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Toyota's Snapchat geofilter doubles as exclusive ticket to secret performance

Toyota has taken a page from Willy Wonka?s playbook by turning hidden Snapchat geofilters into golden tickets providing entrance to a special musical performance at Lollapalooza open only to those who found and screen shot the content on their smartphones. 

The automaker is tapping into the hype surrounding the 25th anniversary of Lollapalooza by sponsoring an exclusive extra hour of the music festival and leveraging Snapchat as an entrance method. Users that found the geofilter on the social media platform were given the time and location of the performance and had to save the photo in order to gain entry. 

"Using our targeted geo-located Snapchat filter as a 'Golden Ticket', was a first-of-its-kind approach to giving music fans access to an amazing after show," said Florence Drakton, social media marketing manager at Toyota. "Nearly 50,000 festival goers viewed the filter during the three-hour period it was available, which tells us we were reaching the right audience.?

Mobile golden ticket
Snapchat users located at or nearby Lollapalooza were given a unique opportunity to attend a special performance on Friday, July 29, featuring recording artist Leon Bridges and rapper Big Boi. Toyota shared a geofilter on Snapchat that provided the time and location of the invite-only performance. 


After the event, Toyota provided rides home to ensure its attendees got home safely, and promoted its vehicles with a positive brand message. 

During Lollapalooza, Toyota also featured its music festival installation that prompted on-site social media users to share thoughts on ?What Does Music Mean to You?? Toyota promoted the hashtag #ToyotaGiving to drum up awareness for its charities and music education awareness. 

Toyota drives mobile marketing
The golden ticket filter is not Toyota?s only use of Snapchat. The automaker has been launching several mobile-focused campaigns. 

Toyota tapped Snapchat and popular Latin musicians to weave an innovative storytelling experience that piggybacks on the Billboard Latin Music Awards with an experience that requires friends to band together (see more). 

Working with 100 interchangeable clips, Toyota similarly reached Facebook users with video ads for the RAV4 that are customized for each viewer, resulting in more than 100,000 different spots (see more). 

"Toyota understands that music is a large part of the lives? of many of our guests and we use that insight to develop exciting partnerships and on-site festival activations that inspire true conversations with our guests," said Tyler McBride, engagement marketing manager at Toyota. "Creating engaging and authentic content whether at a festival or at a special event, like the 25th Hour, makes 'Let?s Go Places/Vayamos Juntos' come to life in real ways and that?s our goal.

"This year at Lollapalooza, our goals revolved around bringing the 25th anniversary celebration to life through a unique private event for festivalgoers while also creating an engaging on-site presence that connected guests with the brand," he said. "This happened through several touch points, from the unique Snapchat geofilters used to invite guests to the private concert to the social media content created with our music influencers, like Becky G, on Toyota Latino channels.  

"The final element is our partnership with VH1 Save the Music Foundation through which we are giving back in support of musical education in our schools which will culminate later this year with the presentation of a $40,000 grant to 3 schools in the Chicago area.?