emerging prevalence and capabilities of 5G make possible a new level of experiences and engagement opportunities in the mobile advertising industry. 5G ads are delivered up to 20X faster than ads on 4G, allowing brands to create more complex, immersive audio and visual content that wouldn’t otherwise work -- and consumers are ready for it. In a recent Emodo consumer study, 74% of 5G consumers said that AR ads would be more likely to capture interest or attention than normal ads. 

“As a subsidiary of Ericsson, a global telecommunications leader pioneering innovation in 5G, Emodo is exclusively at the forefront of 5G-powered advertising. We believe 5G is already reshaping the future of our industry,” remarks Alistair Goodman, CEO and General Manager at Emodo. “With the industry’s latest privacy regulations, marketers need new strategies and capabilities that elevate consumer engagement. We’re excited to launch the Emodo Creative Lab to continue to build high-impact, immersive advertising experiences that help marketers establish higher benchmarks and exceed expectations for their advertising investments.” 

Emodo’s immersive ad formats present an opportunity for brands to reimagine engagement with audiences. The Emodo Creative Lab designs captivating experiential formats, including AR, 3D, 360 degree, and even immersive audio ads. In pilot campaigns ads in these formats delivered up to 4x the average engagement of standard mobile ads. Users repeatedly showed a high propensity to engage for up to 5 minutes with the branded content.

Emodo’s first, full-featured, 5G-powered AR ad was launched to support Resolution Media, a division of Omnicom Media Group, and their client, The Broadway League, to promote the return of Broadway shows after the COVID-19 shutdown. The AR ad is programmatically targeted and served by Emodo. The ad unit transports users to Times Square, New York, through an AR snow globe on their mobile screen. The “Show Globe” enables users to interact with an array of Broadway productions that float through the air in 360 degrees, hear unique audio vignettes about each Broadway show, and click through to book tickets. The exclusive audio is recorded by some of Broadway’s biggest stars including Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael James Scott, and 2021 Tony Award winner Aaron Tveit.

“As Broadway shows reopened, the rising prominence of a younger, more technology fluent economic buyer, inspired us to create a compelling experience that would offer a deeper level of engagement.” said Andrew Lazzaro, Architect of the ‘This is Broadway’ campaign. “The Emodo team applied every insight from our campaign to help craft a creative execution that would break through the clutter and amplify awareness about Broadway’s return. To have a consumer engage with our brands for nearly 3 minutes through an ad unit is extraordinary.”

So far, of those that have clicked on the ad, 92% enter the experience. The ad has seen the average person spend 2:56 minutes engaging with the experience and 37% of people that share the experience, demonstrating AR’s effectiveness in engaging users. To partner with Emodo to develop immersive and 5G-powered AR creative or learn more about Emodo Creative Lab, please visit: https://www.emodoinc.com/emodo-creative-lab

About Ericsson Emodo 

Emodo is the independent provider of high-impact audience, inventory, and creative solutions that elevate campaign results through the application of machine learning technologies. The company’s machine learning models proactively identify top-performing inventory and audiences, pre-bid. Emodo’s ML models are continuously trained by the industry’s most accurate truth sets, including exclusive data from mobile telcos and networks. Through its horizontally-integrated platform, Emodo offers both supply- and demand-side capabilities and a highly-optimized path for both buyers and sellers. Emodo solutions are available through every leading DSP and through Managed Service, making it easy for advertisers to buy however they wish.

Emodo is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ericsson, a world leader in telecommunications technology and services that powers billions of mobile connections worldwide.

Contact Information

Gabriela Lund

Associate Account Manager

VSC on behalf of Emodo

emodo@vsc.co