Snapchat broadens its ad options with new Shoppable AR Lenses for brands

Snapchat is launching a new Shoppable AR Lens that lets advertisers add a “Buy Now,” “Watch” or “Install Now” button to branded Lenses, turning every branded Snapchat selfie into a potential purchase, video view or app download.

The Shoppable AR (augmented reality) Lenses are separated into three categories: Website, Video and Install. The Website Shoppable AR Lens, which involves the “Buy Now” button, is defined as the “most shoppable” option by Snapchat, giving advertisers the option to link to a product page within the Snapchat app.

The Install Shoppable Lens includes an “Install Now” button that will let users install an app or open the app if it is already downloaded on the user’s device. The Video Shoppable AR Lens allows advertisers to add a “Watch” button to their branded Lens, which could be used to promote a game or movie trailer, a how-to video or behind-the-scenes-type footage.

“Snapchat Lenses are among the most unique ways to provide interactivity with potential moviegoers, and are now even stronger thanks to this new, simple button to view a trailer,” says Amy Elkins, STX Entertainment’s EVP of media and marketing innovation.

STX Entertainment, a film production company, is one of four brands launching Shoppable Lens campaigns. It’s using the Video Shoppable Lens to promote its new Amy Schumer movie, “I Feel Pretty.”

The other three brands launching Shoppable ads are Adidas, Clairol and King (the developer of the “Candy Crush” game app). Adidas has created a Website Shoppable AR Lens for its Deerupt running shoes:

This is the product page that launches when a user clicks the “Buy Now” button on the Adidas Website Shoppable Lens:

Snapchat is giving advertisers three separate payment options for the new Shoppable Lens ad options. They can be purchased via Snapchat’s self-serve platform, where advertisers bid on Snap Ads for as little as $100 per day. Advertisers can also pay a minimum of $40,000 (with an agreed-upon CPM) for an audience-targeted Shoppable Lens. Or there is a flat-fee payment option that offers brands the first Lens position on the Snapchat camera.

According to a MediaRadar report from earlier this year, 73 percent of the advertisers that ran video ads on Snapchat’s Discover channels were media, entertainment, technology or retail brands. Shoppable Lenses hit right at these advertiser segments, giving entertainment, technology and retail brands a direct path to conversion straight from Snapchat’s camera.

Snapchat boasts itself as the leader in AR marketing and says more than 70 million people play with its Lenses every day. It also reports users share 250 million AR Snaps daily.

“Shoppable AR Lenses give brands a new way to leverage our unique scale — more than half of the 13-34-year-old population of the US plays with our AR Lenses each week on average — to drive real and measurable ROI, whether that’s through sales, downloads, lead gen or video views,” says Snapchat’s director of revenue product, Peter Sellis.

This latest ad option from Snapchat follows the platform’s steady push to build out its advertising platform and to bring more ecommerce options to advertisers. Last week, Snapchat began testing an ecommerce feature on a few of its Discover publisher channels that made it possible for a user to swipe on a product and then purchase it within the Snap Store. Just a month ago, Snapchat released three new location-based ad-targeting features.