To celebrate the Soweto Derby this weekend, fans in South Africa will have the unique opportunity to show their support for their favourite team. Using Facebook’s new augmented reality camera, users can simply add innovative 3D face masks to photos and videos, showing support for league teams Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates.
Featuring fun interactive virtual face paint and oversized glasses as a Makarapa in their team’s colours, fans will be able to show their support, whilst being surprised by some cool effects when they smile or raise their eyebrows.
Commenting of the Soweto Derby AR Studio activation, Proud Dzambukira, Strategic Platform Partnerships Manager, Facebook said: “We have a great community of soccer fans on Facebook in South Africa, with more than 5 million Facebook page likes for Pirates and Chiefs teams combined. With a vibrant developer and creative ecosystem in the country, we’re delighted that partners are eager to leverage our platform to create engaging experiences, offering people innovative ways to connect with the teams and events they love.”
Developed by Sea Monster, a Cape Town based animation studio, using Facebook’s AR Studio which enables developers and 3D artists to create animated frames, masks, and interactive effects that respond to motion, or viewer actions, Glenn Gillis, Managing Director at Sea Monster commented: “Watching soccer is deeply audio-visual experience, which makes it a great fit for Facebook’s augmented reality technology. This is a great way to extend the match experience for people at home or in the stadium as they watch South Africa’s fiercest soccer rivals in action.”
Commenting on the overall partnership, Mtunzi Jonas, Head of Sponsorship at Absa added: “We are always looking for new ways to connect with the country’s soccer fans, and this innovation from Facebook offers a fun and interesting way for football fans all over the country to enrich their soccer experience and make it better.”
To apply your chosen team’s mask, simply:
- Swipe left on your Facebook newsfeed to open the new Facebook camera.
- Tap on the magic wand icon to bring up the tray of effects for the camera.
- Select the mask of your favourite team, and capture an image or video.
