Tony Parisi, Unity’s Global Head of VR/AR Brand Solutions grabbed me after our panel on food tech at the NY Food Festival to tell me about an upcoming announcement of a special project he’d been working on for the better part of the year: making Unity’s massive mobile ad platform serve AR ads. “Most people don’t know we have a mobile ad serving business of massive scale, one of the largest in the world,” Parisi told me. “By adding AR as a one-click option for developers we’re going to be a go-to platform for interactive 3D advertising.” At the Fast Company Innovation Festival breakout session on Wednesday, which took place in the offices of 360i, a creative agency in Manhattan, Unity came together with brand advertiser Fossil and 360i to talk about its pilot AR-enabled ads.
Fossil and 360i were looking for a holiday campaign that would encourage consumers to try on their new watches virtually to deepen engagement with their products. The ad needed to include both female and male watches (so it could be customized). They believed that an AR ad would best serve to get consumers more engaged with their products without having to go into a brick and mortar store.
“With a focus on innovation in marketing, our team is always staying up to date with the latest technology and trends. We also have members of the team who have experience with AR concepting so had an idea of what was possible,” Charlotte Roach, Global Senior Marketing Manager, Fossil, explained in response to my email. “Unity was selected to be our partner as they had the most effective solution for delivering a best-in-class AR experience at scale.”
“Our ad services are at a huge scale already,” said Parisi. Unity has the largest in-game mobile ad network, addressing 1.5B devices globally and serving over 9 BN global ad impressions monthly. Ads are how mobile apps and games make money. Unity makes a commission when its partners are paid by advertisers. Both FB and Snap also serve interactive 3D ads.
“Fossil came up with the concept to use AR in a way that was purposeful and could provide a unique product engagement and try-on experience for our customers. We were fortunate to then partner with Unity to further develop this concept and bring it to life,” Roach explained. Unity has also been working on AR ad pilots with a number of other brands.
ARKit/ARCore surface detection is built into Unity’s ad creation tools, making it simple for developers to place objects like a car exactly where they need to be to create a convincing illusion. “Creative uses of media is what I’m most excited about,” Parisi told me.
“It’s gratifying to see the creativity Unity is unleashing,” said Parisi, “and because we’ve already got the scale lots of people are already seeing this amazing work.” Indeed, it is taking something Unity partners are already doing and making it much better. “We were excited to be able to bring a unique product experience to all consumers at scale, especially reaching those who don't live within the vicinity of a Fossil store location,” added Roach.
“Early data suggests AR-enabled ads are super engaging,” Parisi says. “This is just the beginning.”
