Augmented Reality moving into Children’s Books and Toys in 2018

Publishers and Toy Makers: May the magic of AR be with you.  Ana Belova, co-founder of Devar, on LinkedIn, Childrens Books Group (30,274 members) December 26, 2017

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke, “Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible”

Children’s imagination is limitless, and they really believe in magic. Now we live in times when magic is not just a fantasy, but a real form of technology, that can be added to any product, and it’s called Augmented Reality (AR). AR is the most effective technology of today which has great possibilities to develop child’s imagination, because, as Einstein said, “imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world”. AR stimulates children to investigate the world around and make little discoveries every day.

The publishing industry has reacted actively to the new technology. The children’s book publishing has shown the most positive reaction to AR: the leading publishing houses and publishing departments of the entertainment companies have tried to jump into AR. It was a success to those who made good quality products. There are also companies who have experimented with AR, but were not satisfied by the resulting product, mostly due to the fact that they did it with their own hands and a poor experience in the AR field. The outcome is sad – many companies, who have experimented or “have heard from partners” about AR, do not see the possibilities this technology provides when used in a proper manner by an experienced AR developer.

The succeeded companies, such as Hasbro, have partnered with DEVAR as a proven AR supplier, and that was the right way. As a company, who has been serving AR development for major companies in publishing and entertainment, DEVAR has been collecting and analyzing a vast scope of users’ feedback for at least 3 years. This data is the basis for the creation of new AR products, which meet modern consumer expectations.

The toy industry reacted a bit slower to the AR trend because a toy development cycle takes more time than a publishing one (may take up to 18 months) and any serious enhancement to toy companies flagship franchises is thoroughly evaluated. But things change and what we hear now is that the toy industry “is crying for AR”.

“As an industry, we all are challenged to do things differently in a fast-changing world” – said Margo Georgiadis CEO Mattel. She also promised that Mattel would develop toys and content that would better align with the increasingly digital world. In the U.S., 85% of kids between the ages of three to five have a tablet and already a third of them are creating their own content (Fortune.com). “Toy time is holding steady but kids are spending more time on digital and toys need to adapt,” said Georgiadis.

Mattel is going to invest more in the company’s most iconic “power brands”, such as Hot Wheels, which Margo Georgiadis wants to be far larger than it is today. 2018 is the 50th Hot Wheels’ anniversary, and to celebrate this, DEVAR will release an AR Hot Wheels encyclopedia as a gift to all the brand fans. This book with AR technological component is going to meet the market demands of today to let readers engage with the book and favorite toys in a completely new way.

Margo Georgiadis sees the toy industry development in the link with education, and this strategic approach could be beneficial if considered with the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) trend in the toy market. Mattel plans the success by making its toys both educational and fun, and here the technology of Augmented Reality helps a lot. The Mattel’s partnership with DEVAR, an experienced technology company in the sphere of AR development, is an essential part of this direction.

2018 is the key year that will determine the market leaders – the companies that first adjust to the new realities, thus changing the rules to suit themselves. AR is a relatively new technology that inevitably comes to stay, and the early adopters win, while others who are not that far-seeing, will kick themselves.