Dive Brief:
- Shell reformatted a video from its #makethefuture campaign for Snapchat’s vertical video format and included interactive features allowing Snapchat users to toggle between the six artists featured in the video, according to Adweek.
- In a campaign to promote the upcoming Underworld: Blood Wars film, Sony Entertainment's Screen Gems partnered with Snapchat to create the first ever 3D interactive lens.
- The new lens format uses smartphones’ gyroscope to create a completely immersive Underword-themed environment the Snapchat user can interact with, with the screen acting as a “window” into the virtual world, as described in a Screen Gems press release.
Dive Insight:
The interactive 3D lens is likely to become a new ad format for Snapchat with Screen Gems simply being the first client, but both campaigns point to new ways marketers can engage Snapchat users.
The common element between both efforts is interactivity at a fairly high level. Shell’s video gives viewers control over a key element of the ad — who they are watching perform the song — which is akin to TV’s long-standing promise of allowing viewers to choose a camera angle to watch during live sports. The Screen Gems sponsored lens provides users with a completely new experience by creating a different background from the customary overlay that Snapchat users are accustomed to.
Snapchat has been actively rolling new ways for marketers to reach its users in advance of the planned IPO of its parent company Snap, Inc., and it appears brands are eager to move beyond complaints that the platform is unfriendly to marketers and provide Snapchat users with novel experiences.