thank you hello everyone welcome um hopefully you can hear me please give us some reactions in the audience if you can hear me right now oh look at that amazing I love seeing that so welcome to the vent talks my name's Peter and we're here with Annie manjovitzev who's the creator of cross creators Ali I'd love for you to just give us a little bit of an introduction and let's get to know you hi Peter and thank you for having me here so my background lies into advertising industry and I had some problems while making immersive experiences for brands for whom I was working and that's why I decided to do something about it and that's how cross-creators was born so basically cross creators is a Marketplace for augmented reality marketing where else to get air content without a hassle right that's amazing so you know I've used cross-creators quite a bit and we actually used it to create um a filter to promote this this very event and I'm sure a few of you have used it um and it's really kind of fun and engaging way to interact with the audience that maybe we haven't seen for for a while in in the typical marketing um so can you tell us a little more about yeah the the very beginning of of cross-creator so I think we have to start with augmented reality in itself what is it so if we were to describe it as someone who who has an experience yeah I'm sure I'm sure there are some experts in augmented reality but let me explain uh for newbies and newcomers you know augmented reality marketing so um the simplest way to explain AR is that it's a technology to bring digital Assets in our reality um and how it is activated is it is through our camera which we have in our mobile phone in our tablets or sometimes eyewear so why augmented Realty became so popular the recent years uh has like several answers of course but the main answer is that it became mobile enabled so there are more than two billion augmented reality mobile users so um it's accessible for everyone so everyone can experience it and that's why Brands started using AR in their marketing and sales strategies wow so you know it's it's amazing that we we have all of these kind of smart devices that we use nowadays to make this so accessible because I remember when I was younger um augmented reality was was a kind of Niche thing and you had to print out like these codes yeah tag it on the camera and it was very awkward to use but now it's being used by a lot more Brands and you're even seeing a lot more kind of you know impressive effects of being able to track the whole body and things like that all in kind of to the palm of your hands so where do you see you know the the future of of this is this something that's going to be we're going to be seeing augmented reality kind of used in marketing all over the place um fingers crossed yet but let uh to go back and like to explain more uh what type of channels are being used for augmented reality experience this um we call it like first party and third-party marketing so with first party marketing or vintage wealthy experiences are being built into our own websites or applications and difference between them is that um web-based experiences are being activated through our browser so it's been activated through link and you don't need to download any kind of application um and like also there are so many um differences between the web-based and application based because um it's about quality it's about like one time or Evergreen experiences we want to implement and what we call third party a year marketing is that we can use third-party platforms like Facebook Instagram what we call filters or effects um so it's easier for Brands to start with the third party AR marketing because of this low budget because they can test out any kind of experiences under customers and like to know what ex what type of content works on their customers so we always recommend to start small and by small we mean to use third-party platforms um regarding your questions like how I see the future of the marketing um my favorite scene would be where we will have this eyewear uh whenever we will be using this either while walking up the side the streets and we will not be um using our phones to see different kind of um reality what I like I love with augmented reality is that we're not losing reality we are just extending it and making it better so um while we started with marketing is that is the really easy to understand why augmented reality works because like whenever we are not able to deliver messages through static images or even video production uh we are able to give away information while making our users Heroes of the experience and that's why it works yeah it is uh that's really well explained because it's a great way as well to get you know the audience becomes kind of the subject in a lot of cases um so what kind of advice would you give to a brand who's starting out I know you said to get started on this third-party kind of Facebook Instagram filters is there any type of let's say effect that works best for certain types of products have you found so there is no Silver Bullet of course every brand needs tailored approach and um how we at Cross creators are helping these kind of Brands who don't know how to implement augmented realities that they need to answer like several questions the first what kind of objective do they need to approach with this specific campaign what type of plan they have um what type of feelings they need to deliver to their customers so and like some really easy and simple questions which are provided through platforms they can answer these questions and the magic of course creators is that whenever this order is being placed like and they are ready to receive concept ideas um more than 2 000 International creators are ready to jump on this project and deliver you some crazy and effective ideas around your object active what you have listed on this platform so but even if there's a hire some agency like you need to answer like basic questions what is your objective what type of campaign do you want is it for brand awareness is it for