Tag: Instagram

India – Global broadcasting news company BBC News in India has teamed up with AliveNow, a global creative tech studio, for a campaign that sees the fusion of both OOH and augmented reality.

BBC news has launched its very own Instagram AR effect that will give users the opportunity to be part of the BBC News billboard, with the BBC audio track even playing in the background.

The campaign is to encourage its audience to ‘make more of their world’. BBC News said the initiative reflects its ambition to represent all those that come to them for trustworthy, impartial journalism. 

“Through this initiative, we are taking our commitment to ‘make more of your world’ to our audiences in the comfort of their own homes. With the help of this idea, we intend to engage with our audience at a deeper level and offer an honest opportunity to be part of our campaign. For this innovation, we’ve worked closely with the AliveNow team and are pleased with the fantastic outcome. I invite everyone to join in and be part of our campaign,” said Tejash Kothari, marketing manager of BBC News in the Asia Pacific.

The campaign is a first of its kind. The new Instagram AR effect is made available in six Indian languages, and offers three different billboard styles in various environments to select from.

Raghav Sharma, account manager at AliveNow India, shared, “It was exciting to partner with BBC News India to bring to their audience for the first time ever, a chance to see themselves on a BBC billboard through an Augmented Reality filter on Instagram. We hope that users are delighted by this Spark AR experience and tune-in to BBC in their regional language.”

The news company also encourages users to tag them when posting Instagram stories using the new filter for a chance to be on an actual BBC billboard.

California, USA – Instagram launched a new streaming feature for creators, ‘Live Rooms’, which has been upgraded to now enable up to four streamers to run a broadcast session. 

With the update, Instagram aims to provide more creative opportunities for the users, such as starting a talk show, hosting a jam session or co-creating with other artists, or to simply hang out with friends. 

Furthermore, the platform’s Live Room was also recently enhanced to give creators more means to build a business and earn money, as viewers can now purchase badges of their favorite creators and use other interactive features like Shopping and Live Fundraisers. Instagram said that in the coming months, users can expect more interactive tools, such as offering moderator controls and audio features.

To start a Live Room, hosts will have to swipe left and pick the Live Camera option. Afterward, they must add a title and tap the Rooms icon to add the guests. People who have requested to go live with the host will appear. While the hosts can also search for guests to add. Guests’ followers can also be notified to increase the live stream’s reach.

Instagram also assures that the new update was designed with safety in mind. Users that are blocked by any participants in the Live Room will not be able to join the live stream, as well as guests who have had their live access revoked because of violations of the Community Guidelines.

The current available features for Live Room hosts include the ability to report and block comments and apply comment filters.

Instagram said the updated Live Rooms will soon be available globally.

Singapore – Local commerce platform SHOPLINE is now enabling its online merchants to use Facebook’s Business Extension that allows them to sell on Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping.

The recent announcement comes during the course of the global pandemic, where small-medium enterprises (SMEs) are pushing their businesses online, and in line with Facebook’s launch of Facebook Shops last May this year, which allows brands to showcase their products on their Facebook page and Instagram profile in a way that feels native and tailored to the brand image.

“We are excited to work with Facebook to offer direct access to Facebook Shops. We are committed to helping our merchants grow and leverage omnichannel means to spur their own growth amidst these challenging times. We firmly believe that this partnership will help our merchants to be better attuned to their customers’ needs and ultimately, empower them to grow and scale their businesses,” said Jeff Lim, general manager for SHOPLINE Singapore.

As SHOPLINE is one of the few Facebook partners in APAC that integrate the business extension, SHOPLINE merchants are also enabled connect to customers via Messenger and WhatsApp, increase business’s product visibility, and sync more data fields, such as age group, material, brand, gender, Google and Facebook product category.

Malaysia – In its continuing foray to integrating augmented reality (AR) into their marketing projects, local-based digital marketing agency Webqlo announces a new Instagram AR filter for Taiwan Excellence, a movement that promotes Taiwanese products and services.

The Instagram filter is developed in line with Taiwan Excellence’s “#EverydayExcellence Selfie & Win” contest for Malaysian participants, and encourages users to use the filter, share it on Instagram and Facebook to grab a chance to win prizes from the contest holder. .

