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Red Bull gives Snapchat push wings through summer celebration filters

Energy drink brand Red Bull appealed to the masses with sponsored Snapchat filters that celebrated the first official day of summer, prompting users to share photos with their own interpretations of how they are celebrating the season. 

Red Bull prompted users to doodle on and share images of consumers having summer fun while promoting its new Summer Edition flavor on the first official day of the season via Snapchat. The filters launched through the photo-sharing platform, encouraging users to show how they are celebrating the new season.

?It was the first day of summer and last days of school for many,? said Mark Cluett, marketing manager at Polar. ?They will be searching for the perfect celebratory filter, and Red Bull has cornered the market. 

?Red Bull has traditionally associated itself with extreme sports and adventure, but by expanding themselves into a brand of celebration they open more doors for event based sponsorship besides the outdoor and sporting focus they had before, while still retaining the sense of spontaneity,? he said. 

Snapping Summer Solstice
Snapchat users celebrated the Summer Solstice with Red Bull yesterday through its sponsored filers. The first filter launched earlier in the day and allowed users to express their interpretation of what time it is through a fill-in-the blank text in the middle of the image, in which users could fill out and send to friends. 

The filter read ?seize the sun, the time is?? and had users write in through Snapchat?s text or doodle feature. Underneath the line for users to fill out, the filter said ?summer starts now,? and shared images of the two hands cheersing a traditional Red Bull drink with the Summer Edition. 


Twitter user's @newXrules' use of Red Bull feature

Later on in the day, the filter updated and included text reading ?starting summer right,? and urged users to share their own images of how they are celebrating the start of the season. 

Red Bull is appealing to users through a campaign that taps into an interest for a substantial range of users. As everyone looks forward to summer and celebrates its arrival, Red Bull is able to take advantage of that and become a part of the conversation while sharing its products. 


Red Bull's second filter

The sheer fact that Red Bull is the only sponsored filter on Snapchat with a Summer Solstice subject allows it to corner this market on the mobile messaging application. 

Snapchat campaigns
Jeep and Chevrolet also leveraged Snapchat and went head to head with contrasting approaches on Snapchat as the latter shared an interactive lens to promote the new 2016 Cruze design while the former?s still-filter celebrated 4x4 Day (see more). 

DreamWorks Animation similarly karate-chopped its way through consumers? hearts with a filter on Snapchat advertising the latest Kung Fu Panda film, exhibiting how the platform has become a mobile marketing staple (see more). 

?The campaign is unique in its timing,? Mr. Cluett said. ?Sponsored filters are often times associated with a more focused event, but something as broad as summer solstice works across the globe.?