Create Augmented Reality advertisement with Facebook Ads

Aug 9, 2018 | Augmented Reality, Blog

Living in today’s world can be pretty tense and fast. People have too many obligations and life is too rapid for many of us. That is why technology is getting more and more used to simplify tasks and make plenty of processes run smoother and faster.

Lately, the development of innovative ways to use Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) has reached its peaks in plenty of fields. For those of you who don’t know, AR is a way to overlay digital information into the real-time existing environment. It merely adds a new layer of information on top of what really exists, whereas VR creates an entirely new virtual environment that doesn’t include the physical reality in which we live.

Augmented reality has been around before

We all remember the Pokémon GO app that made the world go crazy! That’s a simple example of Augmented Reality where digital Pokémons could be chased around through the app in the real world. Other great examples are the Snapchat and Instagram filters that add bunny ears and different face features to the users.

That enriches the user experience by a lot and provides a kind of fun, addictive repetition of experimenting with those features.

Another example of using Augmented Reality that was a success was the IKEA AR Advertising Campaign with which IKEA released an iOS mobile app that allowed people to try their virtual furniture pieces in the real-life environment of the users. Lacoste Virtual Try-Ons app was a similar app where users could virtually try on different models of shoes.

The Augmented Reality industry has been growing for the past several years, and there are many new ways of integrating it into the art of selling products to people. We all can’t deny that it’s pretty cool trying different clothes and hairstyles without actually trying them on physically. The possibilities are endless! Using AR in retail and sales has proven to be very efficient especially with younger generations that understand the point behind it.

Augmented reality in businesses

Augmented Reality is not only used for funny selfies and playing games. Bringing this fun and addictive feature into business is a pretty smart move as well. Enterprises find ways to make it a part of the customer experience and use it to differentiate their brand from their competitors’. The primary point of using it into retail is generally making internet shopping a lot easier and more enjoyable to the consumers.

Of course, major multi-billion companies took notice of this and are trying more and more to use it in their advertising. That is what Facebook is currently up to. Last May when Facebook held their F8 developer conference they made a pretty exciting announcement that includes Augmented Reality and Facebook Ads.

They explained that the AR features would be shown in Messenger in collaboration with different companies around the world. Now, they are taking it even a step further! They are testing using AR on the Facebook News Feed.

Their vice president of product marketing for Facebook’s global marketing solutions Ty Ahmad-Taylor stated that “Better marketing equals better shopping,” and he further added that the connection that will be made with the customers using this strategy is relatively unusual and fresh and that the messages will be able to be delivered in an exciting format that Facebook users will surely accept.

Ty Ahmad-Tylor made several demonstrations on how this new feature would work and commented on the fact that this would undoubtedly enrich the customer experience for people that love to shop from the comfort of their homes. Additionally, he made the following statement:

“People now expect a personalized and visually inspiring experience wherever they shop — whether on their phone or in-store, which is why video will play an increasingly important role in the mobile shopping experience. In fact, we’re already seeing video become the preferred medium for product discovery on mobile. As retailers prepare for their biggest shopping season the year, we’re excited to introduce new products that will help them both delight and inspire shoppers, and ultimately drive sales.”

In accordance with this, Facebook is working towards adding more video features that the different brands can use as ads on their platform, and this is supposed to get way more accessible with the new Video Creation Kit. This will allow people and companies to create video ads with images that are supposedly increasing sales more than traditional Facebook Ads.

This is believed to be so after a weight loss company by the name of Noom started testing this and saw up to 77% increase in their performance only by using this tool. The testing period is still on, but it is expected for the tool to be available to advertisers very soon this summer.

How will the new function work?

If you’re wondering how is this supposed to actually work, the Facebook ads will be just like any standard looking Facebook Ads nowadays, with the addition of the “Tap to try it on” button on top of the advertisements which will open the magical world of AR. Facebook even got significant brands lined up for testing this option and the first one to do it is Michael Kors.

Using this feature, you will be able to just click on any Michael Kors Facebook Ad that includes sunglasses for example and using your camera you can actually try the different models of sunglasses on! Isn’t that cool? If you like how you look with specific sunglasses on, there will be an option where you can immediately purchase what you like! Talk about easier online shopping!

Other brands using Facebook AR ads

Other dominant brands are waiting in line to try the Augmented Reality Facebook Ads such as Sephora, NYX Professional Makeup, Pottery Barn, Bobbi Brown, Wayfair, King, and others. Their tests are expected to happen later this summer, and this feature is still only available in the United States. Imagine a future where you could just virtually try on a new sofa for your living room by simply pointing your camera to the place you want to place it and see how it looks. Or trying a shade of lipstick on that, you’re not sure would suit your skin color! All of these options will be soon available to you.

Facebook is one of the first companies taking advantage of this fast expanding industry, but they were not the first. Platforms like Snapchat made the first moves towards AR with their real-time filers. Snapchat is also working towards integrating more of the so-called “shoppable AR” ads where people using the Snapchat app can click to a checkout page and purchase the products they tried on display.

Even though Snapchat was one of the pioneers that introduced this concept, Facebook has too much power in the social media world, so it will make sure that the Augmented Reality Facebook Ads won’t be ignored! Statistically, more than two billion people are reached by Facebook per month, plus one billion by Instagram and 1.3 billion by Messenger. These numbers can’t be overlooked as well as the fact that Facebook became a large part of our functioning as a society. The success of these kinds of ads is almost guaranteed.

Are you considering using Augmented Reality to enhance your business?

Give us a call or write a mail! We’d love to help create the right AR experience for your company! No matter where you are in the world, VMA Nordic is ready to expand the reality of your business.

We are a creative VR and AR agency that develops innovative, user-friendly and immersive VR and AR experiences for our customers.

We love new challenges and motivated by setting new standards for what is possible in VR and AR.

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