‘There is a shift from talking with pictures to using communication in the form of snaps’

With filters being the trend and the sought-after innovation, tech companies like Snapchat are ruling the roost. To share insights on this advancement in the field of camera, we had Prashant Halbe, senior creative strategist, India Lead, Snap Inc, deliver an interesting session at the recently held e4m TechManch 2022.

The session was addressed by Prashant Halbe, senior creative strategist, India Lead, Snap Inc. He started with the evolution of the camera that has moved from “being a piece of hardware with which we captured special moments to becoming a sophisticated piece of software that is enabling us to overlay computing in the real world”. He pointed out that what was earlier a unidirectional or -dimensional experience has become a multidimensional interactive one possible through what is happening with the camera and particularly what Snapchat is doing within the space of augmented reality (AR).

Halbe spoke about how the innovation was going “absolutely in line with how we are seeing the behaviour of the GenZ and the young millennial audience on Snapchat”. “So, there is a shift from talking with pictures to actually using rich visual communication in the form of snaps. This also allows 'snap-chatters' to share a richer experience and an entire spectrum of the human condition.”

When you think of technology and how the Snapchat camera has evolved keeping in mind the shift in consumer preference for using the camera for communication – it opens up a canvas of creative possibilities for brands to engage with their audience. “And all this within the space of using the camera as a storytelling device and overlaying real-world experiences with the power of augmented reality,” he added.

Today, Snapchat has reached a scale in India with a reach of over 100 million users in the country, and what is particularly interesting is that this scale comes with specific behaviour. He explains, “If you think of augmented reality, there is a lot of conversation around that space but at the heart of it, you should only do AR within a platform where there is a behaviour of using AR. So that there is an impact from what you are creating and it is actually working back with the consumer behaviour that we know from the platform. So, on Snapchat, it is a stunning data point. On Snapchat, users play with AR lenses over 30 times per day so it is that high a frequency of usage, not just of the camera but also of AR.”