Find free products with H&M's Augmented Reality app for iPhone

GoldRun is an app that enables users to locate, interact with and take photos of GPS-linked virtual objects positioned in the real world, coupled with an adaptive and easy to use CMS. The app is designed to drive traffic to physical and online destinations, increase product sales, enhance brand engagement and bolster viral impact.

GoldRun users can take pictures alongside virtual objects and immediately post these photos to Facebook. By helping brands tap into this sharing impulse, the platform turns social networks into even more effective distribution channels as GoldRun users share images of themselves interacting with everything from scenes in blockbuster films, to iconic sports figures and the season’s must have fashion items.

GoldRun provides a more interactive and customizable approach to location-based advertising than check-in games like Foursquare and Gowalla. Campaigns, in addition to distributing special offers, include an option for users to create interesting photos (items in the H&M campaign, for instance, were positioned in a way in which they could be virtually “tried on”). Users share these photos through their Facebook profiles, which is more valuable for the brand than shared check-in information.

Given how eager brands have been to adopt location-based marketing through check-in apps, it’s not a surprise that many are eager to run campaigns on the GoldRun app. VP of Business Development Shailesh Rao calls it “V-Commerce. Rao says that more than 40 companies from various industries have approached the as of now self-funded startup about running a campaign. It will be interesting to see if consumers respond with equivalent enthusiasm.