Uber Eats India sees 1M players of Instagram Stories AR game

Brief:

Uber Eats India last month created an augmented reality (AR) game for Instagram Stories that saw more than 1 million players vying for a chance to win a year of free food, per a blog post shared with Mobile Marketer. The food delivery app's "Eats in a Blink" contest ran Dec. 19-24.
To enter the contest, Instagram users could follow the @ubereats_ind account and tap on an AR face filter that unlocked the game in Stories. Entrants had to record a video of themselves playing the game, which challenged them to blink every time they saw a green building to complete delivery and score a point.
The highest scorer won a grand prize, while two runners-up scored three months of free food and another seven contestants received free meals for a month. The contest was only available in Indian cities where Uber Eats is available.

Insight:

Uber Eats India generated a significant response to its "Eats in a Blink" Instagram contest, demonstrating how to engage customers with gamified content and rewards. The AR game relied on the app's face-scanning features to tell when entrants blinked to score points — and when they blinked at the wrong time, which counted against the limit of three lives. The prize of free food was another key incentive in driving engagement with potential customers, while helping to build an Instagram following for Uber Eats India.

This is the latest brand to add gamified AR content to its social media presence in order to engage customers with unique mobile brand experiences. In the U.S., sandwich chain Jimmy John's last year created an AR game on Snapchat that challenged users to open their mouths and catch digital sandwiches that cascaded down a smartphone screen. Two years ago, Snapchat introduced the AR gaming format, which it calls "Snappables," to let users control games hands-free with facial movements and gestures.

Gamified content helps to appeal to the growing audience for mobile video games, providing deeper interactivity than passive viewing experiences like traditional ads. About 1.36 billion people played mobile games worldwide in 2019, with 36% of mobile gamers between the ages of 25 and 36. The percentage of users who play mobile games is forecast to rise to 22.5% — more than 1.7 billion people — by 2024, per a study by GoldenCasinoNews.com. The growing appetite for mobile games likely will compel more brands to experiment with the format in order to cut through ad clutter.