8th Wall launches the first WebAR authoring and hosting platform.
The 8th Wall, a groundbreaking AR company that walked away with the 2019 Augie Award for Best Developer Tool, is following up on its recent success with the launch of a cloud-based WebAR authoring and hosting platform.
This new web tool forges a unified in-browser solution for developers to create, collaborate, publish, and host WebAR projects without the need for third-party software or any type of server setup. This is a huge milestone for AR as it reduces the time to get powerful WebAR experiences straight to market.
Through 8th Wall’s new toolkit, creatives have access to useful templates, as well as the ability to work across teams through built-in hosting, allowing them to quickly build and publish large scale AR experiences directly to the web on-the-fly.
This ease of creation straight to publishing could empower brands and organizations looking to quickly launch sophisticated WebAR experiences for consumer engagement, employee recruitment, and brand awareness which, in turn, could help push AR further towards mass adoption.
In an interview with VRScout, Erik Murphy-Chutorian — CEO and Found of 8th Wall — said, “In order for AR to be adopted, users need to be able to easily access meaningful experiences on devices they already own. They also need a variety of different experiences available to them to realize AR’s value,” adding, “Our AR Engine has been powering WebAR experiences for over a year now, delivering on the ease of access.”
With high profile brands such as Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man, Miller Lite, British Gas, Heineken, Swiss Airlines, Porsche, Red Bull, Time Magazine, LEGO, and Ally + MONOPOLY already working with 8th Wall, the momentum is there. It’s very possible that this new all-in-one AR web tool could amplify that success and attract new brands towards webAR activations.
And honestly, they would be crazy not too. Because 8th Wall’s in-browser AR experiences don’t require an app, brands could potentially reach over 2.97 billion compatible devices – nearly double the amount of smartphones using native AR apps.
In several current webAR experiences, brands are seeing 50% of those interactions lasting 2 minutes and longer, over traditional media.
Early access partner 72andSunny used 8th Wall’s new tools to publish a WebAR activation for its Intimissimi’s “Bra Twist” campaign. The AR experience had you exploring different looks by letting you mix and match a selection of 40 different bras using five AR models, including Sarah Jessica Parker.
Intimissimi’s WebAR experience was built by the creatives over at Spark Lab, who found 8th Wall’s tool to be incredibly easy to use, and were able to launch and distribute the campaign effortlessly by using an online link or a QR code.
Benny Everitt, Creative Director for 72andSunny, talked about the benefits of 8th Walls platform, stating that any product that allows his company to collaborate and manage teams working in different time zones and locations is a huge plus.
“The fact that the platform integrated both a hosting environment and a code editor tool made our job so much easier and was fundamental to both the success of our WebAR campaign and to maximize our final input,” said Everitt.
As for what’s next, 8th Wall will continue building frictionless AR tools and experiences that allow users to more easily access meaningful experiences on devices they already own.
“Our product launch today provides developers with the tools they need to more easily create content which we expect will lead to a higher volume of sophisticated experiences going to market,” said Murphy-Chutorian.
8th Wall’s WebAR tool is available now for all creators and developers. Just head on over to the company’s website to sign up.
Feature Image Credit: 8th Wall
