AR Marketing Guide: Using Augmented Reality in Your Marketing Strategy
Augmented Reality (AR) marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to create immersive and memorable customer experiences. This guide examines how AR technology transforms marketing strategies across industries—from retail to entertainment.
AR Marketing: What is it?
Augmented Reality (AR) Marketing combines digital technology with the physical world to create engaging brand experiences. Through smartphones and smart glasses, AR Marketing overlays digital content onto real environments, allowing brands to communicate with audiences in immersive and interactive ways. This approach exemplifies the emerging “phygital” (physical + digital) marketing trend, where the line between real and virtual worlds becomes increasingly blurred.
The Role of AR technology in Marketing Strategy
Many people view AR solely as a technology, but we need to look at AR through its specific product applications. Currently, 99% of daily AR usage worldwide comes through AR filters.
People should think about AR primarily through its product environment—mainly AR filters. We need to understand the purpose these filters serve: In today’s digital world, people constantly seek engaging content and digital validation. To receive this validation, they need to create content.
Most people want to create engaging content but prefer not to spend excessive effort doing so. AR filters provide a template for creative content—a shortcut to content creation that delivers that desired digital engagement.
This is precisely why people need these filters, but they must be relevant to specific times and places. When brands understand this dynamic, they can align their AR marketing campaigns with audience needs and achieve success.
The Current State of AR Marketing
When AR emerged five years ago, expectations were high for its role in marketing and communications. However, its adoption hasn’t matched these early predictions. AR filters enjoyed initial success but saw declining engagement after few years.
Marketers’ limited understanding of AR has been the key barrier to its widespread adoption. Many weren’t clear on how AR tools could enhance brand performance or complement existing marketing channels. Consequently, AR features on platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram were often treated as mere add-ons. While some campaigns achieved remarkable results, success remained inconsistent. Today, AR marketing continues to evolve as the technology matures, though it remains in an exploratory phase.
The future of AR marketing shows great promise as we shift toward a mixed reality ecosystem driven by smart glasses, headsets, and wearable devices. For now, focusing on user-centric augmentation delivers the best results.
AR Marketing Platforms Overview
The AR platform landscape has undergone significant changes. After Meta closed its AR filter platform MetaSpark, which powered Instagram filters, the focus shifted from Instagram’s once-dominant position to Snapchat and TikTok. Each platform brings unique strengths: TikTok leads in virality and audience reach, while Snapchat offers a comprehensive suite of features for diverse applications.
Snapchat’s capabilities extend beyond social filters—its Camera Kit SDK enables AR integration across client applications, mobile apps, and websites. This versatility has proven especially valuable for beauty and fashion brands. Following MetaSpark’s closure, we’ve entered a new era of AR adoption, with brands exploring fresh opportunities. The outlook is promising as AR use cases expand across channels. Through Snapchat alone, brands can now deploy AR experiences socially, on the web, within apps, and through physical AR mirrors.
Types of AR Marketing Experiences
AR marketing experiences can be broadly categorized into two main types: user augmentation and environment augmentation. Each type offers unique opportunities and challenges for marketers looking to create engaging brand experiences.
User augmentation
Among AR experience types—marker-based, markerless, location-based, and object recognition and tracking—our five-year experience reveals that user-focused experiences, particularly face and body augmentation, drive the highest engagement. Though applications like lane tracking, object placement in real environments, and target tracking for artworks and clothing show potential, they suffer from technical complexities and lack the personal connection that users seek.
Environment augmentation
Environmental AR applications will likely flourish once integrated into a mixed reality ecosystem accessed through smart glasses, headsets, lenses, or chips. Once freed from smartphone dependencies, these applications could see wider adoption. Currently, however, user augmentation remains the most effective approach to AR experiences.
Explore the Most Fascinating AR Filters by FFFACEWhat Are the Benefits of AR Marketing for Brands?
This is a complex question that hasn’t yet received a comprehensive answer. There’s no single source that fully explains how to apply this marketing tool effectively. Rather than seeking a universal approach, we need to examine the diverse range of use cases and contexts to understand how each AR tool can perform.
Online and offline retail sales growth
For brands seeking to boost their physical retail presence and drive offline sales, AR mirrors and AR storefronts have proven to be remarkably effective tools for increasing foot traffic to brick-and-mortar locations. These installations attract attention, drive store visits, and convert browsers to buyers by bridging digital and physical retail experiences.
