Snapchat is one of the biggest social networks in the world with a reported user base of over 100 million users and one of the biggest users are millennials. One of the coolest things about Snapchat are its geofilters which can either be generated by Snapchat or can be customized for you.
Since an institution can be able to get its own customized geofilter, this has led Snapchat to attract interesting customers and governments seem to be keen on them. According to BuzzFeed News, the UK government apparently spent £70,000 or slightly over $100,000 on a Snapchat filters but for a good cause.
The money spent was revealed to be 5% of the budget sent for a campaign which was aimed at informing the public against taking drugs and then going ahead to drive. “The advertising channel mix for the Think! drug drive campaign was chosen to maximise reach among the target audience”, the Department for Transport was quoted by the publication. The target audience here are millennials where apparently there are 8 million Snapchat users in the UK.
The filter allows people to use features that we have seen with the classic Snapchat lenses like releasing an exploding rainbow when you open your mouth or wearing a flower wreath. It also has a custom message attached to it that reads “Drive High? The roadside swab will catch you.”
These sort of campaigns by governments should not be surprising at all since the young people are always in these social networks and in order to communicate to them, they have to use these platforms. In Kenya for example, the government has used Facebook and Twitter to communicate to the public and in the case for India, police departments are using Periscope as a community policing too. In developed countries where Snapchat is really popular with young people, the company has now found a way to earn money as a public service announcement channel for governments.
