Augmented Reality Promotions & Activations

Why Should Brands Invest in Augmented Reality?

Put simply, Augmented Reality (AR) is just a marvellous tool for captivating and inspiring consumers and shoppers.

In addition to AR being engaging and just plain fun, AR is also brilliant at increasing conversions and shortening shopper journeys ( e.g. IKEA product visualisation or Sephora try ons). 

By creating simple ( and inexpensive) 3D versions of products, or gamifying promotions, brands can stand out from the competition cutting through the digital noise and building brand recognition and recall.

Make existing assets work harder: 

AR also adds heaps of value to existing comms and thanks to technologies like WebAR (which you'll be glad to hear doesn’t require an app!) and social AR, brands can bolt on fun, immersive, and educational layers to packaging, print materials, point-of-sale displays, emails, events, websites, and, of course, social media.

Staying Relevant

AR also offers a unique way to stay connected with younger audiences. According to Snapchat, 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds in 20 countries (including the US, UK, and France) use AR more than 3 times weekly. This group—which includes Millennials and Gen Z, often referred to as the "Snapchat generation"—now drives 41% of total retail sales, making them a critical demographic for marketers.

Show don't tell

In an an age of doom scrolling and video fatigue Immersive AR offers marketers the opportunity to involve consumers directly in promotions and experiences. 

Consider a simple example related to sustainability and recycling education. Which approach is more effective for helping people understand what belongs in each bin: a leaflet or video explaining the sorting process, or an engaging 3D augmented reality (AR) game where users place virtual bins in their environment and sort objects by "shooting" them into the correct bins—possibly with added incentives?

So what are the creative options and formats for Marketers?

AR Filters & Lenses: Branded AR effects on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok offer brands the opportunity to overlay ‘faces, spaces and places’ with interesting filters, contextual experiences, games, and 3D animations. 

Here are some nice face filters Paris Olympics did on Snapchat. 

Lenses 

Lenses are where you literally want to put a new lens on something. There are too many creative opportunities to mention here but here are some nice examples from Louis Vuitton,

These are also knows as landmark lenses or filters because of their ability to overlay real world buildings or contexts like the below for Snapchat

You can also make fun promotions out of filter/lense type experiences like this game for Ibotta. You can also geo lock these promotions where they only appear in a defined geo boundary or outlet

Portals 

These are quite similar to lenses except that with portals you usually walk with your camera into the portal and once you're inside the 360 portal or 'sky box' you interact with objects or open doors to win prizes, try stuff on etc etc.

Gift Boxes or prize faults 

These again are similar to portals except they are something promotional where you open them to win a prize, or get a level up or NFT or something fun like that.

Here's one for Redbull and another one we did for 3 Olympia / Boys & Girls

Magic Mirrors 

Magic mirrors are basically games where players control the game on the screen using their head, hands, feet etc. These are a great addition to events because they really draw a crowd and like a lot of AR activations they are impactful and stand out from the crowd. 

Here is one from Lifebuoy soap where players put on an iron man type suit and deflect imaginary bugs with their hands to win prizes ( thereby activating their 'silver shield' product benefit).