Spotted! Snap gets spooky to entice brands to AR

The "Phantom House" interactive content series is open for a range of branded tie-ins.

Snap has launched a content series meant to tap into its users’ love for Halloween – and show brands the different opportunities for activation on the platform.

“Phantom House” is an interactive, narrative content series featuring three content creators – Tony Talks, Sofie Dossi and Ezee – trying to escape from a haunted house. Each week, a new episode will allow users to participate in the story across Chat, Camera, Stories and Spotlight tabs on the app. They can gather clues, solve puzzles and show other users what they’ve found using AR lenses and AI-generated selfies inspired by the series.

Snap says Halloween is a very popular time on its flagship platform. According to the company, 80% of users plan to use Snapchat during the holiday. Previous Halloween campaigns on Snapchat have generated a 1.6x lift in brand awareness, 2.1x lift in ad awareness, 2.4x lift in message association, and 1.6x lift in action intent, according to Kantar data.

Though “Phantom House” is meant to capitalize on the popularity of Halloween among users, part of the execution is also meant to entice brands to activate on Snapchat by showing off the range of different capabilities available to them. They are being encouraged to run interactive “Phantom House”-related AR experiences of their own, and is also offering opportunities to place commercials within the show and off-platform co-marketing. Maybelline and Disney+ have already signed on to be featured in an out-of-home takeover planned to take place in New York during Advertising Week, beginning on Oct. 16, where Snap execs will also be appearing on industry panels.