Explore new strategies and technologies for your digital media planning.
By Michelle Taylor, Content Strategist at Kiosk
When it comes to effective marketing campaigns in 2020, there’s no doubt that content marketing plays a critical role. After all, when people browse the internet, they’re craving content that’s authentic, informative and engaging.
To keep audiences engaged, it’s crucial for marketing professionals to keep up with evolving marketing techniques and technologies for delivering content. In a series of articles, we’ll explore content marketing trends that are changing how brands and marketers boost their image, increase sales, and retain customers.
Let’s start with a look at one of the hottest marketing topics in 2020, augmented reality (AR).
The Explosion of AR filters
AR has become hugely popular, thanks to mobile applications like Pokémon Go, an interactive mobile game that taught millions of users how to use their phones to interact with virtual objects in the real world, and Snapchat. The latter app pioneered the use of filters that add virtual artwork to the world around us, often tethered to a specific location (a.k.a. geofilters), and lenses that supercharge selfies with cartoonish hats, animal ears, sunglasses, hairstyles and more.
Fun, immersive lenses entertain billions of users every day on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Snapchat alone has 2.1 million snaps created every minute around the world (VisualCapitalist, 2019). And, their AR lenses are user-friendly, playful, and create memorable moments that drive organic social sharing. On any given day on Snapchat, you’ll find filters sponsored by brands like Gatorade, Beats, Taco Bell, and Crocs.
Here’s how Crocs placed their iconic footwear on user selfies:
Image resource: Adweek
A branded AR Snapchat filter or lens is an engaging way to get exposure for your business. Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat offer paid opportunities to create and support AR content, and that’s exciting for marketers, fun for users.
Taking it up a notch, Snapchat’s image recognition technology, dubbed Snapchat Scan, can now identify brand logos and use them to unlock unique branded AR experiences. With Snapchat and similar platforms adding more customized AR filters, including 3D effects and now scan recognition, marketers will be able to engage with their target audiences in deeper ways than before. According to AdWeek, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are the first brands to participate and get access to the exclusive features of Snapchat Scan.
Here is a sample of what’s to come:
Image resource: Adweek
But AR’s transformative possibilities aren’t just there to entertain: they’re serious business. Fortune 500 companies are investing in AR software solutions to add as features in their products and marketing to drive sales. IKEA is one of the first major commercial brands to cleverly use AR solutions to drive sales.
IKEA Place is an app that lets you visualize how IKEA items would look in your home. Using the camera from your mobile phone, you can virtually see how a chair, lamp or desk looks in any given space in your home or office, even styling multiple rooms at once. It takes away the guessing game of how it will look, does it fit, enabling the person to buy with confidence.
Source: IKEA
Thanks to ARKit and AR Core, software development tools for the iOS and Android platforms, Apple and Google continue to lay the groundwork that makes bringing cutting-edge AR experiences to life as simple as building an app. We can expect to see more brands adopting this technology as a method to drive consumer engagement at any touchpoint in a product’s journey.
Conclusion
AR works because it grabs the user’s attention by providing value and entertainment. While consumers often go out of their way to avoid being marketed to (see the rise of ad blockers), AR fans will go out of their way to try new lenses and share the results with friends. At Kiosk, we’re constantly evolving our media strategies to align with the innovative ways people consume content to enrich and entertain themselves and others.
Ready to look at ways Kiosk can boost your media strategy for 2020? Get in touch.