visibility is it for sales boosting is it for just engagement and for that like you need to kind of approach your marketing campaign as you're approaching for example static banners or video production so if you're a good marketer instance of even classic advertising you'll be also good in augmented reality so augmented reality is kind of like difficult keywords together but if done right and with Simplicity of course it can deliver amazing results so like compared to Classic advertising for example like video production it has four times better uh customer engagement rate and it can increase your sales at the end of the day they're very easy without Hustle right so one of the obviously the the things about augmented reality marketing is it provides many many benefits to both Brands and creators have you as you've just just stated um but a problem a problem appears in on the side of the Creator in actually finding Brands and it can be really a tough um situation we've got the for example um The Meta spark Community which is a great way it is to kind of share um their their talents and things like that and we found that people can find um you know Brands can find people to make amazing effects but obviously cross-creators cross-creators is a fantastic place to do that and kind of what are the benefits that cross creators brings to the Creator themselves as well so problems are are on both sides on creators and client side as well and one of the problem the main problem is that creators have to do creativity and they don't have to uh hustle in finding clients and like selling their services because these creators are not um trained to sell their services they um they don't know how to um make sales campaigns marketing campaigns and also um another really big problem is between the clients so whenever you're working without mediator some there are plenty of cases whenever like you're sending out your project to the client and one day this client just disappears without payment uh so we uh well what is benefit on course creators for creators and Brands as well like uh we're giving them security that this project will be finalized and uh creators will monetize their skills really safely and not losing the time in communication with the um operates that much yeah so you actually provide kind of in a sense some protection for the the relationship between the the Creator um and the brand which is really important because kind of getting those contracts made all of this it can be kind of fun and exciting for a creative to get involved in augmented reality and you know as a career oh um but just getting all of that knowledge behind you know it's I think it's such a common experience what you said about a Creator you know delivering a project and then someone run away with that you know and it and clients are never never satisfied so it needs to be like and uh having a mediator in the middle of the Creator and the client like then place to stop giving some revisions and updates in uh it can be around the web-based experiences so it's always nice to have kind of partner who is on your side as well and and is giving some advices how to manage uh if any kind of problem occurs and we always try not to show our creators what types of problems are appearing on the client sites or vice versa so the collaboration on cross-creators it seems like seamless yeah exactly and I we had a great experience collaborating with with one of your crates as well for cross-creators um yeah in your case it was really amazing to um work with you because like um you already knew that there could be really a big opportunity for uh your filter and you had kind of like idea and Creator then um announced and other ideas and it kind of fulfilled your uh objective and like together like you were working like a partners in crime so it was amazing to see the results and this really simple filter um if the audience will see um it's it's kind of like showing uh What uh what expert expertise you will get in 2023 but this is what virality looks like like people do like to share the face filters whenever they are returning their experiences uh so no need to make some sophisticated filters every time you just need one simple but this this simple idea can bring the brilliant results in sense of reach and engagement of your customers yeah and it really goes beyond the actual filter creation itself doesn't it so there's a whole aspect of the virality of these these effects and you know there's a common I think there's a common theme where a Creator will spend a lot of hard work and energy on a very complex amazing filter and it almost you know it doesn't get the recognition it deserves whereas sometimes you know a more simple but you know proven method such as the the randomizer filters seem to go extremely viral very easily so there's a balance between this what do you think about that is that something you know positive or is it something you know um yeah sometimes like creators do uh cry about it whenever like they are making something really creative and it's not appreciated but I have different approach and different um idea about it how how to look at uh we also do have those kind of creators who are making um difficult ideas into simple ones uh so it looks simple but it needs to be a lot of it needs to have a lot of coding a lot of 3D designs but at the end of the day for in uh user consumer it looks really simple and that's why sometimes uh clients are asking like to do it in like in an hour or two but it can be done and like um there are like plenty of skills needed to do this kind of sophisticated experiences but um depending on the usage of this experience like it can be sophisticated but it should be always easy to use so if filter is is easy to use and if filter kind of reflects these Trends in that time for example um now it's really popular to make filters around World Cup because it's like trendy trendy topic um you have always to have the social listening part uh depending uh what results you want to get yeah listen to your customers you can always make um effective filter and