Additionally, around eight in 10 (83%) consumers are somewhat or very likely to say that AR or VR would improve their shopping experience. Retail tech startup Wool & Water, which specializes in web-based AR, recently found that more than half of consumers surveyed (51%) believe AR and virtual reality (VR) have improved over the last six months and will play more of a role in shopping in the future. By allowing users to see what clothes or items would look like in person or in their homes ahead of time, it improves the confidence of users to make purchases that they will keep. It also benefits brands, he argues, by reducing costs associated with in-person try-ons and returns. I think utility is an area that is going to keep growing in terms of brands recognizing the power that the camera can buy.” So if you look at the bottom, it’s just shifting that distance for you as a utility. Speaking about Adidas’s recent campaign promoting its flagship Oxford Street store, which allowed Snap users to interact with AR elements of the out-of-home (OOH) campaign, he says: “We built a lens with it that would dynamically pull in distance. He also says that the integration of AR with utility functionality can have positive impacts when integrated with other parts of a campaign. He attributes the success of AR campaigns from Warner Bros, Tommy Hilfiger and more on Snap as a consequence of being in camera, stating that Snap’s philosophy is that “the camera is the keyboard” for users navigating within the app. He cites the speed with which users created AR lenses related to Netflix show Squid Game in the immediate aftermath of its premiere as an example of the zeitgeist-based content that brands can take advantage of. that’s the behavior we’re looking at and talking about here in terms of scale.”Ĭonsequently, he believes that as “culture breaks in the camera” for its users, it is natural for brands to exist within that space. But still, when you see the numbers that came back from this campaign and that six in every 10 people who engaged in the lens bought the product. We know that the Snapchat generation is supremely confident in terms of purchasing through mobile. “What we saw was this incredible lift in terms of purchasing. Norris claims that for an AR campaign by COTY that uses AR within Snapchat, a massive 62% of the audience that went through the experience ended up making a purchase at the end.
but more and more, it is now about layering on top the always-on experiences, the trial experiences, the utility experiences that help drive that salience of the brand and shift that journey through the funnel.”
”Yes, there’s still absolutely a role in terms of key set piece campaigns or brand moments. “I think agencies and clients are recognizing the need to have a camera strategy, to understand the role you can play through the funnel, ” he says. He believes that brands are discovering that having a presence within AR – effectively within the camera of the user – is driving tangible uplift. More importantly, however, it allows the platform to demonstrate the uplift in terms of brand recall and purchase intent that can come from AR advertising.ĭavid Norris, European head of creative strategy at Snap Inc, tells me that the company’s research found that using AR drove a 2.4x higher purchase intent among users of the platform.
That user base alone might explain Snap’s investment in features such as its Lens Studio, which allows people to create their own AR lenses for use on the platform. Of those users, 200 million use its AR tools every single day. Snapchat has 306 million daily active users, creating and consuming ephemeral content from friends and brands. As augmented reality (AR) has evolved, it has become one of the best tools to drive purchase intent on Snap and beyond. The ability of a platform to drive consumers to buy from an advertising partner is among the most important KPIs. Creating purchase intent is the ultimate test of digital advertising.