It was only a matter of time before selfies and shopping
began to merge, right? Snapchat has just released its newest offering that they
call “shoppable AR” (e.g. shoppable augmented reality). It takes Snapchat
lenses that are sponsored by brands and adds a button that takes users directly
to a landing page for shopping, an app-install page, or a video or website… all
without leaving the Snapchat app.
Snapchat was one of the earlier innovators of augmented
reality (AR), bring fun “lenses” that users could overlay on top of their
selfies or videos. Snapchat first monetized this with paid lenses that brands
sponsored and tailored to feature their products or reflect their brand
identities. As a Marketer, its hard for me to believe that advertisers would be
interested in sponsoring these lenses and driving this type of engagement with
users without having an immediate way to take the user to a customized
landing page. One of the great things about paid social advertising is its
ability to collapse the funnel and make purchases only a click away from the
user engagement. Until shoppable AR was released, this benefit just wasn’t as
apparent in the Snapchat app.
The shoppable AR lenses are sold to advertisers just like
the company’s broader catalog of sponsored lenses. Snapchat’s automated, self-service
platform is now ready for Shoppable AR purchases, or they can be purchased
through company sales reps. So far brands such as Adidas, Clairol, and STX
movie studio have piloted Shoppable AR with success.
While this is being touted as Snapchats latest innovation,
it seems more like a no-brainer to me. Or perhaps a why-haven’t-you-already-done-this?
Regardless, I wouldn’t be surprised if this became standard for paid lenses in
the future since it seems to provide significantly more value to those buying
the ads.
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