not only filter because sometimes uh people do not understand that augmented reality is beyond filters and effects and it can be implemented on website and applications as well and there are really big opportunities to make these experiences go offline so it's a first step to to step into AR layered metaverse actually yeah but that that's a very interesting point because I think when we think about kind of the initial kind of consumer thought about augmented reality is you've you'll think to filters Instagram filters based subjects Beauty effect or you know the kind of world effects as well um but we don't really think of it typically beyond that in terms of there's a lot more possibilities as well that aren't attached to something like you know the Instagram camera or Tick Tock or something like that and do you think that there's a lack of awareness on the side of let's say marketers about the potential foreign we have these problems a lot because like whenever something trendy is happening uh clients are just coming and asking to do the same um even though they don't know how to call it uh how to order the specific um category of your experiences sometimes they don't even know what is the difference between virtual and augmented reality um so yeah it's kind of really big gap I think that 8 out of 10 marketing managers do not have experience and education because they are not such a resources a lot and there is not that much hype as it was on keyword makeovers for example um and it's not really um easy to understand for them like whenever they are seeing these experiences and them should discover what type of your experience it is because big brands are already doing it as we know and small and medium-sized businesses want to copy them but it's not easy whenever you don't know all the keywords how to explain it to the creators that's why we always try to make it more simpler and in our blog posts in our webinars we always try to translate augmented reality in a simple Manner and explain within the example of marketing and sales campaigns exactly because it is a huge like World in itself um like the potential and what you can do and it can be kind of overwhelming uh when you first start looking into it because it's just so much possibility and it's quite can seem quite technical as well especially when you get more into kind of the web the web focused AR where you don't have yeah bark to guide you through as much as you do and it's it can be really overwhelming yeah it's never ending learning yeah even even for a professional creators as well there is so much possibility I always say that it can be like Excel so if you think a lot on augmented reality like you can make new formulas for that yeah so uh there are no like okay you can copycat like already experience experiences and filters uh but it's always nice to have some testing and uh testing campaigns like what to make differently for example like what is new in our creators Community is that parquar has this opportunity to um see the colors in the filters and imagine like pointing out the camera on the specific object and this filter can tell you what color it is so it's the perfect opportunity for retailers for e-commerce for development companies but it was just an idea when we were brainstorming with our clients um we have not had this experience before but we tested it and it appeared it's that it could be done and it can have amazing results as well so we're working on this uh right now yeah that's that's incredible um speaking of uh kind of these these kind of projects as well that you've been working on are there any kind of names you can tell us are there any favorite effects that you've been that you or your creators have been working on recently so our creators uh have a huge list of the brands and it's starting from Big Brands uh it's called it's going down to the uh small and medium-sized Brands and it's also it's really getting trendy to get um experiences for startups uh because it'd be to be categories mainly we were experiencing all the project briefs from b2c companies but now the companies who are in B2B direction also decided to use AR because they at the end of the day they are talking to humans right so augmented reality works really good with within the human Pace because you allow them to become this hero experience and explain your difficult product in a really amusing and informative way so um you can always see with whom we are partnering up but we also do have some really Branch so our creators are working internationally and these brands are international as well so uh starting from the big malls uh with whom we're working on uh offline experiences and ending to the marketplaces to make the brand awareness campaigns we are working with the different kind of user personas and so why don't we go moving a little bit to kind of The Wider metaverse so that is a big word that's been thrown around a lot but I think there's kind of a little bit of a jungle yeah like a misunderstanding of of what it really really is if that makes sense so when you think of a metaverse I think most people are assuming like oh it's this own Mark Zuckerberg creation that's you know Facebook's going to take over the world and stuff like that but I think the metaverse is really more of just the concept of using these extended reality technology such as virtual reality and some of your kind of thoughts on on the metaverse and kind of the hype around it and what it really is to you um it's kind of jungle for us still because like every each of the person in this direction uh has its own translation of metaverse and because of this Facebook uh type uh it's kind of like people are lost because of it so it's not a place it's not a like room it's not a space so you everyone can create their own metaverse but only using the Technologies what we already have and these Technologies are XR Mr so AR augmented reality virtual reality without it there is no matters uh and whenever like clients are coming to us and us are asking if we're doing some metaverse marketing sure we are because like we are