Although Instagram opened its Spark AR platform in August 2019, the avalanche of custom filters took place at the end of 2019 and in January 2020. Usage figures are impressive and show that this trend goes well beyond the anecdotal. What opportunities for brands in France?
A lasting and massive trend: the gamification of stories
For example, the “In 2020, I will be” filter generated nearly 2 billion impressions on the platform and was used more than 330 million times. Remember that Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million daily. And the speed of propagation is also impressive. The “Which dog are you” filter generated nearly 100 million impressions, 60 million of them in the first seven days after its publication.
Instagram had sensed the limits of the app and of the selfie in the self-consciousness it created among users, who showed themselves to their community and could be judged on the volume of likes or comments. Stories, ephemeral & with no engagement counter, allowed users to post more freely and feel less inhibited.
Filters are part of this movement too, since they are so many pretexts to stage oneself with an idea, a setting, a concept that lets you play and share a moment with friends. The phenomenon could therefore be more lasting than a simple trend because it answers a usage, a need and a user pain point well. In this sense, the article
An opportunity for brands to create non-intrusive experiences
Brands can also develop their own filter and offer it to their community. This is possible notably by listing them on one’s Instagram profile with a specific tab accessible only from the mobile app.
In France, Louis Vuitton for its campaign and partnership around League Of Legends, or McDonald’s with “Quel McDo es-tu ?”, have tried it.
The interest for brands is to create a connection with users that goes beyond the simple ad impression. Different levels of experience can be categorised:
✦ The artistic effect: it lets users beautify themselves or add visual elements to their field of view with a reference to the brand.
✦ The Q&A: A quiz offered by the brand to get a random answer.
✦ The product catalogue: a scroll through products to find which product suits you best.
How to promote your Instagram filter?
It is also possible to promote your filter through campaigns on Instagram Stories with video or video carousel formats. Users can discover the effect directly in Instagram and, by swiping up, trigger it to use it and post it in their own stories. Here are a few examples spotted in February on the French market with The Kooples, Tommy Hilfiger and Dior Parfums.
It is also possible to mobilise influencers who will use it and spread it to their community. Their followers can then reuse it by clicking on the filter name at the top under the account handle. It can be worthwhile, in both Stories advertising campaigns and influence campaigns, to pair the promotion of the filter with a contest or a challenge. Brands can then track the volume of people reached and the volume of uses of their filter.
To go further, we recommend reading this article published by Engadget by Rachel England.
And otherwise, we confirm that at tigrz we have fully fallen for the trend. So know that there is a majority of Shibas and one Saint Bernard behind your campaigns. Pikachus are also well represented.
Going further: our Content & Influence expertise ; tigrz’s social media content strategy.
On the same topic: « Channels on Instagram: analysis and opportunities as seen by the tigrz! » and « Ad formats: the keys to building an effective content strategy ».
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