Snap’s latest global brand campaign highlights fun AR filters

Snap launched a global brand campaign for 2023 on Thursday, highlighting the fun, irreverence and spontaneity of AR on Snapchat. 

The campaign aims to grab the attention and spark the curiosity of Snapchat users and non-users alike by demonstrating the creative potential of AR on the platform.

To kick off the campaign, called Wait’ll You See This, Snap will air a 60-second spot on Jan. 29 during and after the NFL AFC Championship game. The commercial features ten Lenses from creators including Denis Rossiev, Deej Drobo and Marco Mesoraca that viewers can unlock by scanning a QR code with the Snapchat camera. Lenses will also be featured in a segment on the CBS Pregame Show.

Every frame of the commercial has been turned into a unique marker that the Snapchat camera can recognize, a Snap spokesperson told Campaign US over email. Viewers simply need to point their camera and scan any scene to unlock the AR experiences shown in the commercial. 

Led by chief creative officer Colleen DeCourcy, the spot will be the first of many activations in the year ahead targeting people less familiar with Snapchat in an effort to grow its user base. 

“Wait’ll You See This” is Snap’s third global branding campaign. Its first was in July 2019, called Real Friends, which aimed to showcase how Snapchat users connect with their real friends on the platform. Its second global effort in July 2021, called Open Your Snapchat, emphasized  the power of the Snapchat camera and encouraged people to unlock locally relevant AR experiences through OOH placements. 

Snap teased the effort with a short video clip in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, a float at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California and a live appearance at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest on ABC, in which Seacrest and Lisa Koshy digitally wore some of Snapchat’s AR lenses.