The UK-based food delivery service is looking into using augmented reality (AR) to advertise its service across social media sites such as Facebook. The plan is to test how effective AR ads are in convincing people to order.
The AR advertisement campaign was developed by agency Byte London, and the campaign will run over Facebook over the net month as part of Just Eat’s campaign centered around the World Cup.
Just Eat will be awarding certain people who download the Just Ear smartphone app with collectible plates featuring illustrations which, when held up to a smartphone camera in the Facebook Messenger app will display the head of ex-footballer John Barnes.
“We don’t do AR for AR’s sake,” said Ben Carter, Just Eat’s marketing director in the U.K. “Everything we do from a social perspective is about driving activity through the funnel. AR isn’t the answer to all marketing, but it does give us a way of engaging with our audiences in a way that you can’t get on other channels.”
The company is considering further tests now that Facebook is sharing more extensive data won advertising campaigns with brands. Just Eat discovered that the first AR effect it ran back in December resulted in a surprising increse in orders.
The data showed 102,000 unique impressions, with 10% of those going on to order from the service within seven days of this initial six-week campaign.
Just Eat piloted its AR ads during the Facebook test of the technology, instead of buying any of Snapchat’s lenses, since the company was unwilling to pay the fees charged by Snapchat, which at the time were as high as $1 million (USD) per day.
Some research has indicated that immersive technology can make adverts more appealing to audiences and consumers, such as 360-degree video adverts increasing the degree of engagement.
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