What is Augmented Reality? Some say it might be the hottest thing in Internet marketing. And given that marketers are always trying to stay ahead of the curve, it’s not surprising that so many companies have jumped on the augmented reality bandwagon.

One good example of a successful use of the technology is the new John Mayer music video for his hit single, "Heartbreak Warfare." Studio B worked with Adobe, the developers of Augmented Reality technology and Grammy Award-winning musician John Mayer to produce this latest music video. Mayer, who tweets, blogs and posts his own videos on his website, contacted Adobe about collaborating on a new Augmented Reality video for his newly released album, Battle Studies. Mayer wanted to make an innovative new video that was creative, new and interactive.

Here is the lowdown: Adobe’s new Flash-based Augmented Reality software works in conjunction with your computer’s camera. To watch the video unfold, you hold up an augmented reality marker (provided as a PDF) to your computer’s webcam. The marker triggers the video to begin. Because you are holding up the marker, you will see yourself as a part of the video, behind John Mayer. You can move the marker and John and his surroundings move with you.

After shooting the video on a green screen stage in Hollywood, Studio B worked closely with Dan Cowles from Adobe to coordinate John’s actions so that the experience would be seamless. As you can see in the behind the scenes Wired video, John kept us all entertained – especially between takes. Blitz, a motion graphics company in LA, was also on set working closely with the engineers to ensure an easy post work-flow for the 3-D experience. Studio B was thrilled to work with Mayer on this new Augmented Reality Video.

It's still not clear if "Augmented Reality" will become a household word, but the fact that companies can now create a highly visual and interactive way to show off their products makes Augmented Reality a good bet for advertisers.