'Avatar' Set to Revolutionize Advertising With 'Augmented Reality'

This is cool: Instead of firing up your webcam and chatting with friends online, how about transporting yourself to Pandora, the world at the center of James Cameron's
'Avatar'?

Well, according to a report in Variety, you'll be able to do just that soon using a new technology called "augmented reality," which launches movable 3-D images or games on computer screens when an item is held up to a webcam.

And while some movie studios have used the augmented reality for some of their home video releases -- most notably Paramount for 'Star Trek,' which offered a 3-D holographic tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise when viewers held the disc packaging up to a webcam -- the technology is getting a gigantic multi-million dollar consumer push with 'Avatar.' Why?

According to Variety, Hollywood and Madison Avenue have been quick to embrace the technology as the newest must-have marketing tool to connect with consumers. Fox, which is releasing "Avatar" Dec. 18, has lined up McDonald's and Coca-Cola as promotional partners and Mattel as the film's official toymaker, and the companies will be integrating augmented reality in their products and through high-profile campaigns that tie in with the film.

McDonald's, for example, will promote its Big Mac and Happy Meals through "Pandora's Quest," a series of online games that can be played when using a webcam. For its part, Coke will promote Coke Zero on cans and refrigerator packs; when you hold the can up to your webcam, a Samson helicopter (used in the film) takes off onscreen and can be controlled by moving the can. And Mattel has created a line of action figures that reveal special content when shown to a webcam.

The technology is impressive and appears to be bringing us one step closer to the sci-fi dream of interactive holographic virtual realities in our living rooms, available at the push of a button. The only drawback today is that you have to buy a product to enjoy it. But since the cost of entry to use the technology is probably sky-high right now, it takes the backing of a McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Mattel to bring augmented reality to the masses.

Once it takes off, however, the technology will filter down to you and me, just like other technologies have. Hey grandma, did you get our holographic greeting card?

Watch the 'Avatar' augmented reality demo: