Have A Coke And A Virtual Smile — Snapchat Teams With Big Brands For Augmented Holiday Market
Have A Coke And A Virtual Smile — Snapchat Teams With Big Brands For Augmented Holiday Market
With (Black) Friday marking the de facto launch of the holiday shopping season, Snap is partnering with some of the world’s leading brands to introduce a “Snap Holiday Market,” leveraging its augmented reality (AR) lenses to create immersive ecommerce experiences accessible via the “For You” tab in the app’s Lens Explorer, or on participating brands’ public Snap profiles.
The new augmented shopping stunt comes as Snap reports new record usage of its AR lenses, which have hit 6 billion plays daily, up from a recent average of about 200 million Snapchatters engaging daily.
The Snap Holiday Market will feature dedicated virtual store experiences from 6 key partners including Amazon Prime Video, Coca-Cola, Hollister, Under Armour, Verizon, and Walmart.
Snapchatters will be able to browse products and holiday deals directly on their phones in an augmented reality (AR) space custom-built for each brand.
Here’s a brief rundown:
– Coca-Cola’s AR room aims to elicit childhood memories of visiting Santa at the mall where users can take a Snap with Santa and explore the space.
– Hollister invites Snapchatters to breeze through its latest winter collection. Each product will contain a direct link to a Hollister microsite so shoppers can make a quick and easy purchase.
-Verizon worked with Snap to develop an AR treasure hunt. Shoppers will navigate a futuristic space, searching for Verizon’s latest holiday deal, which will also be available for purchase directly through the brand Lens.
– In a recent statement, Verizon’s Chief Media Officer Tony Wells said “the Verizon virtual store activation in the Snap Holiday Market delivers a customized and gamified AR shopping environment while providing customers with access to the best holiday deals.”
Under Armour’s virtual holiday shop will feature an ice-covered stadium filled with the brand’s most recent winter activewear.
Walmart has planned to take Snapchatters to an AR store where they will be immersed in Walmart’s holiday gift guide, and will be able to act on last-minute gift ideas.
Snap’s recent statement did not include any information on Amazon Prime’s planned experience.
Luke Kallis, vice president of U.S. Advertiser Solutions at Snap Inc., believes augmented reality is the most effective way for brands to engage with their customers. “At Snap we believe that AR stands not only for augmented reality, but also for Additional Reach and Accelerated Results. With Snapchat now seeing over 6 billion AR Lens plays every day from our community, it’s incredibly exciting to see brands lean into our AR platform at this important time of year.”
According to Snap’s internal data, this year’s in-app holiday sales and brand engagement is looking up.
A study Snap conducted with Deloitte shows that Snap users shop online 20% more than other consumers, and 2 in 3 Snapchatters plan to spend as much or more in 2021 as in 2020.
Likewise, Snap reports seeing a 119% increase in total and online purchases by Snapchatters in November and December 2020 compared to 2019. Lastly, Snap users spend 1.6x more than the average shopper across all Q4 shopping moments.
Alongside the Holiday Market, fashion and beauty brands like Dior, Shein, Tory Burch, and NYX Cosmetics will feature AR try-on Lenses throughout the shopping season. With American Eagle, Fendi, and Kaja Beauty debuting brand new try-on Lenses.
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