The contest promotes engagement on Malaysian users to look into the promotions of Taiwan Excellence, including Taiwanese products, services and businesses.

“We’re very excited to work with them to launch this #EverydayExcellence contest as a new way to engage with their audience and also to try out AR, which is new to the brand. This is inline with the brand’s focus on innovation and response from the audience has been very encouraging as well,” Cherrie Koay, head of digital for Webqlo stated.

Koay also added that brands are increasingly investing in interactive strategies like this in a way to create more engagement in a digital aspect.

“Interactive experiences like AR and VR are fast becoming an integral part of social media marketing, especially during this pandemic. We’re seeing a lot of brands investing in AR and VR to engage with their audience in more immersive and interactive ways digitally. From launching fun branding filters to offering experiences that are typically only available in-store, brands are leveraging on these technologies to blur the lines between the virtual world and the real world.  These new technologies are definitely here to stay and will change the way we consume social media,” Koay said.

Webqlo has also worked with other AR-related projects before, including brands such as South Korean cosmetics brand LANEIGE and ZA Cosmetics.

Singapore – Insurance company AIA Singapore has announced that it will be offering a complimentary insurance plan called AIA #ShareTheLove, specifically dedicated to essential workers, where beneficiaries will be nominated through Facebook or Instagram.

The company said that the new insurance plan is part of its efforts to pay tribute to essential workers. The plan will cover COVID-19 and 21 infectious diseases including dengue fever.

The nomination started yesterday, September 9, where members of the public may nominate a family member or a friend provided that the individual is an essential worker and a Singapore resident.

Those who wish to nominate will be asked to post a photo or video of the essential worker on their Facebook or Instagram page and include a message of appreciation with at least 100 words with a focus on the person’s story of resilience and why the insurance is the best gift for him or her. According to the mechanics, the post, in order to qualify must be set to public, must tag AIA Singapore’s social media accounts, and should include the hashtags #ShareTheLove and #AIASG.

Once a story is selected, AIA will be giving the free insurance to both the person who submitted the story and the nominee.

The initiative is part of a regional AIA #ShareTheLove movement taking place across Asia. The movement also saw the implementation of other assistance programs such as AIA representatives’ pledge to donate a portion of their policy sales towards the company’s adopted charities.

AIA Singapore Chief Customer and Digital Officer Melita Teo said, “These workers have put the communities’ needs above their own health and wellbeing. Aside from COVID-19, the exposure to infectious diseases is not over even after ending their work, as dengue cases continue to plague homes. By engaging the help of the community at large, we hope to play a part in bringing more of these amazing stories of resilience to light and paying tribute to our essential workforce. This is a little gesture of appreciation for the sacrifices that they have and continue to make as we deal with this crisis.”

United States – The incumbent chief marketing officer of Facebook, Antonio Lucio took to their own social media platform the announcement of his resignation, which will be effective Sept. 18. 

Lucio said that his decision to step down was due to his desire to refocus his time on advocating for causes of diversity and inclusion, issues which have demanded greater attention in the past few months in the United States. 

“Given the historical inflection point we are in as a country regarding racial justice, I have decided to dedicate 100% of my time to diversity, inclusion, and equity,” wrote Lucio.

In May, a series of protests for racial justice began in the US when African-American George Floyd was killed by a white police officer during an arrest in Minneapolis city. 

Lucio said, “‘Although these issues have been core to my personal purpose for many years, and they were an important element of my work, I want to make them my sole focus.” 

Come September, Lucio will have served a total of two years on Facebook. In his post, he recounted the projects that the company has launched under his leadership and said that although there is “still a lot of work to be done, [there] is a strong foundation from which to build.”

“The work and progress made over the last two years [are] all due and thanks to [the team]: “More Together” for Facebook app, “It’s Between You” for WhatsApp, the Instagram anti-bullying platform, the launch of Messenger Rooms, “Never Alone,” “Born in Quarantine” and the launch of a new identity system for the corporate brand.”

Expressing his confidence to the team ahead, he wrote, “This team is ready to deliver its best work yet.”

Meanwhile, Facebook said that they support Lucio’s decision. 

“Antonio did incredible work telling our story during a transformative period for the company, “ a spokesperson said.

“[Facebook is] grateful for his enormous contributions and wish him well in his next chapter.”