AR has moved from novelty to commerce infrastructure in beauty. What virtual try-on actually delivers, why L'Oréal's ModiFace acquisition was the decisive move, and the three surfaces the category is investing in next.
Beem raised $4M in March 2022 to build smartphone-based AR hologram display technology. The piece tracks the broader AR consumer technology category — Pokemon Go, ARKit/ARCore, Snap AR Lenses, the metaverse cycle, Apple Vision Pro — and what happens when consumer tech hype outpaces product-market fit.
Volkswagen launched one of the most innovative automotive marketing campaigns of the year this December — QR codes on one million Amazon shipping boxes that trigger a web-based AR test drive of the Taos SUV. What the campaign does, what other automakers are doing, and where automotive AR sits heading into 2022.
