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:

 Biden-Harris campaign and U.S. Postal Service: The campaign sought to encourage Snapchatters to vote early for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket by creating an experience where scanning the USPS logo showed users in a Biden hat and shirt, wearing his iconic aviators.

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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Department store chain Kohl’s teamed up with Snapchat on an augmented reality virtual closet earlier this spring, enabling Snapchatters to browse clothes from home via the messaging application.

Snapchat has updated Kohl’s digital showroom to include ath-leisure pieces, allowing Snapchatters to browse Kohl’s loungewear as they shelter-in-place and purchase items without leaving the app.

Like other social media platforms, Snapchat has experienced a spike in usage during COVID-19. From February to March, Snap Inc. saw a 36 percent increase in Snaps sent with a Lens, an 18 percent increase in playtime with Sponsored Lenses and a 22 percent click-through rate with Sponsored Lenses.

Snap Inc. is seeing increased interest in its AR features from brands during the pandemic. WWD previously reported on L’Oréal becoming the first beauty company to partner with Snap Camera.

Via WWD

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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.

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Snap’s Partner Summit event in June, in which the company shows off its latest product updates and media partnerships, produced such a flurry of new innovations.

Some of Snapchat’s newer features, like the machine-learning based SnapML, are already being used by brands like Gucci for augmented reality try-on features for clothing products. Not a bad innovation for brands whose brick-and-mortar operations have been shuttered by a global pandemic.

Others, such as the Story and Lens formats (see Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger), are now so recognisable that you may have seen similar versions launched on other social media products.

In any case, Snapchat remains an important source of creativity in digital media.

1 Paramount Pictures ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ by Wavemaker

To promote the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie in January, the eponymous blue hedgehog came to life in digital form on a number of landmarks across the UK, including Tower Bridge and the Natural History Museum, using augmented reality.

The creative even portrays Sonic as collecting rings, a major objective of the video game on which the character is based. Snapchat said the campaign had more than 27 million impressions with a unique reach of 10.5 million.

2 Lego ‘And I think to myself’ by Engine Mischief, The Producers and Initiative Junior

Lego is running a Christmas pop-up in London’s Covent Garden this month that features a variety of brick-built installations to bring to life its “And I think to myself” campaign, inspired by the lyrics in its Christmas creative.

Snapchat users can access a karaoke AR lens that will not only help them learn the lyrics to the song but be able to see the lyrics like “I see sausage trees”, “My horse is blue” and “Don’t seem to give a duck”.

3 Adidas ‘#HomeTeam’ by Adidas

To help people stay active while staying at home, the sportswear giant launched a series of filters and an AR Lens to encourage Snapchatters to stay home and to offer them creative, fit and fun ways to celebrate how they were staying active, with the people closest to them. Snapchat said it was viewed more than 14 million times.

4 Public Health England ‘Better Health – Every Mind Matters’ by OmniGov and Wavemaker

This campaign, which ran from September to November, focused on encouraging children and young people to take positive actions towards better mental health. The campaign targeted 13- to 18-year-olds on Snapchat, and included both AR Lenses and a bespoke three-part content series called “In My Head”, produced in partnership with Barcroft Studios.

5 Gucci ‘Try-on sneaker’ by Gucci

To create excitement around the launch of its new sneaker collection in June, Gucci partnered with Snapchat to launch an AR shoe try-on. Leveraging the recently launched SnapML feature in Lens Studio, Gucci offered Snapchatters a try-on experience for four different pairs of sneakers and a route to purchase via a dedicated “Shop Now” button located inside the Lens.

6 Tommy Hilfiger ‘Looney Tunes’ by Tommy Hilfiger

Marking the launch of its Looney Tunes collection in April, Tommy Jeans launched its first-ever AR portal Lens on Snapchat. The Lens opened with the iconic Bugs Bunny look in selfie mode and when flipping the camera, Snapchatters were invited to step into the fashion world of Tommy Jeans x Looney Tunes.

Inside the Portal Lens people could explore the collection, interact with the space and also use the“Shop Now” button, giving Snapchatters the opportunity to buy the limited edition collection instantly wherever they were.

7 Tate Britain, The National Gallery and the Bank of England ‘£20 note campaign’

Anyone in possession of the new £20 note (or a picture of it) was able to see their cash in a new dimension, interact and learn about JMW Turner’s artwork which adorns the new note. This campaign launched in February.

8 DJ Mag ‘David Guetta – world’s best DJ’ by GoSpooky

DJ Mag turned to Snapchat to put on an AR concert to celebrate David Guetta being announced as number one in its World’s Top 100 DJs list in November. Snapchatters around the world could use the lens, point their phones at the sky and unlock an exclusive David Guetta set – the biggest of his life.

9 Sky Q ‘Everything you love in one place, easy’ by Sky Creative

This campaign sought to bring the SkyQ Portal to life, having launched in October. Working closely with Sky Creative Agency, Snap’s in-house design team crafted Story ads to play into the Sky Q “Portal” seen across the integrated campaign.

The Story Ad was meant to surprise Snapchatters as the creative seemingly consumed the User Interface within the Stories tab. Snapchat said this was viewed by more than 6.8 million UK Snapchatters.

