TikTok is looking to help brands create more immersive, engaging campaigns by adding a new element to its Effects House AR creation tool, which will facilitate brand/creator collaborations, offering businesses a new way to connect with the TikTok audience.  The new collaboration option will give businesses a way to tap into AR effects, which can drive significant engagement benefits in the app.

As explained by TikTok:

“Branded Effects are custom effects sponsored by brands. They can be highly customized with branded elements and include features like calls-to-action and custom audience targeting to fit a brand’s specific campaign needs. To kick off Branded Effects in Effect House, brands can begin working with top effect creators who are already creating enormously popular effects on TikTok’s effect creation platform, Effect House.”

Effects House, which TikTok opened to all creators last April, allows users to build their own, custom AR effects – much like Snapchat's 'Lens Studio' or Meta's 'Spark AR' platform. Using a variety of templates and tools to make it easier, the platform gives a way to build new experiences in the app.

And now TikTok is looking to enable these creators to monetize their work, helping the application better ingratiate itself into an AR creator community and allowing more options for branded content.

AR is set to become an even bigger consideration with the eventual arrival of AR glasses that overlay digital effects on your view of the real world. Even now, though, AR effects are getting quite popular. 72% of Snapchat users engage with AR elements every day, and many of these activations end up going viral because users share effects that contort and transform how you look on screen.

As such, TikTok will do well to draw on this and give creators another way to monetize their activity in the app.

I mean it's not the right time to fully bet on stacking your income on TikTok given the ban talks but could provide new opportunities for AR creators in the space.

And for brands, that could also be a way to make a big splash in the app. It won't necessarily come cheap, but it could be a valuable consideration for the right collaboration and campaign.

TikTok says that brands can talk to their TikTok account representative to book a Branded Effect campaign, while AR creators can fill out this interest form to register for the new program.