Snapchat rolled out its first-ever augmented reality global donation tool Tuesday, using its AR lenses to raise money for the United Nations Foundation’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization.
The initiative rolled out to mark World Health Day Tuesday.
Snapchatters can use the application’s camera technology to scan 23 international currency notes across 33 countries, which triggers an AR visualization of ways their donations can support the WHO’s immediate response efforts to the coronavirus pandemic, including tracking the spread of Covid-19, ensuring that patients receive care and providing critical supplies to front-line workers.
Media publishers on Snapchat’s Discover platform can also enable users to swipe up and donate directly from their content.
Snapchat said more than 445 Discover Stories or Shows related to the coronavirus pandemic have been produced to date, and over 68 million people have viewed related content on Snapchat.
All donations go to the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Snap Inc. senior director of creative strategy Jeff Miller said, “We want to empower Snapchatters around the world to take collective action in the response to Covid-19—showing them that every dollar can make a difference. Over three quarters of our Snapchatters engage with AR each day, so we built a global experience based on this behavior to draw the connection between loose bills and real change.”
Snapchat has already been working with the WHO on educational and informative AR experiences, and it said those lenses reached nearly 130 million users in just a few days of being live.
As a service to our community, coronavirus-related articles are available to everyone with a free Adweek membership. Never miss a key story by signing up for our First Things First newsletter and consider gaining full access and supporting Adweek journalism with an Adweek Pro Subscription.
https://www.adweek.com/digital/snapchat-puts-its-ar-to-work-for-the-covid-19-solidarity-response-fund/