10 Samsung ‘A-Series’ by Rapp and Atomic Digital

This campaign was adapted from the TV ad in July to create a bespoke AR Lens that lets the Snapchatter control different elements of the creative.

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L’Oréal USA on Monday released the first beauty augmented reality lenses for Snap’s desktop app, letting customers virtually try on looks from brands such as Garnier, Lancôme, L’Oréal Paris and Maybelline. The eight branded lenses are featured in a “beauty” area on Snap Camera’s opening page, per an announcement shared with sister publication Mobile Marketer.

L’Oréal’s AR looks include product categories such as hair color, makeup, fragrance and skin care, and are available to Snap Camera users worldwide for the next week. Snap Camera is free to download for Windows and Mac computers, and is compatible with users’ “preferred video-conferencing platform.”

Snap has seen a 30-fold increase in daily downloads of Snap Camera. After installing the app, users of videoconferencing software can select “Snap Camera” from the menu of video sources to decorate their chats with AR lenses, including those from L’Oréal, per its announcement.

L’Oréal’s AR lenses are notable for being the first branded beauty experiences on Snap’s desktop platform, as opposed to its Snapchat mobile app that has 229 million users worldwide. With millions of consumers relying on video calling software like Zoom to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues during the coronavirus lockdowns, L’Oréal can help them add some whimsy to their conversations with its selection of branded AR lenses.

The surge in Snap Camera usage can help L’Oréal to extend the reach of its campaign as people decorate their video calls with its branded content. Beauty brands like L’Oréal need to maintain a strong presence as the pandemic leads to a significant shift in sales of cosmetics and personal care products. While skin and hair health have become more important among homebound consumers, makeup and fragrances have faced challenges. Prestige beauty sales in the first quarter fell 14% year over year to $3.6 billion, with makeup falling 22% from last year to $1.4 billion, according to NPD Group data emailed to Retail Dive. Online sales of makeup rose 18% during the period, helping to offset the decline in store sales. Until the pandemic subsides, it’s important for beauty brands to maintain visibility in their digital sales channels.

L’Oréal has long embraced AR technology to engage consumers with branded content. The beauty giant two years ago acquired Modiface, the maker of AR software for virtual makeup try-ons, and has since adopted the platform in a variety of campaigns. L’Oréal in December integrated the technology with Google Lens, the search giant’s image-recognition app, to let shoppers virtually try on hair coloring from its Garnier brand. Color&Co, L’Oréal’s brand for at-home hair coloring, added similar AR technology from Modiface to its website in September. Virtual try-on services had urged consumers to buy more of L’Oréal’s makeup and hair color products, The Wall Street Journal reported last year.

For Snap, the L’Oréal campaign is a chance to show off the AR features of its desktop app, which may help to drive more downloads as users of video calling software seek to add immersive or entertaining content to their calls. Snap mostly depends on its Snapchat mobile app for revenue, but the surge in videoconferencing is an opportunity to extend its presence on desktop. Snap has continually sought to expand its range of branded experiences and ad formats, including this week’s rollout of non-skip takeover commercials that appear before video programming in the image messaging app.

Via RetailDive

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Retailers have commonly used AR tech in applications that, for example, help customers visualise what furnishings will look like in their houses. They’ve also sued them for facial recognition and to create media-rich 3D experiences for shoppers. Walmart has developed an AR use that it hopes will save customers time and money by enabling product and price comparisons while shoppers are in the aisles, the company’s blog post said. Whether it turns out to be a more practical and widely-used application remains to be seen.

“Walmart store shoppers love using our mobile app barcode scanner as a price checker,” said Tim Sears, senior engineering manager at Walmart Labs. “Our team sees the potential of this product as so much more, though. When a customer launches the scanner, they get a direct connection between the digital and the physical world that their screen and camera lens creates for them.”

Other companies are exploring related visual search applications. For example, Amazon and Snapchat are testing a feature that allows users to leverage the app’s camera function to search for items on Amazon. Forever 21 has a visual search and navigation tool based on artificial intelligence for its e-commerce business that increased the average purchase value in test categories by 20%. Target partnered with Pinterest to enable the retailer’s shoppers to use the Pinterest Lens visual search tool as part of the Target registry shopping experience. And eBay has released an Image Search API to allow external developers to use eBay’s image recognition technology to help drive more listing, selling and buying activity through the online marketplace.

According to the post, Walmart Labs said several ideation sessions resulted in a concept that aims to solve three problems: how to speed up scanning load times, how to compare products on more than price, and how to increase usability by making experiences fun.

The AR scanner works after it is launched in the Walmart app, and then pointed at items on the shelf. Moving the phone from one product to another, a product tile on the screen is updated with information such as product name, price and a star rating with an indication of how many consumer reviews it is based on. A link to “related products” also appears.

“We designed our AR Scanner as an opt-in alternative to how we’ve traditionally approached scanning,” Sears wrote in the blog post. “At Walmart Labs, we take plenty of risks, but we’re constantly measuring and evaluating data to ensure our risks are controlled and calculated.”

Via RetailDive

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