Facebook and Apple Are About to Take AR Mainstream. Here's How Marketers Are Gearing Up

The UN, Ikea and the PGA Tour hone their augmented-reality chops

This past weekend in New York, the United Nations created a Facebook Live filter for World Humanitarian Day that let users overlay their real-time clips with augmented reality, particularly scrolling copy that told stories about civilians who have been affected by conflict. In Times Square, AR-enhanced videos aired on one of the iconic, commercial intersection’s large billboards. The endeavor was powered by Facebook’s 4-month-old AR system, dubbed Camera Effects Studio, which is getting the attention of brand marketers.

“For us, Facebook is an amazing platform to develop AR on because people are inherently using it already,” said Craig Elimeliah, managing director of creative technology at VML, the UN’s agency.

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This story first appeared in the Aug. 21, 2017, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.