Over the past few years, there has been a lot of excitement generated around the emergence of augmented reality and the opportunities marketers have to leverage it as an engagement tool. Augmented reality has become noticeably more mainstream, with a number of major brands experimenting with the technology to better understand how it can be used to drive engagement, education, and sales.

As sports marketers, it's important to at least have a simple grasp of the technology, how it's being incorporated, and what opportunities exist in the sports space.

Sports properties, brands, and individual athletes can look to engage fans via augmented reality in several different settings, including stadiums (scoreboard, concourse kiosks/displays, suites, mobile street teams), mobile locations (laptops, iPads, mobile phones), and at home (computers, television screens/video game portals with Internet access, etc.).

The following examples detail how brands, sports properties, and individual athletes can bring a static messaging gameday piece (piece of paper, product label, flyer, billboard, product packaging, ticket, fan loyalty card, parking pass) to life for fans in new ways via augmented reality. As the industry begins to tap into augmented reality, these examples will become more constructive, impactful, and engaging...

Footwear / Apparel (adidas, Nike)