Foot traffic increase
Another use case for offline retail involves brands represented in multi-brand retail environments like Sephora. Here, the goal isn’t to drive foot traffic into the store but rather to guide consumers to the brand’s product shelf. Adding an AR mirror or smart screen for virtual product try-ons at the shelf can capture attention and create emotional connections with consumers through a seamless, innovative experience.
Personalized product recommendations
Functionally, this works very well by letting customers try on beauty products virtually instead of physically applying them. For e-commerce sales, several use cases exist. Beauty product websites can integrate WebAR virtual try-on features, enabling customers to test products remotely and make more informed purchase decisions. However, the situation differs significantly for other industries, as virtual try-ons aren’t applicable for products like cars or consumer goods such as food and drinks.
Boost brand awareness
On TikTok, filters have proven to be powerful viral marketing tools, helping brands dramatically increase their visibility through organic sharing and engagement. When filters resonate with users, they can generate millions of impressions across the platform, leading to significant increases in profile visits and follower growth. This enhanced social media presence creates a natural engagement funnel that transforms casual viewers into followers, and ultimately, into customers. The viral nature of TikTok’s algorithm means that well-designed filters can achieve remarkable reach with minimal initial investment, making them particularly effective for driving brand awareness and subsequent sales conversions.
AR Marketing Analytics
Measuring conversion accurately presents challenges, as it’s difficult to track how many profile visits specifically come from AR filters. Snapchat offers a unique advantage by allowing direct website links within filters, enabling tracking of site visits and product purchases from AR experiences. Despite this powerful capability, brands haven’t widely adopted it—possibly due to limited awareness of the tool or Snapchat’s smaller user base.
Ultimately, rather than making broad generalizations about AR performance, we should evaluate each channel individually to determine how AR tools can boost audience engagement and drive results. When implemented strategically, brands can leverage AR to increase both online and offline sales.
AR Marketing Use Cases
AR marketing offers several key use cases with varying performance impacts. AR mirrors in retail locations effectively drive foot traffic and increase offline sales. Virtual try-on features integrated into websites boost online sales directly on the platform. AR integration within brand apps enhances e-commerce performance in the mobile environment. On social platforms, TikTok filters excel at driving brand awareness, while Snapchat filters can both increase brand visibility and generate direct sales.
| AR Type | Key Features | Main Benefits |
| AR Mirrors | Physical installations in retail locations, storefronts and smart screens | Drives foot traffic, increases offline sales, enhances in-store product discovery |
| Social AR Filters | Platform-specific experiences on TikTok and Snapchat | TikTok: Drives virality and brand awareness Snapchat: Enables direct conversions through website links |
| Web/Mobile AR Try-on | Integration into websites and brand apps | Enables remote product trials, drives e-commerce sales, helps with purchase decisions |
| AR Photobooth | Interactive photo experiences at events and venues | Creates memorable experiences with entertainment content, drives event engagement |
| AR Games | Interactive branded gaming experiences | Increases user engagement, extends time spent with brand, enhances entertainment value |
Examples of AR Marketing Campaigns Across Industries
Let’s explore some specific examples of successful AR marketing campaigns.
Beauty
Let’s explore different industries and examples, starting with beauty. AR mirrors are highly effective for driving offline audience engagement. This experience can be implemented in various formats—from large AR mirrors and storefronts to tablet-based small AR mirrors suitable for medium and small retail locations.
Virtual try-on capabilities can be integrated into product packaging using QR codes or NFC chips, allowing customers to seamlessly test products virtually before purchase. For example, we integrated virtual try-on into Makeup By Mario’s website and installed AR mirrors in their Sephora brand zone. Both implementations have boosted brand performance and sales, leading to continued scaling this year. Another success story is our TikTok filter for Fenty Beauty, which generated over 120,000 TikToks and more than 100 million organic impressions within just one month—an impressive outcome given the filter’s cost. This demonstrates AR’s potential for achieving social virality.
For Fenty Beauty, we created the “Which Rihanna are you?” filter and developed NFC beauty stickers—a unique digital product. These physical stickers contain NFC chips that activate AR filters and digital layers, essentially providing pre-installed content creation templates.
This approach particularly resonates with Gen Z, who actively create content. It’s a strategic move, as these products have high Gen Z affinity. The brand uses this product to attract younger audiences and encourage them to explore other brand offerings. These examples showcase the versatility of beauty AR applications: digital products, social AR filters, website virtual try-ons, and mirrors.
