Snap Canada GM Matt McGowan on the Growing Ubiquity of AR

Brands want to be where their users are, and with over 375 million daily users worldwide, Snap Inc. is innovating every day to provide users with the power of AR for fun and utility like shopping, product, and brand discovery. Over 300,000 creators, developers and teams have built more than 3 million AR Lenses globally, and AR developers are building strong businesses on the platform.

Matt McGowan Talks About AR

As General Manager for Snap in Canada, Matt McGowan can speak to what he’s seen over the past three years leading the tech giant here in Canada, and specifically speak to the many ways he’s seeing augmented reality positively impact and elevate how Canadian brands do business.

1 - How can brands begin to integrate AR technology into marketing efforts and campaigns?

Well, before jumping into advertising or marketing on any platform, it’s crucial to define what it is that you’re hoping to drive for your business. Determining your business objectives helps inform your campaign goals as well as the KPIs you’ll use to measure that goal against. For example, are you looking to build brand awareness? Are you looking to differentiate your brand? Are you looking to drive continued interest among loyal consumers; or are you looking for conversion? Depending on your campaign goal(s), there are different ways to utilise AR to optimise campaign performance. Another thing I like to underscore when this question comes up, is that Marketers shouldn’t view AR as just a ‘one off’ or an ‘add-on’, but rather an always-on tool to build and amplify brand messaging. As you begin or revisit your business’s brand marketing development, keep in mind that AR can help you amplify brand awareness and provide unique and immersive experiences that can’t be achieved through other formats.

2 - What industries can benefit most from being early adopters of AR technology?

We are seeing a variety of industries from retail and QSR, to CPG and entertainment realise great success with AR. Even higher consideration purchases like Auto and Telecom are leaning in as this Jeep case study and our new Bell 5G partnership reflect. Frankly, we’re at a unique moment of inflection where consumers are really dialed into AR and brands have a unique opportunity to leverage that. Let’s just take retail for example; using the power of AR, consumers are able to go from ‘that hat – or those glasses – or those shoes look great’, to ‘wow, these items look really great on me.’ Research has shown that interaction with products that have AR experiences leads to a staggering 94% higher conversion rate. So I’d say, most industries can benefit from utilising AR technology to engage with and delight consumers.

3 - What brands are you seeing actively pursuing AR and doing it well?

There are too many to name (which is a good thing!), and of all sizes; mom and pop shops to massive household names like Walmart, H&M and Amazon are utilising AR to drive performance and real value for their consumers. What I’m able to glean from the way so many brands are successfully utilising AR, is that their focus is really on personalising the experience and putting the consumer at the centre of the shopping journey.

4 - What are your expectations for AR in 2023?

While augmented reality has been a hot topic as of late, the potential of AR technology is still underestimated and use cases are somewhat misunderstood by many decision-makers. A recent study with Ipsos unveiled a gap between how brands were approaching AR and what consumers were expecting. While we are seeing more brands recognize and harness the power of AR, the study found that a majority (90 per cent) of brands assume that AR is primarily for fun – but only 55 per cent of consumers think of it this way. For example, more than half of Canadians now identify shopping as a top reason for using AR and 76% of Canadian consumers are interested in using AR to interact with a product before buying. In 2023, I expect that brands and advertisers will shift the way they think about AR and lean into consumer needs and expectations around the utility of AR.

5 - How will Snap continue to evolve to better serve AR demands of customers?

Innovation is key. We will continue to stay laser-focused on expanding the ways in which we provide AR experiences to our community and working with advertisers and brands to showcase the true value and utility that can be realised with Snap’s AR. The potential is huge; as Snapchat sees over 6 billion AR Lens plays per day on average (globally) and more than 250 million people engage with AR on Snapchat every day. It’s also estimated that by 2025, around 75% of the Canadian population and almost all people who use social / communication apps will be frequent AR users. We have so much runway and untapped potential with AR, which is what makes it so exciting. The possibilities are endless.

Matt McGowan is the Director and General Manager of Snap Inc Canada, the camera company that owns Snapchat, Spectacles, Toronto based Bitmoji, and Zenly.