Snap and HBO launch AR Lens to celebrate House of the Dragon premiere

To celebrate the premiere of House of the Dragon, Snap and HBO have launched an augmented reality (AR) campaign. For the show’s premiere this Sunday, HBO Max will release a new selfie and world-facing AR Lens. The scanning a dedicated Lens Snap code via the Snap camera or in the Snapchat Lens Carousel

In selfie mode, the Lens transforms the user into a fire-breathing dragon. In worldview mode, the Lens unleashes flying, fire-breathing dragons before the user’s eyes. The Lens will go live in several regions around the world, including North America, Australia, Europe, India, the Middle East and Northern Africa.

In addition, Snap and HBO Max have also coordinated with members of Snap’s Lens Network from around the world to build custom Landmarker AR experiences in their local markets. This is the first partnership to pair a brand with a diverse group of Lens Creators at a global scale. 

The new Landmarker Lenses continue the brands’ tradition of taking over buildings with AR Game of Thrones dragons – they first executed an ice dragon takeover of the Flatiron Buiilding in New York for the GoT final season premiere in 2019.

The Landmarker Lenses offer Snapchatters a new way to engage with the show – revealing AR renderings of the show’s dragons as they take over local Landmarks all over the globe.

In order to execute the campaign, HBO Max provided the Lens Creators with AR assets for each dragon to build the new Landmarker Lenses. Each Lens Creator personally selected the location for their individual Landmarker Lens.

The first Lenses will launch for the premiere on Sunday at the following locations:

Los Angeles: Venice Beach Grand Canals, built by Francis Chen. Rio De Janeiro: Princess Isabel Statue, built by Vitulo & Co. London: Tower Bridge, built by Clara Bacou. Chennai: Sankagiri Fort, built by RBKavin Studio. Mumbai: CST Station (IE Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus), built by Mohnish Raut and Persica Picardo

In total, there will be around 20 new Landmarker Lenses released throughout the season from Creators in more than 10 countries. As new dragons are introduced over the course of the season, Landmarker experiences featuring those dragons will be made available through Snapchat.

The Landmarker Lenses will be concentrated on three key show moments: the series premiere; pivotal mid-season episodes; and the season finale in late September.

The Landmarker Lenses will be unlockable via the Lens Carousel when Snapchatters are near a Landmarker location. They will also be accessible via new custom dragon icons on the Snap Map, which reveal the location of each Landmarker experience.

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