Snapchat filters are now open to advertising opportunities

Just when you began to think that your selfies were safe from advertisements, along comes another sponsored ad format. It seems that advertising it everywhere, even in your selfies. Talk about adaptation.

Earlier this month, Snapchat began introducing animated filters (like a twinkling wreath of holiday lights) that move across the screen when people take a photo or video. Now, the social media platform has opened up animated filters for advertisers that enable users to snap and share moving graphics.

Dunkin’ Donuts was the first advertiser to buy a so-called sponsored animated filter to celebrate the winter solstice. Winter solstice is the darkest day of the year. The campaign promoted the brand’s dark roast coffee and the creative changes over the course of the day to increasingly get darker.

Snapchat is gaining more advertising attention because of use engagement

According to Snapchat, more than three billion filtered Snaps are viewed every day, which breaks down to 125 million every hour. Unlike other platforms, for example Facebook, Snapchat claims that most of those interactions take place between friends. Accordingly, 87 percent of users rank close friends as the most influential factor in purchase decisions which is why advertisements are taking a keen interest in such engaging apps. Advertising is shifting from mass message to individual message. Advertisers can purchase sponsored animated filters for national takeovers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France and Australia; in the coming months, the feature will include targeting by age, gender, time of day and interest.

As marketers look for more ways to engage with consumers outside of TV ads, brands are looking to sponsored filters to cut through the clutter of daily messages. According to Dunkin’ Donuts CMO Tony Weisman, the chain has been testing ad measurement that tracks how many people saw an ad before visiting a store through Snap’s acquisition of Placed. “This allows us to test incremental store visits from Snapchat ads, filters and lenses, and we’ve seen positive lifts in incrementality from these solutions,” he said in an email statement. While not sponsored, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all have filters; only time will tell if the platforms follow Snap’s lead.

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