Situation

In 2020 we faced dire realities in the middle of two crises-- a global pandemic and anti-Black racism in the United States.

The Brief

How can Snapchat AR technology bridge the gap --creating a virtual march that millions of people participated in through AR, alongside the 63rd anniversary March on Washington in DC?

Objectives

Impact and amplify reach of a grassroots movement through art and mobile and social influencers

Partner with 6 Black artists to reimagine the face mask as a canvas for digital protest art. So even with their mouths covered, their voices of change would be louder than ever.

Turning the audience into activists, those who interacted with the AR could try on the artist masks buy their favorite physical artists masks directly from the experience to wear around their communities. They could also update their Bitmoji avatars, personal extensions of themselves online to wear the artist masks and show their support.

Attendees of the local march in Washington D.C. could also participate by scanning the Capitol Building with the Snapchat camera

We wanted to take a fresh look at at the power of the mobile camera, particularly as a catalyst for the resurgence in the Black Lives Matter 2020 movement itself. We realized Camera technology at its core has the ability to scale and amplify movements and what better way is there than to have that as the basis for this campaign.

Gen Z Snapchatters were the target for this campaign. This generation is one of the most educated and forward thinking around social issues. They are less content with politics and are more excited about social activism.

This campaign used best in class Snapchat technology for a true takeover of the app. By creating custom Bitmoji, users could see each other protesting on SnapMaps. Staying within the AR lens, Snapchatters could purchase with the click of a button, launching into the Shopify store for physical mask purchases.

The execution was implemented as a takeover across the app. Snapchatters could find the lens from the first screen of the app within the Camera lens carousel.

The execution ran from 8/28/2020 the day of the March on Washington 2020 for 1 week.

Placements included within the Snapchat Camera, SnapMaps, Short Form Video Content.

Reach

13M unique Snapchatters engaged with the lens within the first 72 hours of it going live. We sold out of specific artist mask designs and donated the rest to homeless youth. Lastly we hosted 7 AR workshops for young BIPOC artists from a Rebuild Foundation partner org, SkyART in Chicago, to empower the next generation to make masks and AR art of their own