The holiday season, with its festive lights, magic tales, and cozy gatherings, is the perfect time for brands, developers, and agencies to think outside of the giftbox and weave the magic of WebAR with reality. 

This year, 8th Wall introduced powerful new tools and updates to our platform that enable developers to make the holidays even more magical by creating immersive, imaginative interactions. From transforming the skies to placing WebAR in the palm of your hand, there's a whole new dimension of interaction and creativity you can unleash. To celebrate the season, we’ve crafted a few examples of how you can make the holiday season unforgettable using the tools we released this year. Let’s dive into how you can make this holiday season unforgettable. 

Ask Santa Anything: Sky Effects + World Tracking with Inworld AI 
We kicked off the year with the announcement that Sky Effects and World Tracking can now be integrated to transform the entire world into a canvas for AR, a first in the industry. Use these two fields together, developers no longer have to choose between creating something in the sky or on a surface. 

Imagine a Holiday experience where the sky and world before the user come alive with holiday magic. Now, combine it with the new GenAI Modules to create an experience with interactive elements that transform  in response to user interaction. By merging these two technologies, developers can create a personalized experience that speaks to each user. 

This holiday season, Niantic 8th Wall invites you to a world brimming with festive magic. Introducing Ask Santa Anything, an enchanting WebAR experience that seamlessly weaves together heartwarming tradition and cutting-edge technology, bringing the North Pole’s most cherished figure, Santa Claus, directly to your world.

The holiday season is the ideal playground for WebAR, where the magic of the festivities meets the immersive world of augmented reality. In this time of joy and wonder, we're thrilled to introduce our final challenge of the year: The 8th Wall Holiday Developer Challenge, kicking off on December 4th. We're inviting developers to explore this festive canvas, crafting holiday-themed WebAR experiences that enchant and engage. This challenge is your opportunity to push the limits of WebAR, explore new creative avenues, and showcase your unique skills during this special season.

Moooi, a Dutch furniture, interior, and lighting modern design company, made a splash with a unique augmented reality (AR) experience at Salone del Mobile in Milan as part of its A Life Extraordinary campaign. Using 8th Wall’s WebAR technology, Moooi blurred the lines between the physical and digital worlds by transforming four interior moods into immersive ‘Portals.’ 

In the dynamic realm of immersive experiences, we are delighted to present the winners of the 8th Wall x Hope for Haiti Challenge—an extraordinary exploration that demonstrates what’s possible when WebAR is used for the greater good. This exceptional challenge is not just a competition; it's a celebration of collaboration and innovation, uniting developers in a collective effort to make a positive impact.

Pandora created an innovative virtual try-on experience using 8th Wall’s newly launched Hand Tracking technology for the release of its recent Game of Thrones jewelry collection. Partnering with Hoopla Digital, Pandora leveraged Hand Tracking to create a cutting-edge hand model purpose-built for the browser, using hands, wrists, and fingers as its canvas.

Let's turn our attention to another outstanding member of our incredibly talented and wonderfully diverse 8th Wall developer community. Meet Bryan Fenchel, a seasoned developer combining his background in music and tech to create immersive experiences like Dance Party, an audio-reactive concert experience. 

Since its release in 2020, 8th Wall’s Face Effects has been a game-changer for brands, developers, and agencies, offering transformative facial experiences that deeply resonate with their audiences. Upgraded earlier this year with all-new features and tools, Face Effects allows developers to create captivating WebAR experiences tailored to each user's unique facial characteristics.  From letting users take selfies while wearing the virtual hat of their favorite team to disguising their face behind an ornate mask to trying on a new makeup routine virtually, Face Effects transforms the face into a boundless canvas for imagination that’s universally accessible in the browser. 

Now, we’re thrilled to unveil the latest addition to our Face Effects suite: three new attachment points for the ears. These additions not only elevate the realism and precision of Face Effects but pave the way for all-new use cases. From showcasing chic earrings and modeling stylish headphones to morphing into fantastical beings, the possibilities are now even more expansive and imaginative. 

Nike Jordan and JD Sports teamed up with Know Mean Feat and Superla agencies to create an immersive, interactive AR basketball game experience to give fans a chance to win a pair of Jordan trainers.