TV network Bravo?s upcoming pageant show Game of Crowns will virtualize the experience for fans with Botox-inspired filters, jewelry stickers and false eyelashes on photo-editing mobile application Aviary. 

Brands of all genres, such as Sephora and Suave, have utilized the app to build a customized experience based on their own needs and target audience. Rather than centering on social media trends, such as hashtags or brand logos, and solely encouraging social activity among its users, Aviary?s strategy prioritizes brand engagement and the consumer experience.

?People watch TV for lots of reasons, and one of them is the element of fantasy and imagination that they inspire,? said Carmel Hagen, director of brand integration at Aviary, New York. ?When children watch pirate shows, they want to dress up like pirates. When audiences watch cooking shows, they're often inspired to try something new in the kitchen.?

?We believe that by offering audiences tools to easily, privately and playfully express themselves, we're meeting an ageless need for this imaginative experience. The creative tools then become the brand's storytelling medium, and the user's interaction with the tools allows them to become part of that story.?

The app will feature a collection of glitzy frames, gaudy jewelry and crown appliques and color filters. 

Users can share their creations via social media directly from the app, but Aviary claims to not build their operating systems based on social aspects. 

?While most campaigns in Aviary include auto-populated, opt-in hashtags for sharing as a final step, the biggest value we provide for our advertisers doesn't occur when the user decides to send their final creations to social platforms, but rather what's happening directly between the brand and the user during the lead-up to that moment,? Ms. Hagen said. ?Our objective is to support mobile marketing efforts whose primary goals are brand engagement and awareness, so our focus is on the actual branded experience that the user has chosen to be part of.?

Game of Crowns premieres July 13 and the Aviary app is available for free download on iOS and Android.

Memorable brand engagement
Universal Pictures leveraged Aviary to target a specific audience of younger females for its new movie "Endless Love," and the campaign resulted in more than seven million engagements and more than 10,000 hours of total brand-engagement time.

The romantic drama particularly appeals to the segment of consumers who use photo-sharing apps, so Universal leveraged the app to hit the right audience. The app lets users edit photos, and for this campaign users could add Endless Love themed stickers, frames and filters to their photos (see story).

Aviary claims their system of tools garnered more than 10 billion edited photos in 2013.

?Aviary collaborates with the brand to develop the custom filters, frames and stickers, then integrates them into our own apps,? Ms. Hagen said. ?Along with some native promotional components, we then can syndicate that campaign across other apps that have integrated Aviary that are also a good match for the brand, which we can do with the flip of a switch. 

?We've only been working with brands for a year, but we've already delivered over 11 million installs of branded content through our own apps and the network, which is a much easier and cheaper way to deliver impact than a brand going through the whole process of designing and launching their own app, building and maintaining a user base, etc.?

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon, editorial assistant for Mobile Marketer, New York