doing augmented reality so and this this is the one of the crucial um techniques to create matters so um in in my personal view metaverse for me it's like better version of our reality and that's why I'm more into the augmented reality team and I do believe that we have to use our technology to make our lives better in our reality uh because like I don't think I don't think that in Virtual we can like we're human beings and we need socializing but um it's always better to have it offline and augmented reality just makes our offline experiences better so that's why I'm on the table of augmented reality making our reality better it's it's for me um augmented augmented reality is definitely one of my my favorite of the kind of you know the eggs are kind of extended reality Technologies um just because of the there's so much potential there so we we know a lot about I think VR is slightly more mainstream um and people are kind of more aware of what like virtual reality is maybe could you go into the what is the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality in a simple manner how can I explain is that with virtual reality you are totally losing the actual reality and you need headset for that so um in for marketing purposes it's not quite safe uh because like uh and um you can't go anywhere and you can't work with it uh you're losing your reality so it's not able to communicate with your customers like for 24 hours uh as augmented reality is just extending our actual reality with digital assets and it can be reachable through our mobile phone it's much more appropriate for uh everyday life and that's why um in marketing augmented realities used much more frequently and yeah so it's it is definitely we've seen kind of some really impressive uh augmented reality effects I've seen recently for example the most recent Apple event had a quite uh beautiful effect that once you went on to their website you just simply open the camera and it would display this amazing animation of a um of kind of like a space themed Stars I've noticed the creativity of the community who create these kind of effects is is just outstanding the types of you know Creations that people are building uh you know out outside of this outside of this world exactly um and so what kind of where do you see this going in the future in terms of are we going to be limited to our phones are we going to be are we going to have you know more heads are we going to have glasses kind of consumer glasses that are are simple for us to view this um hopefully we will not be limited by uh only phones but um I think that it needs to have time to have proper um eyewear which can be used like with within the message as mobile phone but we are going there definitely because um it's pretty much needed so I see the future whenever people are using this uh every day like we are using mobile phones and I'm sure that big Brands uh big companies are already working on that as we want everything really fast uh uh I don't think it's it's happening uh but in future five ten years I think that technology will be there and we will be used already like 24 hour users of augmented reality experiences and like the newer generation as they are real really keen on augmented reality and immersive Technologies they will be really um easier and simpler to shift on this kind of life well yeah because we're already seeing the the initial kind of steps towards that with for example the The Meta Quest Pro that was just recently released has a much higher focus on the kind of AR elements than the previous previous version did so the previous was fully focused on the kind of virtual reality best and Quest 2 but now we're kind of seeing you know as even with Microsoft kind of the um their headsets are very AR focused and so but yeah Apple's coming soon so um yeah the last edition of the iOS and Apple phones yeah they're like super uh for using augmented reality experiences of course and we're going there because like if there was like this generation of paintings gifs video production to the world like friends are shooting from 2D2 3D World and without augmented reality experiences and without becoming the heroes of these experiences um we're not going in the future yeah it's but it seems like like the way it's going is that we're we're moving towards this this more consumer friendly kind of you know we're gonna have our own headset we're going to be able to to kind of I think even Snapchat now has released the first version of their um headset where you can actually just put the glasses on and see kind of snap effects in real time and it works amazingly have you tried it tried it um and it works amazingly like it can be better of course but it's like a first step of the future so it will be much lighter it will be much more easier to use but anyway we're going there and I'm happy that so many people are working nowadays on this uh technologist to make our lives better not only marketing of course but but this is exactly why I think it's so important that we have people like you and people who are working towards this as well because it right now it's such an early time and it's still just really the the first few steps of this um but in a couple of years a few years it's going to be a massive part of our Lives I think um so the fact that now you can kind of you know you're creating a place where people can start to build a career and people can start to really get into using augmented reality for their business and seeing the results that it can drive and so I think that that's going to be like a really vital piece of these steps that we're making towards what we're going to be having in a few years time and building careers that probably don't even you know job titles that don't exist yet within that field this is the the foundation and the groundwork for it so that's that's really really exciting so for you personally you know it seems like augmented reality is it's quite quite a passion for you right so what was it before that or what what led you exactly to really focus on you know this this is amazing yeah I