You have probably already played around with Snapchat and Facebook AR filters — from animal ears, to zombie faces and even face swapping with friends. But have you ever thought about the benefits of creating your own? Well we’ve written about why you should!
Simplicity of Filters
Snapchat has released Create Your Own Lens, allowing you to create customised filters and lenses using pre-built templates. The company also launched Lens Studio back in December 2017 — a software that gives professional and novice creators the opportunity to design their own filters and lenses. After importing 2D or 3D artwork into the software, users bring their creation to life through interactive triggers and animations! Additionally, advertisers can purchase World Lenses, which uses the phone’s rear camera to display an augmented world filled with rainbows, flowers and various other animations. The simplicity of AR tools means that anyone can tell a story that audiences can interact with.
Using similar ideas, Facebook introduced Spark AR Studio, a powerful medium for creators to bring their art to life in front of a large digital audience. In 2017, when Facebook launched the Camera Effects Platform, communication on the platform became more exciting with AR interactive filters, frames and effects. Through Spark AR Studio, developers and artists now build their own AR experiences. After an individual’s filter, interactive effects or animation is approved, it is then published in the new Facebook camera.
Also, Frame Studio, a web-based application, can also be utilised to create AR Facebook filters. Anyone with a Facebook page or profile is able to design a frame. This is then published in the camera and newsfeed alongside the creator’s name. Super simple, right?
Marketing
AR is of developing interest in the marketing industry, with more examples shown in our article ’10 Best Uses of AR Marketing by Companies’. Custom filters and lenses have a lot of potential in marketing. They enable the creation of AR that can be relevant to specific events, businesses and more. Fun, immersive tools such as these are currently very beneficial, particularly since millennial users have greatly integrated these AR experiences into their daily lives, with Adweek reporting that users send more than 2.5 billion Snapchats a day — that’s a lot of selfies!
Through users experimenting, playing and social sharing, the level of brand engagement increases, generating greater awareness. In collaboration with MTG Creative, we at Mbryonic created fun Facebook lenses to promote their Swedish TV shows. In ‘Are You The One, Sweden’ we designed an algorithm to detect whether two individuals who are looking at the screen are a potential match, whilst in ‘Parneviks’ you are added in as part of the cast. We have also created a Facebook filter, which changes your face into Donald Trump, allowing individuals to pretend to be the president … Maybe you can actually make America great again!
Moreover, Snapchat has partnered with numerous agencies, running over 100 sponsored lenses. Taco Bell, for example, created a lens where one’s head turns into a taco. It was reported by Adweek that the brand set a record by having their lens viewed more than 224 million times!
These companies have discovered a new side to their brand’s voice. Through the medium of organic sharing they are able to create unique memories for users. AR for brand growth is so successful that Google, Apple and Amazon are now developing AR too!
Price & Accessibility
What makes these tools appealing is that they are user-friendly and do not require any advanced technical skills. This means anyone can develop a frame, filter and/or lens. Just pick a subject of your choice and get started!
Another benefit is that it is cheap to create these filters & lenses. The price of a filter or lens on Snapchat is determined by your geofence and how long you want it to run for. For instance, a filter covering a single football match will be cheaper than a filter used for the World Cup.
Lastly, Facebook and Snapchat can be accessed across any iOS and Android smart device. This makes the created AR filters more accessible and shareable across diverse platforms.
Overall, these applications are giving individuals and businesses a voice, capturing user experiences in a fun and simple manner. It is a step in the right direction for AR to expand, and who wouldn’t want more entertaining selfies?
Interested in getting an AR filter made for you or maybe you want to know how to use AR to market your company, then don’t hesitate to contact us!