Zalando: Dancing On Our Own

The background

Singles’ Day is a holiday that celebrates people who aren’t in relationships. Zalando wanted to take the opportunity to send an empowering message about the benefits of being single. So we helped them spread the word in a playful way on Instagram.

The execution

“Dancing On Our Own” was an interactive Instagram beauty filter and Instagram Reels challenge that embraced all the positives of being single.

The filter recreated two phases of a fun night out: getting ready and enjoying the party. Using facial recognition technology, it prompted you to activate features with different gestures: Smiling turned on the mood lighting and nodding your head added makeup and sparkle. The filter also had custom music and sound effects that added major party vibes and got people dancing.

The result was a fun, flirty, and engaging dance video that celebrated all there is to love about the single life. People shared their “Dancing On Our Own” videos to Instagram Reels, showing off their carefree moves for all to see.

It was challenging to build the filter around the Spark AR platform’s strict file size limitations, but we made it happen without sacrificing quality. This was our first time using Reels and one of the very first Reels developed for a branded campaign. Our team jumped on the feature shortly after Instagram released it and did an incredible job navigating unexplored territory. We look forward to making more branded Reels again in the future.

The results

The filter and the challenge won the hearts of singles and people in relationships alike. Everyone had a good time playing with it, dancing, and celebrating the empowering benefits of being single.