always knew about augmented reality because of Pokemon go because I knew about virtual reality more because of like some different kind of games and me myself I I'm from creative space I was working for international advertising companies uh Big Brand small Brands I was in marketing industry so whenever like if you're in marketing you know that classic advertising is not working anymore and it was like seven years ago the same and the Clicks in paid advertising are accidental so one of the third people are just clicking on your partners but there is no intention to buy your product at the end of the day so uh long story short like companies are losing money in marketing so I wanted to create something immersive and something different because I knew that big Brands were already doing some kind of like uh experiences and whenever this part AR became more popular in Snapchat um I decided to why not to use the uh AR filters for the campaigns but at the time it was like four years ago and I was in Georgia and it was not quite easy to find your experts in Georgia so I decided not to continue the search but then when covet started I wanted to remake this idea um and that's why I went to International Market and my struggle has become begun so I didn't know what type of experienced creators to search what type of questions should I ask what type of brief should I give but this Creator's Community is really kind and so I made a really good friends there so we decided to make some specific campaigns for different kind of projects which I was working as marketing manager so these results came out to be amazing so I decided to concentrate more but as I dig deep you know virtual reality I found out there were like plenty of problems in content Creation in the Creator side as well and Company side as well so that's why I had this close communication with the creators and Brands I decided to do Marketplace at this stage uh where it will be easier much more easier for newbies you know good it will attain not only for newbies like who doesn't want to lose time uh in their like full-time job and they need to get amazing results they can easily go on course creators now and that was my passion to make something different difficult as augmented reality and virtual reality to become more accessible for simple people who don't have this uh education uh what is augmented reality and how technology works so yeah this is my passion like me too talk and give away a lot of information around augmented reality because I think that whenever you share this view on your future as many people know it this future will come much more faster because uh whenever we are talking to brands or clients who don't know anything about augmented reality but whenever we explain and show some references what they can do they are amazed so I do believe that if it's it is communicated correctly to everyone and worldwide it can be it can give everyone really amazing results and that seems to be the the challenge Now is really communicating the benefits to to Brands and things like that um so what are some of the other things that you're doing to to to do this um you know you have the blog posts you have things like that are there any uh kind of Hang-Ups where your stockholders anything that you think could be done more in the field and get the awareness out um I actually think that it could be really amazing to have like Once In A month's events uh globally uh whenever you are not only communicating with creators and um experts in this field but also to those people who don't might be interested first but whenever you explain and present augmented reality it can be really beneficial for them as well so I think that more offline events around educational events can be done on marketing conferences or specific festivals so I think that besides content marketing we also have to concentrate on offline events where people can share and experience on site this augmented and virtual reality so that sounds amazing I think that would be quite quite great because especially in offline events we were able to show off a bit more technology as well just relevant and what's to come next um I always think about you know from the side of a Creator as well it is quite a daunting world to to get into and obviously so you have cross-creators that kind of can provide some support to creators as well what advice would you give to creators who are getting started in kind of you know creating their own business or making a career from them themselves in in auckland's reality creation first when you are like beginner uh we always try to give away education around the specific Direction so you have to choose uh which type of Creator you should be social media web-based or application uh and it's always nice to use the third party platforms like spark AR like effect house um because it's much more easier to use different kind of skills but before jumping in augmented reality you have to also learn plenty of skills like coding like 3D design so you have to be creative um and the first like you have to search for what some other creatures are doing uh for inspiration and start creating your portfolio so whenever your objective is to partner up with different kind of Brands you have to Target them and to create the filters for them so especially if you want to collaborate for example with McDonald's so you can make your idea like how you can put present their burger in augmented reality and slowly slowly but consistently create portfolios around it so whenever you will be ready and this is also practice uh while working on different kind of imaginary briefs uh you learn a lot so while only practice is the way you two become professional Creator and also it's really nice you to understand um what type of experiences brands are looking uh and at first like okay you can look what other creators are doing but don't forget to create your own a unique Style uh you to be really famous for it like each Creator in our community has this style and whenever you will see their filters or Creations on different kind of locations