Immersive marketing continues to be an opportune, yet still challenged, segment. Sitting at the intersection of brand marketing and spatial computing, it includes things like sponsored AR lenses that let consumers interact and engage with brands, or virtually try on products.

Driving immersive marketing are a few key elements. Lens creation software arms brands and developers with low-code tools to author AR experiences. Meanwhile, networks like Snapchat and TikTok likewise offer the ability to amplify lenses throughout their social graphs.

There’s also a real business case, which can be seen in the performance metrics around AR campaigns. And though the future of AR is headworn, we’re mostly talking about AR marketing on smartphones. That’s where the scale lies… and brand marketers are all about scale.

This is the topic of a recent report from our research arm, ARtillery Intelligence, including ecosystem analysis and case studies from real AR marketing campaigns. The report joins our excerpt series, continuing in this edition with a look at Electronic Arts’ AR campaign.

AR Marketing Best Practices & Case Studies, Volume 5

Football Fandom

Electronic Arts was in the process of launching FC Mobile, a soccer game for iOS and Android. Given that the game’s monetization is in-app purchases for team and player upgrades, it wanted to reach and engage as many potential players as possible, while tapping into football fandom.

To achieve these goals, EA launched a TikTok Branded Effect that replicated the appearance of player cards (like a baseball card). Users could virtually pose on the card as if they were a player. This aligned with the campaign goal of in-app purchases for team packs (see it in action here).

As background, these team packs are bundles of cards containing players that users can collect and integrate into their own in-game team. This pastime takes the traditional pastime of collectible baseball cards, and brings it into a digital and gaming context to boost player engagement.

To accelerate the campaign, EA enlisted sports influencers to use it. This was further amplified through TikTok Spark Ads and TopView ads. A Branded Mission then incentivized participation by featuring top-performing Effects videos in a sizzle reel, shown to EA’s followers.

The U.S. Tennis Association Achieves 8 Million Impressions with AR

Natural Wellspring

So what were the results? EA’s campaign drove 88.57 million video views from the paid campaign elements noted above. It also achieved 424,000 hashtag engagements, likes, and shares. These KPI’s represent the high end of campaign performance in the TikTok ecosystem.

As for lessons and takeaways, one thing that jumped out from this campaign is the degree to which EA amplified engagement through paid ad formats. For example, it got the ball rolling (excuse the pun) with an influencer-based campaign, which is also aligned with sports culture.

That caught fire naturally, given the fan fervor in the world of soccer – further shown by the level of dedication users put into their effects. Fans posed with the Effect wearing their favorite team’s jerseys; or impersonating their favorite players’ characteristics (think: hairstyles).

Altogether, the participatory nature of the AR effect tapped into a natural wellspring of energy and enthusiasm around the sport. This isn’t always possible in AR marketing campaigns, which depend on the subject matter, but it’s a lesson in crafting thematically-aligned campaigns.

We’ll pause there and circle back in the next installment of this series with another campaign case study. Meanwhile, check out the full report.

Header image credit: Emilio Garcia on Unsplash