Snapchat’s Lens Creative Partners Program Make AR More Accessible

In the past few years, Snapchat has rolled out several ad options for advertisers, including paid ads between videos, eCommerce options, and branded filters - but, arguably, their most engaging ad option by far is AR lenses.

According to TechCrunch, a third of Snapchat’s 186 million daily active users engage with AR lenses at an average of three minutes each (depending on the complexity/interactive nature of each lens). This adds up to 500 years of daily AR engagement.

To allow more brands to capitalize on this hype, Snapchat announced that it's rolling out a program that will make AR lenses more accessible for brands to create and use -- the Lens Creative Partner Program.

What is the Lens Creative Partner Program?

Previously, Snapchat had a desktop app called Lens Studio where developers could create and launch their own lenses, however, some companies did not have the proper talent on deck to create these and didn’t know what other agencies or freelancers to turn to.

Because this is such advanced technology, finding companies that had previous experience successfully building sponsored lenses proved to be a challenge.

With Snapchat’s new Lens Creative Partners Program, that pain point is now.

The program is designed to help companies find agencies and other developers that have experience building AR lenses for brands to build theirs.

This will lift the barriers for brands and allow them to find a trusted source to help them bring their AR lenses to life.

Who Can Be a Part of the Program?

In Snapchat’s formal announcement this morning, it stated that to be listed as a certified creator, developers “had to be experienced in developing quality AR and complete a rigorous course about the development process, creative best practices, ad policies and buy models of sponsored AR Lenses on Snapchat.”

In other words, not just anyone can claim to be an expert and brands can trust the individuals in the program to create quality work.

How Do I Get Started?

Currently, they already have more than 30 certified creators listed (you can check them out here!), and they’re expecting to add 100+ creators to be added over the next few months.

This news is huge for marketers, as it is now easier than ever to link up with the right people to help you strategize and build the perfect lense for your business.

This is also big for agencies, as if they are trained in this type of development, it can mean a lot of business opportunity if they’re able to hop onto this list early on. If you’re interested in becoming a partner, you can see the requirements and apply here.