Reinventing Nepalese Festivals with AR Filters
CEO, Co-founder, Esfera | Nov 2021
The Project:
An AR Marketing Campaign featuring AR filters on Facebook and Instagram and a Festival-themed Photo Collage Generator
My Role:
- Wireframing
- User Testing
- Social Media Marketing
Tools I Used:
- Figma
- Google Workspace
- Facebook, Instagram
Introduction
Bhai Tika, the most cherished day of Tihar, is celebrated on the premise of love, puja, beautiful hues, flowers, and delicacies prepared especially for one’s brother. The merry day perfectly wraps up the festival of lights with feelings of love and renewal of the brother-sister bond.
However, for many, Tihar is no longer as shiny as it once used to be. With many Nepalese now choosing to work and live abroad, many brothers are left with empty foreheads and countless sisters have no one to put tika on.
Technology has thankfully shown to be a two-way street. While the abundance of pictures of families enjoying the festival together on social media feeds heightens the sense of loss, these same platforms are also giving people many options to have upgraded virtual experiences with their loved ones.
Ideation
At Esfera, our goal was always to craft unique and memorable experiences for our audience. As the festive season of Dashain and Tihar approached, our team set out to brainstorm ideas for an innovative social media marketing campaign that would go beyond the usual “Happy Dashain” and “Happy Tihar” posts. We decided to push boundaries by experimenting with Augmented Reality (AR) campaigns.
Our first step was the release of a Dashain AR filter on Facebook and Instagram. The filter was warmly embraced by our audience, friends, and family, and its reach extended far beyond our expectations. With thousands of captures, it became one of our most successful campaigns on social media.
Encouraged by the overwhelming response to the Dashain filter, we aimed to create an even more engaging experience for Tihar. In addition to an AR filter, we introduced a collage maker that allowed brothers and sisters to compile their AR captures into a personalized collage and share it on social media, deepening user engagement and celebrating the spirit of Tihar in a creative and interactive way.
AR Filter
We developed Bhaitika AR filters using Spark AR and launched them on Instagram and Facebook, allowing users to virtually wear the iconic seven-hue tika of Bhaitika with just a tap. This filter gave people the chance to take selfies with the tika and share them with their friends and followers on social media.
Creating and testing the Bhaitika AR filter was a particularly meaningful experience for me. Like many siblings, my brother and I had a classic love-hate relationship growing up. But ever since he moved to Australia, I missed him deeply, especially during Tihar, and most of all on Bhaitika. So, I was excited to involve him in testing the Bhaitika filter.
After a bit of persuasion, he agreed to help me out. While testing the filter together, I realized that beyond just creating collage images, the filter offered an incredibly immersive experience during Instagram video calls. It brought a whole new layer of connection, making it feel like we were celebrating Bhaitika together, despite the distance.
"Tadha ko Tihar" AR Campaign
We launched the Bhaitika AR filter campaign through Esfera’s social media channels as well as those of our team members.
The response was immediate and heartwarming. Users embraced the filter in various ways—capturing and sharing photos using the AR filter in their stories, using it during Instagram video calls, and creating personalized collages with the Bhaitika filter on social media.
Final Thoughts
At Esfera, we used AR filters to engage our audience on social media in an entirely new way. This campaign demonstrated how companies can leverage emerging technologies like Augmented Reality to execute innovative and memorable marketing strategies. While AR is already making waves in industries like medical training, retail (think Ikea), and education, its potential in marketing is still largely untapped. By embracing AR, businesses and brands can create immersive experiences that strengthen their identity and leave a lasting impression in the online social space.