Snapchat Unveils Sponsored Lenses with Peanuts Promotion

peanutsfilter2Snapchat has debuted its new Sponsored Lenses ad format with a campaign for Fox Movies promoting The Peanuts Movie, which is released this week in the US.

Users of the popular self-destructing photo message app were able to add an animated, branded filter to selfies theyve taken, in this case a Halloween-themed promotion for Fox Movies new animated film which is released at the end of the week.

The sponsored lens added Snoopy dancing in a pumpkin patch in the foreground of photos, placed Woodstock the bird atop users heads, and created an animated stream of candy pouring from their mouths, all to the tune of the Linus and Lucy Theme from the cartoon.

According to Digiday, the ad format uses facial recognition to detect a persons face and place the filter around it, as well as identifying when someones mouth was open to animate the stream of candy. The lens was available for a 24-hour period over the weekend for use on both photo messages to friends and public Stories, and was accompanied by two sponsored geofilters that could be added to non-selfie pictures.

“To see the Peanuts characters that we know and love so dearly become a part of our communitys conversations and moments of self-expression is amazingly fun,” said Luke Kallis, head of west coast sales for Snapchat in a statement.

The Sponsored Lenses are the most native ad format Snapchat has introduced so far, placing ads directly into messages that users and sending to one another. So far, other ads have been placed in the apps Stories and Discover channels, which require users to access them specifically.

The company also debuted its first branded channel within the Discover publisher portal last week, with Sony Pictures Entertainment creating a channel specifically to promote the new James Bond film Spectre. The channel included behind-the-scenes clips, interviews, music videos and shareable images and video.

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