Entertainment
Entertainment brands, including movie studios, streaming services, and music providers, have a strong social media presence in their communications. TikTok filters are particularly effective for generating viral content. Let’s look at some recent examples from our work.
We created an AR filter to announce the new Rolling Stones album, and we developed a filter to promote the movie Dune.
The Dune filter generated hundreds of thousands of impressions because it allowed viewers to integrate themselves into the movie trailer using Deepfake AR technology. This resonated strongly with audiences because when people watch new movies, they naturally want to share their experience and opinions. Becoming part of the movie content creates an organic way to share these experiences. In both the movie and music industries, we also leverage the significant event-based component, where AR mirrors help drive engagement.
For this industry, AR photo booths are particularly effective. They allow people to take photos with movie characters or music stars, creating lasting memories of their entertainment experiences. In summary, entertainment marketing primarily relies on two AR tools: AR mirrors and social filters.
Fashion
In fashion, we have an even broader variety of AR use cases, from entertaining filters on TikTok or Snapchat that promote specific releases or drops, to virtual try-on experiences for clothing from new collections. These virtual experiences can be scaled to online websites and brand apps through Snap Camera Kit integration. Additionally, there’s a wide range of cross-platform digital experiences. With clothing, we can create what we call semi-digital items, AR-enabled items, or digital items.
The key innovation is that physical items can include an augmented digital layer, which consumers access through QR codes on clothing items to trigger AR filters. We have evidence that this use case drives both online and offline sales. It’s particularly relevant today, as fashion isn’t just about physical appearance—it’s also about how you look online and in content. By augmenting your clothing items, you can create engaging online content. You can also implement AR installations offline by setting up iPads in front of clothing shelves to display AR layers to store visitors.
Another key use case for fashion is AR mirrors. We have an example where AR storefronts generated nearly 20,000 interactions in just one week. AR storefronts drive traffic inside stores while enabling seamless virtual try-ons, virtual changing rooms, and other innovative formats. Beyond AR, fashion brands have natural opportunities to integrate into the gaming world by creating in-game versions of their items, promoting their brand to younger audiences who actively participate in games like Fortnite or Roblox. When players wear cool branded items in-game, they’re more likely to purchase them offline due to brand loyalty.
FMCG
Moving forward to FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods), the main focus is on creating awareness for new products and special offers. The primary tools are creative, fun, entertaining filters on social media—including both standard filters and game-based ones. For example, a game might involve collecting Coca-Cola bottles during Christmas periods to receive rewards, or using AR mirrors in offline retail to boost engagement through product sampling and new product promotions. Additionally, physical products can incorporate AR through NFC chips or QR codes on packaging, allowing brands to deliver additional product information in an entertaining format.
These features also encourage user-generated content with their products. To sum up, FMCG success in AR primarily relies on three elements: AR filters on TikTok and Snapchat, AR mirrors for offline retail, and digitally-enhanced product packaging.
Automotive
Lastly, in the automotive sector, the most popular use case is showcasing new cars through plane-tracking AR, where a life-sized car appears in the user’s environment. Users can rotate the vehicle, examine the interior, and explore its features without being physically present. Another use case involves augmenting cars during auto shows or in showrooms using large displays. This works like a reversed AR mirror—instead of displaying towards users, it projects towards the car, adding a digital augmented layer over the vehicle.
When customers receive their car, they can access additional overlays that highlight specific features of their vehicle.
Other industries
To sum up, AR is an industry-agnostic tool, and the industries we’ve mentioned are not the complete list of those that can apply AR. For example, there are various successful projects for nonprofits and social organizations. Our filter for LGBTQ Tech USA received very high engagement and won an award. We’ve also created filters for One Tree Planted, CARE, and dozens of other social organizations. AR can effectively boost governmental initiatives as well.
During the COVID pandemic, for instance, a viral filter promoted wearing masks to save lives. Many other examples exist online. The key question isn’t what industry you’re working in—it’s what goals you want to achieve and through which channels.
Once these are determined, the relevant AR tool can be identified and evaluated.
AR Marketing Best Practices
Let’s explore key AR marketing best practices to create effective campaigns. These core principles help maximize AR’s potential in your marketing strategy by creating engaging experiences that connect with your audience.
AR is a Communication Tool, Not a Magic Pill
First, AR is not a magic solution—it’s a channel for delivering your message effectively. To maximize its potential, we must ground it in relevant cultural context and combine it with compelling creative ideas. Your approach should blend product and brand messaging with cultural elements that connect with your target audience in their specific time and place. When crafting AR experiences, avoid treating them like conventional advertising formats such as banners.
