Aviary Turns Photo Filters And Stickers Into Ads, Partners With GapKids To Promote Diane Von Furstenberg Collection

Today, photo editing platform Aviary is unleashing the creative ad platform that it soft-launched last week with GapKids.

Coinciding with a wider campaign for Diane von Furstenberg’s collection of clothing exclusively for GapKids and babyGap, Aviary is adding a custom sticker, frame and filter pack that fits in with the clothing’s safari motif. The hope is that whether people are using Aviary’s own app, or one of its partner apps like Tango, PicStitch, Muzy, fans of the clothing line will use the customizations for their photos, thus spreading the word about the new clothing line.

It’s definitely a unique way to advertise, and it looks like Aviary found a willing tester of the platform in GapKids. Will people actually add these effects to their photos, in essence turning their photos into billboards for GapKids? I suppose if someone is really into safari patterns, they just might:

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The Director of Global Digital and Social Media for Gap, Rachel Tipograph, thinks that parents might add the stickers and filters to photos while they’re actually shopping as well: “It’s also an opportunity to tap into consumers’ digital behavior of taking, editing and sharing mobile photos of their shopping hauls.”

Aviary&Gap_BlogPost_image3-1When it comes to working with what you have, Aviary has done just that. If a campaign like this can show some traction, then other brands will flock to the platform since Aviary will be able to track how many stickers, filters and frames get used, and brands should be able to watch how far the photos reach on social platforms. Still though, one has to wonder if consumers will find it a little bit odd to tag up a personal photo with the same thing that’s on a billboard.

Perhaps the ad platform will mature, allowing people to get deals or coupons in trade for using the photo extras. Until then, Zebra-pattern it up, photographers.

Also, is it time yet to officially call 2013 “the year of the sticker?”