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.

Analyzing Social Marketing Characteristics of Indian Companies

“…Joshi (2018) studied the social marketing case from traditional Vedic philosophy. The case analyzes the origins of social marketing in India that lead to social change and social good [2]. On the other hand, Wasan & Tripathi focuses on the 4P (Pubic, Partnership, Policy, Purse String) strategy emphasized in previous social marketing research.…”

“…There have been some researches on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity of Indian companies in the industry and academic society [1]. However, researches on social marketing activities has been very limited and most of the researches focused on specific fields such as medical and health care [2]. Therefore, it is difficult to understand the social marketing status of Indian companies by previous researches.…”

Marketing your Business School on Social Media: Analyzing Social Media Content for Adopting the Right Strategies

“…Technology is changing fast. Application of Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in social marketing along with a change-driven usage of the AR environments for social marketing is also being researched (Joshi, 2018).…”

Can social marketing be the key to social change in India?

“…Literature in social marketing in the Indian context is largely focused on examining the role of social marketing in dealing with topical social issues such as, pro-environmental behaviour (SIA report, 2019), family planning (Chandy et al ., 1965; Lipovsek et al ., 2010), tobacco consumption (Murukutla et al ., 2012), peacebuilding (Roy and Goswami, 2020) and diabetes (Thackeray and Neiger, 2003). There is another stream of research that focuses on strategic social marketing campaigns in India (Joshi, 2018; Purohit, 2021).…”