Focus on Insights and Cultural Context in Specific Time and Location
We should think of AR as an instrument for user-generated content that empowers consumers to create and share.
During creative development, we need to use audience interests as our starting point. The formula works like this: We analyze insights and interests of our target audience, then create tools that help them produce engaging, viral content for their social networks. In exchange, the brand receives awareness and other conversions.
To receive value, we must first provide value through the filter. The key questions when evaluating a creative idea are: Is this filter relevant to our target audience? Will it enable our audience to create content that engages their followers?
Multi-Channel Integration
A crucial component of AR marketing involves combining AR tools with additional marketing channels. Let’s give you a vivid example to explain this point. If you launch a TikTok filter only on TikTok, you’ll reach just the TikTok audience.
But if you share it through email newsletters, distribute it via QR codes offline, and integrate it into your billboard advertising, you’ll generate much more engagement. This way, offline empowers online, creating an ecosystem where all tools work together seamlessly. These are the two main pillars: having a relevant creative idea and integrating AR with other instruments to strengthen each other.
How AI and AR Are Evolving Together
AI is now organically integrated into the world of AR, enhancing experiences from creative perspectives and enabling new ways of user transformation. This integration has led to AI-generated AR experiences. For example, on Snapchat and TikTok, you can create an AR filter simply by entering a text prompt.
A good analogy is that AR serves as the showcase for user experience, while AI functions as the brain that helps develop the visual elements. In development terms, AR acts as the front end, while AI operates as the back end. These technologies are now deeply interconnected, and soon every AR experience will incorporate AI components in some way.
One fascinating use case is the integration of conversational AI with voice recognition in AR experiences, allowing users to interact verbally with AR filters.
Whether on phone, AR mirror, or other AR interfaces, users can speak directly with the filter. The filter understands user speech and adds objects or visuals that represent its response. For instance, a user might say, “Can you recommend makeup products based on my appearance, skin tone, hair color, and lip shape?” The filter will then suggest suitable products, display their packaging, and virtually apply them.
How Can Brands Measure the ROI of AR Marketing Campaigns?
To measure return on investment (ROI) from AR marketing, brands should first set clear sales conversion goals and build a comprehensive sales funnel. They need to calculate how many items they must sell to cover their investment in AR filters. For example, if a brand sells lipsticks at $10 each and creates a filter for $10,000, they would need to sell at least 1,000 items from this activation.
This is a realistic target, as some TikTok filters generate hundreds of thousands of pieces of user-generated content (UGC). This volume of UGC typically leads to hundreds of thousands of profile visits, which can convert to tens of thousands of link clicks and ultimately thousands of purchases. The ROI can be measured directly through this conversion process.
The key is to clearly define your goals and maintain a detailed understanding of your sales funnel.
Tips for brands to make AR campaign go viral
To create a viral AR campaign, brands need to deeply understand their target audience’s context and current trends. The key is identifying the most relevant, appealing, and engaging calls to action for your specific audience at that particular moment. Our case for LGBT Tech illustrates this approach perfectly—we recognized that during Pride Month, people would be interested in engaging with Pride-related questions.
We also understood that presenting answers through surprise makeup effects would resonate with the audience. This created an experience that was relevant both in its informational content and visual presentation.
How to Implement AR into Your Marketing Campaign
There’s no universal rule for applying marketing tools in your communications, including AR. For some brands, AR may be completely irrelevant—just as social media marketing, email marketing, or PR might not suit others. The key is to start from the fundamentals: What are you selling? What’s your value proposition? Who is your target audience?
Consider your audience’s digital and offline habits. What communication touchpoints can you add to your marketing ecosystem? If AR tools prove relevant for your specific audience and these touchpoints, proceed with understanding their current cultural context and trends. From there, develop creative ideas that integrate your brand messaging effectively. This strategic approach ensures your AR implementation aligns with your overall marketing goals.
Get Started with AR Marketing TodayReady to transform your marketing strategy with AR?
Whether you’re in retail, entertainment, fashion, or any other industry, AR offers innovative ways to engage customers and drive results. Ready to explore how AR can transform your marketing strategy? Contact FFFACE.ME today for a consultation and discover the perfect AR solutions for your brand. Remember: success in AR marketing isn’t about following a universal formula—it’s about creating relevant, engaging experiences that resonate with your specific audience while seamlessly integrating with your existing marketing channels.
