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When Aaqib Usman saw the results of a Snapchat AR campaign made with Snapchat鈥檚 new Lens Studio, he was blown away. Here鈥檚 why Lens Studio could be the future of experiential marketing

Goal

In December 2017, Aaqib Usman did a full 3-D scan of his body and uploaded it to , a tool by Snap Inc. that allows people to design their own augmented reality lenses for Snapchat. Until then, Snapchat lenses鈥攖hink face-swapping or a bunny nose on a human face鈥攚ere designed exclusively by Snap and its paid sponsors. 

The December release of Lens Studio was an exciting moment for Usman, founder of . He wanted to play with the new tool immediately. 鈥淚 have myself dancing to Drake鈥檚 鈥楬otline Bling,鈥欌�� Usman says of the AR lens he created using his avatar. 鈥淚 made it on Christmas, and I think I鈥檝e seen about 4,000 views on it so far.鈥� 

Aside from the fun of superimposing a digital, shoulder-shimmying version of himself into an AR lens, Usman was eager to test Lens Studio. Usman believes AR鈥攁 seemingly simple but utterly complex technology鈥攈as immense potential in marketing. 

鈥淲hen people are using augmented reality, [it feels] like a natural extension of an existing platform,鈥� Usman says. 鈥淚t feels like it should have been done a long time ago, but people are not realizing the amount of calculation and math and technology that goes into powering that little experience. Your phone has to essentially calculate the depth of every object in your world and be able to space things accordingly. When people are using it, they don鈥檛 realize that they鈥檙e using AR; that鈥檚 kind of a good thing. It鈥檚 seamless.鈥�

Other marketers and advertisers are also excited by the novelty of AR, as spending on the technology jumped from , according to Socintel360. The excitement for AR technology skyrocketed after Pokemon Go, AR鈥檚 most popular application yet, . 

, calls AR 鈥渁 new emotional lexicon of the digital and mobile era.鈥�

鈥淏rands [need] to understand these emotional shortcuts and how the younger generation engages with brands on messaging apps,鈥� Husson says.

Usman wanted to test how Generation Z would react to Snap鈥檚 AR lenses by designing a lens for an experiential marketing campaign. He found an ideal subject in , a Chicago streetwear brand run by 17-year-old Kimisha Moxley. Midwest Immersive set out in branding Moxley鈥檚 winter collection launch party, creating an AR lens to accompany the experience of the party. 

Action

Moxley鈥檚 youth and that of her potential customers made her launch party鈥攖itled 鈥淪aturday Night Heartbreak鈥濃�攖he perfect field test for Snapchat AR marketing, Usman thought. 鈥淪he鈥檚 locally famous in the Chicago teen scene,鈥� Usman says, adding that Moxley鈥檚 parties attract a few hundred attendees in the exact age range of Snapchat鈥檚 heaviest users. Of Snapchat鈥檚 187 million daily active users, more than 70% are 34 years and younger; . 

To create the lens, Usman used Snap鈥檚 world lens base, which is different from Snapchat鈥檚 better-known template masks. Template masks encourage users to take selfies by changing their face: Users aim their phone鈥檚 camera at themselves and become a cartoon dog or pixie or open their mouths and vomit a rainbow. The world lens encourages users to point their cameras at the world and discover what pops up in augmented reality. 

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want people to just take selfies, we wanted people to actually show other people what they were missing out on,鈥� Usman says. 鈥淭hat brings the event to life.鈥�

Moxley and Midwest Immersive collaborated to design a Snapchat lens in step with the party鈥檚 2000s R&B theme. They placed posters with the lens鈥� Snapcode (Snapchat鈥檚 version of a QR code) around the party for attendees to scan.

As attendees arrived, they scanned the Snapcode and saw pieces of early 2000s nostalgia pop up on their phone鈥檚 screen, as if the nostalgia pieces were part of the real world. If they aimed their camera one way, they鈥檇 see a spinning compact disc or piece of vinyl floating above a model strutting down the runway. If they aimed their camera another way, they鈥檇 see a boombox, flip phone or the event鈥檚 logo amid people dancing. If they recorded a video using the lens, they鈥檇 hear an instrumental version of Missy Elliott鈥檚 2002 hit 鈥淲ork It鈥� playing over the video.

鈥淚t鈥檚 fun for me to see how people who were born in 2001 are representing that entire decade,鈥� Usman says with a laugh. 

鈥嬧赌�Results

What鈥檚 unusual about Lens Studio is its breadth of data; Snap鈥檚 new tool gives creators analytics for their lenses. Usman was excited, as Snapchat analytics have historically been opaque, if nonexistent. The Kim Products campaign was an opportunity to measure an ROI baseline for AR marketing in Snapchat.

Moxley鈥檚 party lasted for three hours, with each user getting 24 hours of access to the Snapchat lens. Usman says the lens鈥� Snapcode was scanned 299 times, the lens was shared 262 times and snaps made in the lens were viewed 24,391 times during the party. Attendees posted snaps from the event to their own stories, so thousands of Snapchat users from Chicago and beyond saw Usman鈥檚 AR items floating alongside Moxley鈥檚 new collection. 

鈥淗ow does a 300-person event reach 24,000 people?鈥� Usman says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 experiential marketing, magnified.鈥�

Usman doesn鈥檛 know yet how these results will compare with similar campaigns. He鈥檚 curious to find out what the metrics will be for other Snapch鈥媋t-based AR lens campaigns. One of the hardest things to do is to measure ROI in experiential marketing, he says, but the metrics from Lens Studio could change that.

鈥淚f it鈥檚 used in the right way, the potential to measure your success is immense,鈥� Usman says. 鈥淭he potential for creativity is also fantastic because of the amount of stuff you can do.鈥�

Whether the ROI of AR marketing will justify its use remains to be seen. Forrester鈥檚 Husson says AR is still a budding technology and will likely reach critical mass through social and gaming before reaching its tipping point. As AR grows, he believes more marketers will use it in campaigns. Until then, marketers should get their AR practice shots in, just as Usman did, because Husson says there will be a learning curve.  

鈥淎R is a disruptive technology,鈥� Husson says. 鈥淚t may take longer to scale than many believe, but I think it will open a lot of new opportunities for marketers.鈥濃��