uh we are kind of like understanding who the Creator can be because like every Creator should try to have their own um significant tone of voice and it could be experienced through their creations yeah no that's that's that's a really you know insightful answer as well because it's it is important as well for like brands or marketers to realize the field of talent within this um within within these creators is very varied as well so you know some might be more focusing on like a coding aspect or some might be more focusing on 3D modeling aspects which you know can can be related but can also be quite um quite separate you know there's lots of different elements or kind of um let's say skill sets that one Creator might focus on that another one might not and having the ability to find someone who um you know can fit this certain skill set for a certain project is is really valuable and that can be you know hard to do um until you know you've got a platform like cross-creators to kind of can bring those together and highlight yeah and and of course you can uh partner up with different kind of creators and you can fill out the gaps what you have in your background so for example you know how to code but you don't know how to make 3D designs so you can always find the Creator across creators or outside the across greatest community and you can start collaboration together and even open up your own agency so there is a big opportunity here it's always nice to know all the skills and to have all these skill sets on your background and in your portfolio but it's always good to start small just to become become bigger consistently yeah absolutely um I've noticed we're getting a little bit we've got a few minutes left in here and then we're gonna open up a room afterwards so if we leave the stage in a couple of minutes there'll be a room that anyone can join if you want to have just have a little networking afterwards join the conversation if you have any any questions that you want to ask personally but otherwise feel free to kind of use the questions feature here if you have anything that you'd like to ask or either to me or to Annie as well um but so far like it's been a really insightful conversation and you know I hope that this can this kind of thing can happen more regularly so we can help to kind of get more awareness about the benefits of of augmented reality marketing and augmented reality in general because I just think it's it's such a powerful tool that should be really used a lot more and it's just fun as well so there is a one question I see uh here that if Target tracking in filters compete with simple face filters so it's like totally different uh Direction uh there are plenty of categories in augmented reality and two of them are these Target tracking what we also call Image tracking and second one is face filter so regarding the naming Target tracking and image tracking can be activated through the specific image it can be logo it can be like 3D model or 2D model it's kind of like bridge to um between 2D and 3D world and you can revive any hydrostatic image um and in sense of competing I would not say so because the each category has different kind of um objective in it so Target tracking and image tracking can be used like whenever we want to wow our uh user we want to add some information and add more layer onto our static um product or service or logo and regarding the simple face filter it's always nice to have for brand awareness and by reality because the the most popular experiences in our cases are of course face filters because it's more shareable but if your objective is not to be shared then it's just an engagement Target tracking is working really good as well so depending on the objective you have to choose the category and depending on your ability to communicate and give away this experience to your users foreign mute sorry about that this old habits you know even back in Zoom is yeah well but yeah thank you for the question uh Kate that's really and thank you any for the answer yes there's so much I mean I encourage anyone out there just to to Really explore all the different uh effects that already exist the different kind of creators and what they're building um and there are just there are so many different things that you can do and yeah it while it's easy to kind of consider how which one kind of works better than others there's always something new or there's always something new to try always something yeah and it's not easy to explain it with words it's always nice you to have uh opportunity to see what I have just said and um if someone is interested they always can come to cross creators and we would share the all the kind of experiences regarding the the specific objectives they are interested in so um don't hesitate also to reach out after this event as well all right well I think that's the time for this one so I just want to thank you again Annie for for joining us today um it was a really really insightful talk and I had you know a good time talking about augmented reality and all of the benefits um and especially cross creators as well and how how the benefits they can provide for Brands and for creators um and so yeah thank you so much for joining me and thank you to the event that you're creating this much interesting uh talks and um I think that we could talk for the for the future on different topics and I can even present well I'm uh talking on this talk we could always show off some cool experiences yeah I think we should set something up soon but and thank you everyone for joining as well in the audience it was been a pleasure and I hope you enjoyed it as well um if anyone wants to join us just for you know 15 minutes or so we're going to jump into the other room you'll see if you press the back button here um there'll be a discussion room that you can join and just jump on a call with us if you like and we'll be there for kind of 10 to 15 minutes but otherwise thanks everyone so much for being here hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and uh yeah take care right
2022-12-16