Somebody at your agency says the campaign needs a TikTok filter. Everyone nods. Then someone asks what a good one actually looks like, and the room goes quiet.
This is the list for that meeting. Ten branded effects and AR filters that earned their place with real numbers or genuinely clever mechanics, not just a logo slapped in a corner. We build AR filters for brands here at TEJ, so we have also broken down why each one worked and what you can steal for your own brief.
One note before we start. Since Meta shut down Spark AR in January 2025, TikTok and Snapchat are where branded filters live now. If you are still searching for Instagram filter examples, the mechanics below all translate, but the platform has changed. Our 2026 guide to TikTok branded effects covers the landscape in full.
1. Laneige: skincare you can see working
The Korean skincare brand built an effect for its Bouncy Sleeping Mask that showed your skin before and after the product, with facial tracking doing the heavy lifting. Simple idea, beautifully executed.
The numbers: 25 million views, 420,000 interactions and more than 9,500 user videos, according to figures reported by TikTok marketing partner Mega Digital.
Why it worked: the effect demonstrated the product promise on the viewer’s own face. No claim a presenter could make comes close to that. If your product changes how something looks, this is your template.
2. Mucinex: the zombie that sold cold medicine
A cough and cold brand should not work on TikTok. Mucinex proved otherwise with #BeatTheZombieFunk, a Halloween campaign where users danced their way from zombie to fabulous using a branded effect featuring Mr Mucus, backed by a custom track.
Over 500,000 creators took part and the campaign gathered close to 6 billion video views in nine days. TikTok’s own Branded Effect case studies report a 42.7 percent lift in purchase intent.
Why it worked: the transformation mechanic. Before and after is the native language of TikTok, and the effect made the brand mascot part of the joke rather than an interruption.
3. Netflix Germany: karaoke as a filter
To promote the show Sing On, Netflix Germany released an interactive karaoke effect that invited users to perform on camera. The effect turned the show’s premise into a participation format, which is exactly what a filter should do for an entertainment property.
Why it worked: people were already singing on TikTok. The effect gave that existing behaviour a branded stage instead of asking users to learn something new.
4. Genki Sushi: voice control at the table
The Singapore sushi chain ran an effect where your voice powered the game. Shout to make the sushi move, with the restaurant’s conveyor belt concept baked into the mechanic.
Why it worked: voice triggers make people loud, and loud people attract attention wherever they are playing. For a food brand built around a conveyor belt, the tie between mechanic and brand was obvious the second you saw it. Featured in GOWAAA’s roundup of creative TikTok effects.
5. Dior: a hand wave for Ramadan
Dior marked Ramadan with an effect triggered by a wave of the hand, revealing celebratory visuals in the house’s signature style. Luxury brands are usually cautious with AR, which made this one stand out.
Why it worked: cultural timing plus a gesture trigger. The wave felt like a greeting rather than a gimmick, and the effect gave a global luxury brand a way to join a cultural moment with taste.
6. Disney: Donald Duck’s 90th birthday
Disney celebrated 90 years of Donald Duck with a dance effect that put the character on screen beside users. Nostalgia did the sharing.
Why it worked: beloved IP plus a dance format TikTok already understood. If you own characters people grew up with, an effect is the cheapest way to let fans hug them.
7. Minecraft: become the character
For the Minecraft movie push, a transformation effect turned users into blocky versions of themselves. The format was pure fan service and the visual was unmistakable in the feed.
Why it worked: instant recognisability. You knew what the effect was within one frame, with or without sound. That matters when most feeds scroll past in under a second.
8. Veet: the V that transforms
Veet built a summer campaign around its signature V hand gesture. Make the V, trigger the transformation. TikTok’s business blog features it as a model gesture campaign.
Why it worked: the trigger was the logo. Every single user video opened with the brand mark performed by a real human hand, which is the kind of media you cannot buy any other way.
9. Shoppers Drug Mart: try on three looks
The Canadian retailer built a makeup try on effect for its annual Beauty Lover event, letting users switch between three complete looks. Retail media with a face on it.
Why it worked: try on effects collapse the distance between seeing and wanting. The three look structure also gave users a reason to keep the effect open longer, and dwell time is what trains the algorithm to spread it.
10. SuperValu: the one we built
Full disclosure, this is ours. Working with TBWA, we built a TikTok AR filter for SuperValu, one of Ireland’s biggest grocery retailers. You can read the full breakdown in our SuperValu case study.
Why it worked: it gave an everyday Irish brand a playful presence on a platform where its younger customers actually spend time, without asking them to watch an ad. The same team also built the PUMA Rider game filter, where players controlled the game with head movement, so we have seen how far filter mechanics can go.
The five patterns behind every effect on this list
Look back through the ten and the same mechanics keep appearing:
- Transformation. Zombie to glam, human to Minecraft block, bare face to full look. Before and after is the most reliable format on the platform.
- Product on your face. Laneige and Shoppers Drug Mart turned the camera into a fitting room. If the product is visual, show it on the viewer.
- Gesture and voice triggers. Waves, V signs, shouting at sushi. Physical triggers make the user perform, and performance is content.
- Playable mechanics. Game filters like our PUMA Rider build session time, and longer sessions tell TikTok the content deserves reach. For bigger games that need leaderboards or data capture, the browser is often the better home. That is WebAR territory, a different tool from a filter.
- A reason to exist now. Ramadan, Halloween, a birthday, a launch. Every effect here had timing built in.
What a branded effect costs
Going through TikTok’s official Branded Effect programme typically starts around 45,000 dollars, which is why most of the examples above belong to global brands. The part that gets less attention: TikTok’s Effect House lets studios like ours build and publish effects organically, without the enterprise media package. That brings custom filters within reach of brands spending hundreds or low thousands rather than tens of thousands, and it is the route we use for most of the effects we build.
How to judge whether an effect idea is any good
Before you brief anyone, ask three questions. Can a viewer understand the effect in one second with the sound off? Does the mechanic connect to the brand, the way Genki Sushi’s shouting connected to a noisy restaurant? And would anyone use it twice? If the answer to all three is yes, you have a concept worth building. If you want inspiration, we develop original filter concepts by industry as part of every AR filter project, and we publish some of them on this blog for anyone to borrow.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a TikTok filter and a Branded Effect?
Technically a Branded Effect is TikTok’s paid enterprise product, sold with placement and promotion, while anyone can publish a filter organically through Effect House. In everyday use the words get mixed freely. What matters for your budget is the route: enterprise packages start around 45,000 dollars, while a studio built effect published through Effect House costs a fraction of that.
Can brands still make Instagram AR filters?
No. Meta closed the Spark AR platform in January 2025, which ended third party filters on Instagram and Facebook. Brands that relied on Instagram effects now get the same results through TikTok, Snapchat, or browser based AR that runs from a link or QR code.
How long does a branded filter take to make?
A single mechanic effect is typically live within one to two weeks. Interactive effects and game filters take two to six weeks depending on complexity, including platform review time.
Want one of your own?
We have built AR filters and effects for Adidas, PUMA, DHL and SuperValu from our studio in Dublin, and we work with brands and agencies internationally. If you have a campaign that needs more than another video ad, talk to us about a custom AR filter. We will tell you honestly which mechanic fits your brief, and whether a filter or a WebAR experience is the right call.