Vedantic applications of augmented reality for strategic social marketing campaigns in India

Abstract

Purpose

Social outreach campaigns such as mainstream commercial marketing campaigns are drawn to digital communication practices for increased visibility, speed and recall. This paper aims to highlight the usefulness and application of augmented reality (AR) technologies and proposes a change-driven usage of the AR environments for social marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Paradigmatic structural analysis is used to extract the underlying schematic forms. A multimodal analytic approach is used to propose the conceptual framework.

Findings

AR is defined vis-à-vis conceptualizations of reality and hyper-reality from the Vedantic philosophical texts and treatises. The study examines and demonstrates an earlier version of AR expression in ancient times in the use of spatio-temporal constructs and their degrees of modality. It derives a conceptual schema based on AR resonant applications in narratives from the Vedantic literature. Based on these, the study highlights the persuasive appeal and co-creative potential of these illustrative examples to recommend marketing communication strategies for social outreach campaigns.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis recognizes a conceptual bridge between human extra-sensory/transcendental ability and contemporary technology. This study identifies five propositional structures (PS). It opens up the field of social marketing research to alternative methodologies such as multimodal analysis.

Practical implications

While most of contemporary AR usage is in commercial marketing, this study has derived specific guiding principles/propositional structures. These can be applied to create specific virtual environments that can simulate and demonstrate desirable societal outcomes and behaviours. As newer technologies permit further and more futuristic design interventions, developers could experiment with transitional states to impact behaviours, with implications for experimental layering of information.

Originality/value

This study responds to a call for innovative design interventions in the field of social marketing. Its originality lies in its use of the Vedantic framework which has not been explored in this direction elsewhere.

Citation

Joshi, A. (2018), "Vedantic applications of augmented reality for strategic social marketing campaigns in India", Journal of Indian Business Research, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 256-273. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIBR-10-2017-0189