In this article:
- With the increasing demand for AR experiences, Snapchat launched a special studio to deliver them.
- Snapchat also recently showcased its AR capability in a collaboration with Shake Shack called Snap Shack.
- Early adopters can gain cool points but may miss the bigger picture
Magical experiences are now accessible on your phone, thanks to AR, and Snapchat wants to create more of them for brands.
Snap just unveiled a new AR content studio, ArcadiaCreativeStudio.com. The site shows the name ARCADIA with a different colored font for the first two letters to allude to the AR function.
While there really was a place called Arcadia, in literature, the name conjures up a kind of utopia with magical properties. Today we make magic happen through augmented reality (AR), which makes Snapchat’s choice of name a very fitting one.
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The studio is intended to bring to life “the next generation of branded Augmented Reality experiences.”
While Snap’s target audience is no doubt a big part of the drive here, the studio is not limited to its platform. Arcadia is to be empowered to create AR experiences for brands on their choice of platform.
Arcadia has already worked with famous brands like Verizon, WWE, P&G Beauty, and Shake Shack. The last one got special attention this month with a collaboration between the brand and Snapchat during Advertising Week they called The Snap Shack.
Restaurant Business described Shake Shack as more of an immersive experience than a dining one. All food still has to be taken to go because of COVID precautions.
In addition to seeing the activities of a huge, AR-activated French fry, people could play with an AR-powered “‘mirror”” and scan their food packages to see food break into dance on Snapchat.
Shack Snack’s CMO Jay Livingston was quoted, saying, “This experience at our Hudson Yards Shack, which is made complete with an array of Snapchat’s custom lenses and complimentary crinkle-cut fries, will immerse fans into the fun of Shake Shack, while highlighting our commitment to real, premium ingredients in an engaging way.”
Jeff Miller, global head of creative strategy for Snap, Inc., noted that it is also about showcasing Snapchat’s capability: “We see Snap Shack as an opportunity to highlight the power of AR commerce and do it in a really fun way,” he said.
That range of AR creativity is what brands could tap into with the new Arcadia studio. So while driving attention to the host brand, Snapchat was also advertising its new offering.
Ok, and how is this is relevant to your life?
Considering marketers’ never-ending quest for new and exciting ways to convey messages is as furious as ever, news about emerging technologies should be welcomed like extra napkins in a burger joint.
Of course, not all brands jump headlong into a new experience, but as developing stories go this one should definitely stay on your radar in the coming months.
While utilizing new tech gives you coolness points, Early adopters of this technology should bear in mind that there’s more in play here. Using the new data you collect and adding it to your actionable-CDP, is crucial to creating new audience segments and better personalization. Not doing so is ACTUALLY throwing money down the drain.