Date:
Sep 1, 2021
Author:
James Johenning
01
The Problem
Brands need social-native reach on a schedule and a budget. Traditional media is expensive, passive and slow; audiences scroll past it. The commercial question: how do you generate real participation around a launch without a per-campaign reinvention every time?
02
The Listen
Audiences don’t watch AR — they play with it and share it, which is exactly what the platforms’ algorithms reward. The insight was to treat AR not as a novelty but as a repeatable content format that rides platform distribution for free.
03
The Activation
I built a productionized pipeline — concept, 3D, animation, publish — deployable across TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, and ran it for Amazon, Netflix, Google, HBO, Warner Music Group and Hulu. Each activation is native to its moment but produced from a shared, efficient system.
04
The Outcome
Nearly 100 branded experiences over six years. The first filter alone hit 2M+ opens, putting the body of work in the top 0.1% of AR creators on TikTok. Because the format is templated, it’s low-marginal-cost and fast to localize — making AR a dependable, ownable channel a brand can run continuously.
