Big Ticks for Ticker, a brand new South Korean AR beauty app that puts virtual makeup, social media, and online shopping at a swipe of your fingertips
AR-powered virtual makeup is coming under the spotlight as a new engagement tool for the cosmetics industry. It’s also eyed as an important technology for contactless marketing during the pandemic. In South Korea, the recently launched beauty platform “Ticker”, which specializes in AR technology, is fast turning heads.
Ticker’s concept is an all-around beauty platform that allows anyone to easily take attractive photos and videos and edit them as well as enjoy virtual experiences, video chats, social media features, and shopping. In December 2020, they deployed a beta version for users to test, and on March 15 this year the official version was released.
Ticker started drawing attention in South Korea right from the get-go in beta form. There are a number of factors behind this, but of top significance is its operating company Tachyon B&T. Tachyon B&T is a technology company specializing in beauty tech that was founded in 2018. It originally started out specializing in cutting-edge Industry 4.0 (Fourth Industrial Revolution) technologies. Specifically, the company, having owned a variety of AI and AR-related technology patents, ran a business incubating a diverse range of projects that utilized those technologies.
Tachyon B&T had been waiting for the right moment to release their own service, and the end product was Ticker. Ticker was developed by the crème de la crème of South Korea’s software engineering talents who had previously worked at IT enterprises such as Kakao and Line Games. Patents are already pending for the nine main technologies that Ticker comprises.
Some of the technologies built into Ticker include a “mobile object wearing system via real-time face tracking”, which makes possible AR virtual makeup and other beauty functions that can be used while video chatting, and an “auto hashtag system” that generates hashtags when users post photos or videos to social media. The collection of patents that were applied for have been described as technologies for improving on issues and reaching higher performance in comparison to existing beauty camera apps and AR applications that allow users to touch up skin and other facial features in their selfies.
Of particular interest is how Tachyon B&T has entered into a technology-based partnership with Meitu, the number one AR makeup service in China. Meitu, which has always focused on AR-related technological development, has no previous history of technology-based partnerships in South Korea, making their collaboration with Tachyon B&T a first for them. For Tachyon B&T, the aim is to incorporate Meitu’s technology into Ticker along with their technology.
On February 25 this year, Tachyon B&T also announced several big global brands that were partnering with Ticker. Those with which they have signed deals include Laura Mercier, Chantecaille, and Espoir.
So let’s take a look at what functions they’ve incorporated into Ticker.
The first is the “Ticker Beauty Camera”. Using the latest in face-tracking technology, this core function of the app allows users to take more beautiful selfies and it also links with other functions on the platform. The second is “AR Cosmetic”, which allows users to virtually try on a variety of makeup products. The third is “Beauty AI”, which matches and recommends cosmetics to individual users and allows them to easily edit photos and videos.
The fourth, “Ticker Video Call”, is an AR video chat function that allows up to eight users to join a video call at once. During the call, participants can use AR functions to apply virtual makeup to the onscreen faces. They also have plans to provide social features such as games, icons, and stamps in what will be an eye-catching feature of Ticker.
The fifth is “Beauty Market”, which was implemented after the official release. This is an e-commerce function where users can directly purchase products that they’ve tried on virtually using the AR camera. Details on the final sixth function, “Ticker SNS”, are still under wraps, but they have mentioned linking with external social media platforms and a unique point system driven by social media activeness.
Currently the top two vendors in the AR virtual makeup field — Perfect Corp. and L’Oréal’s ModiFace — are developing and brushing up their services that mainly target businesses. These include AR services to be placed within brands’ e-commerce sites or implemented on instore devices. Tachyon B&T has also positioned itself in this market, showing off Ticker as a marketing channel that can generate profits for brands in the era of contactless shopping.
On the other hand, Ticker places importance on communication between the users that use the beauty functions, and it seems their plan is to try and convert users’ reliability and enthusiasm into consumer behavior. Tachyon B&T’s future roadmap also envisions making full use of the data they’ve gathered through Ticker to launch a private brand. Thus, we can see how important it is for them to further develop their services for users.
Currently, in South Korea, we don’t yet see any domestic or international AR makeup services or vendors that have built up adequate trust from both brands and users. Now attention will be on what kind of position Tachyon B&T can build for itself in the current “champion-less” South Korean AR market and whether their technological prowess can allow them to gain a piece of the global pie currently owned by Perfect Corp. and ModiFace.
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Jonggi HA
