Six months ago Instagram opened the possibility for users to create their own story masks. Now everyone can become a Creator and release their simple filter in just a few minutes.
For most users, this is just fun, but for artists, influencers, and even more so brands, this is an amazing way to promote. The creator of the most recognizable plastic mask Beauty3000, a designer from Berlin Johanna Jaskowska, became the most popular AR artist on Instagram. Her filter was watched more than 500 million times, about 800 thousand people subscribed to the previously unknown profile @johwska.
At the end of February 2020, St. Petersburg artist Polina Osipova made an Instagram filter for Gucci. The girl created a mask based on one of her works - a pearl kokoshnik with the silhouette of surveillance cameras, and the next day she woke up famous.
What did Polina get? Mentioning her name in brand account, who is followed by hundreds of thousands of users per day, and dozens of media publications. What did Gucci get? Tons of user-generated content and the status of a philanthropist brand supporting young artists. But this is not the whole profit that brands can get from creating Instagram masks.
Increase subscriptions
To get some masks, one has to subscribe to their author. After that, all masks are automatically loaded into his Stories camera. These mechanics lead to the organic growth of subscribers in the account.
Increase brand awareness
By adding native branding to the mask, you can unobtrusively remind users of your brand. For example, Disney added Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears mask at first. With the advent of the trend for randomizer masks, the brand created the “What kind of Disney character are you?” filter.
Increase sales
Fashion brand Michael Kors was one of the first to come up with glasses virtual try-on masks, and beauty brand Sephora suggested try-on make-up masks, to help choose and buy the product you like.
To beat competitors
Burger King allowed subscribers to “burn” McDonald’s ads and get a whopper for that. To do this, one had to direct the camera to a competitor’s advertisement and click the “Burn that ad” button. The idea is implemented in Burger King's own app, although available on Instagram.
Create a newsmaker
Back to the brand, we started with: in 2018, Gucci released a mask for the Gucci Beauty line of cosmetics in Renaissance and Baroque styles. Result: all the fashion and digital publications wrote about it, and thanks to the new product, users first learned about the existence of a Gucci Beauty account.
Summary
If you are a B2C brand and do not make an Instagram mask in 2020, you will lose. By 2022, the augmented reality market will grow 12 times and special effects will finally take over our worldview. In order to catch this train in the future, you’ll have to make titanic efforts and budgets.
But if you manage to create something beautiful and viral that captures the stories of your audience, you will become dearly loved and will be able to natively brand personal photos of users.
Well, a few words about Coronavirus for dessert Wowfilterscom creator launched a filter game where the user has to defeat the viruses using his huge 3D tongue. But, unlike real life, in augmented reality, you have 3 lives in reserve.
