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There have been several proof points for AR’s efficacy in brand marketing, including greater awareness (upper funnel) and conversions (lower funnel). Among others, our research arm ARtillery Intelligence publishes a report every year to examine AR campaign performance metrics.
To add to those narratives and underscore its capabilities, AR marketing leader Snap has released its own report that reveals consumer behavior around branded AR lenses and experiences. This includes a survey component (n=5000) and a performance analysis of 741 AR campaigns.
One of the report’s central findings is that AR represents a modern iteration of word-of-mouth – a universal and long-leading flavor of marketing. AR carries that torch because it’s inherently shareable and has the potential to enliven genuine connections between friends and family.
“Happiness is most meaningful when shared, and AR is transforming how people connect and engage,” Snap AR Research and Insights Lead, Takeshi Tawarada told AR Insider. “Our research shows that AR goes beyond engagement – it turns passive consumers into active participants by creating immersive experiences they want to share.”
Data Dive
Going deeper into the findings and putting some numbers behind the above claims, we’ve synthesized and summarized the report’s top takeaways for AR Insider readers…
– Among the types of content typically shared among friends, AR leads in usage (81 percent), compared with branded content (80 percent), video (76 percent), text (73 percent) and photos (72 percent).
– Snapchat users perceive the effects of sharing AR with friends to be stronger than other apps, including resolving arguments (2.4x), congratulatory messages (1.7x), sharing memories (1.3x), and strengthening friendships (1.3x).
– When compared to video, AR trails far behind in ad spend (33-1) but only slightly in influence (-3 percentage points). This means that AR is vastly underutilized relative to its marketing impact. This means that brand marketers who adopt it can find a meaningful competitive edge.
– As for how brands can best utilize AR and follow best practices in immersive campaigns, Snap recommends that they…
– Enhance the quality of social interactions. Don’t tread over users’ connections by making it too much about a brand or product. Rather, create experiences that enhance or enliven their shared moments in elegant ways.
– Use AR in combination with traditional formats. Make AR a companion experience to other familiar formats like video. This gives AR something to piggyback on, while it returns the favor with greater interactivity and engagement for a given campaign. Bonus points if the lens is seamless and thematically aligned with the rest of the media mix.
– Lean into AR’s capacity for discovery: Though AR is good at lower-funnel engagement such as product try-ons, utilize it further up the funnel for product discovery and exploration. It can be a good tool to introduce users to, and educate them about, new products.
Shareable Moments
Stepping back, one of the key terms used above is genuine. It’s challenging and rare for brand marketing to hit that target, given that their narratives are often contrived and scripted. AR has been able to sidestep those detriments because it’s less structured and pre-ordained.
In other words, AR hands control and a sense of authorship to the user. That happens with lenses that bring users into the experience to embody a given product. Those who do it well avoid the temptation to be too salesy – instead carrying a subtle brand ethos or whimsical AR adornment.
That can include things like face filters that are comical or even self-deprecating. This can propel lenses with a certain virality that unlocks the performance indicators above. Altogether, it’s about giving brands the tools to create experiences that, in turn, engender shareable moments.
“At a time when positivity matters more than ever,” said Tawarada, “brands have the opportunity to create moments that resonate and bring people together.”
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