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Snapchat’s Most Inspiring Augmented Reality Campaigns of 2020.

Helen James — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 00:57:06 +0000

Snapchat has revealed its most inspiring augmented reality campaigns of 2020.

In a blog post, the social platform described 2020 as “a year of the unexpected and the unprecedented, from stay-at-home orders to major shifts in consumer behaviour and in how brands, businesses and organisations operate. … This year more than ever, Snapchatters and brands have used the camera to connect with friends and loved ones all over the world in new, creative ways.”

Snapchat added, “AR has played a massive role in creating those connections and experiences. Brands and organisations around the world have leveraged our technology to engage with the Snapchat Generation in innovative ways never before possible.”

The campaigns chosen by Snapchat were:

Gucci AR shoe try-on: SnapML technology was used to enable Snapchatters to virtually try on Gucci shoes and purchase them directly through the lens via a ‘Shop Now” button, which generated positive return on ad spend.

Hershey’s Canada Reeseter Egg Hunt: The classic Easter egg hunt went AR, as Snapchatters in Canada were able to hunt around their real-world environments for “Reeseter” eggs. After collecting 10, they could swipe up to an instant-win microsite for a change to win a Reese Easter Egg prize pack.

National Saudi Day: Brands in Saudi Arabia kicked off several campaigns dedicated to the 90th Saudi National Day, with 12 lenses activated by different partners.

NYX Professional Makeup virtual store and try-on experience: The first-ever virtual beauty product drop on Snapchat’s platform featured an end-to-end shopping experience powered by AR, including virtual try-on and gaming via both Snapchat and Triller.

OnePlus Diwali Festival of Lights: Snapchatters in India were enabled to send custom Diwali greetings from their own balconies, releasing them to the sky and watching them transform.

Ralph Lauren AR retail: The apparel brand and Snapchat worked with Bitmoji to roll out a global Bitmoji fashion collection featuring Ralph Lauren’s iconic outfits, and then brought the Ralph Lauren pony logo to life via Snapchat Scan.

Rebuild Foundation “Raise Your Voice”: An artist collaboration and application takeover inspired by Black Lives Matter and the pandemic enabled Snapchatters to don custom AR masks, accessorize their Bitmoji avatars and buy real-life masks through the platform’s integration with Shopify.

Trolls World Tour takes over the Snap Camera desktop app: Universal Pictures released Trolls World Tour on-demand, rather than in theaters, due to the pandemic, and Snapchat brought the animated characters to life, extending the experience to its then-new desktop app for video calls and virtual meetings.

Verizon Black Pumas 5G concert: Verizon and Snapchat debuted the first-ever 5G-enabled Snapchat landmarker lens, featuring a full-length AR performance by Grammy Award-nominated artists Black Pumas. The two companies said the experience was 10 times more powerful than any lens Snapchat had created previously.

World Health Organization global donation lens: The United Nations Foundation and the WHO teamed up on the first ever global donation AR lens to raise awareness about critical resources that were needed in the early stages of the pandemic. The experience was triggered by scanning international currency notes.

Via Adweek

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Why Fashion Brands Are Partnering With Bitmoji

Helen James — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 00:36:20 +0000

In its aim to stay competitive among social platforms, Snapchat has launched a new string of high profile-fashion partnerships.

Snapchat worked with Ralph Lauren in November and Jordan Brand in September on a number of initiatives, both on the main Snapchat app and on the Bitmoji app, the platform’s subsidiary company. And on Thursday afternoon, Snapchat will roll out a third fashion partnership in three months with Levi’s, which includes releasing a collection of Levi’s products that people can use to dress their virtual Bitmoji avatars or buy in real life to dress themselves. Snap is aiming to link with fashion partners using both time-tested tactics and new ones — last week with Ralph Lauren, it introduced the ability to scan a fabric logo on clothing using its app and be directed to online content.

Snapchat is slightly behind other social platforms in terms of total audience, with 100 million monthly active U.S. users as of October 2020, while Instagram has more than 120 million monthly active users in the U.S. But the increase in brand partnerships and the advertising dollars they brought in over the last year have helped the platform monetize the audience it does have.

On the Bitmoji side, which is where the majority of Snap’s fashion partnerships are focused, the company introduced the ability to mix-and-matching clothes last year. Before, users only had the option to change full outfits. Ba Blackstock, CEO of Bitmoji, said this significantly opened up the possibilities for brands using Bitmoji on Snapchat, as it provides more focus on individual products. It led to the partnerships with Ralph Lauren, Levi’s and Jordan, he said. While previous Snapchat brand partnerships with brands like Warby Parker have focused on the Discover page, the platform has been leaning on Bitmoji for partnerships this year. More than 70% of Snapchat users have and use Bitmoji.

“It may seem like a small thing, but mixing and matching clothes really expanded what you can do, especially with brands,” Blackstock said. “A brand like Levi’s that is all about jeans can just focus on jeans, while Jordan can focus on sneakers. And it shapes our strategy because we can target brands who round out what we already have.”

Snapchat has also introduced a 3D body tracking feature via Snapchat lens. The lens acts somewhat similar to Apple’s Animoji feature; when the camera is turned on the user, they are replaced by their Bitmoji avatar that moves when they move, giving users a chance to virtually try on different clothes by changing their Bitmoji’s outfit. Blackstock expects this will be appealing to fashion brands in the future. The company hasn’t made an official announcement around the feature yet, he said.

For the brands that have been working with Snapchat and Bitmoji over the last year, the reach that the platform has with younger consumers is valuable. Facebook and Instagram both appeal to older consumers ages 25-40. Meanwhile, Snapchat said late last year that it reaches 75% of all U.S. teenagers, many of whom spend more than 40 minutes a day on the app. That’s more than Instagram’s usage among teens, according to data from Omnicore.

David Lauren, chief branding and innovation officer and vice chairman of the board at Ralph Lauren, told Glossy last week that the brand’s “goal is to meet consumers where they’re experiencing the brand – which is increasingly in the digital space and online.”

Via Glossy

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