Chicago takes to Snapchat to promote mask-wearing

The City of Chicago has launched an augmented reality (AR) Snapchat lens to encourage residents to wear face masks to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The Snapchat social media platform, which has around 238 million daily active users worldwide, is particularly popular with young adults. Chicago has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases among 18 to 29-year-olds recently and believes this  demographic is “key to stemming the virus”.

Snapchat users can only ‘unlock’ the lens by wearing a mask. The AR solution allows them to choose different designs related to the city. Chicago worked with Snap and advertising and marketing agency Ogilvy to design the lens, aligning it with public health initiatives – particularly the ‘We Are All ONE Team: Team Up, Mask Up’ campaign – as well as new city branding unveiled earlier this year.

Network effect

“Our youth are smart, civically minded people,” said Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. “They know their personal actions help keep them and their friends and families safe. By using this fun, unique tool we reach them where they are – on their phones, on social media – and at the point when they have a choice to make about wearing that mask.”

Mayor Lightfoot has also launched her own Snapchat account.

“Youth are often given a hard time, so we’ve been looking for ways to empower Chicago’s younger residents to share out the precautions they are taking in confronting this pandemic,” said Joe Sciarrotta, Deputy Chief Creative Officer Worldwide, Ogilvy. “We saw this lens as a perfect opportunity to help young people prove through their social networks that they are making the right choices and truly believe ‘We are all one team’.”