“You can’t fake the energy of a group chat.”

Aarohi Dhir, Head of Global Brand Strategy at Snapchat, is explaining what Snapchat’s latest campaign is showing the World Cup through the lens of the lived experience of it’s users; unfiltered and in the moment.

The new campaign celebrates the shared emotional, authentic and spontaneous reactions of fans during major sporting moments.

Entitled ‘So, about that Snap’ the campaign brings viewers onto the emotional rollercoaster of supporting their national teams. By authentically showing the lens of consumers conversations the campaign successfully underlines Snapchat’s role at the heart of fandom.

The campaign features real stories in a series of 30 second films that bring to life what it means to be a fan during international tournaments. Fans watch, celebrate and cry together, as they talk about how they use Snapchat to share these raw emotions during the highs and lows of every game. 

Dhir shared: “We skipped the pitch-side polish to make fans the main characters. Snapchat is a two-player experience - it’s built for conversation, not broadcast. Our strategy was to use a real-time engine to source raw stories directly from our community from chat to billboard.” 

In the UK, one film shows two Scottish expats excitedly reflecting on watching the qualifier match in a New York City bar surrounded by fellow Scots, finally bringing their team to the World Cup after 28 years. While another execution captures a group of England fans reminiscing on a powercut that nearly ruined a crucial goal-scoring moment against France, and how they took to Snapchat to share their disbelief. 

Launched in the UK, US and Norway, the campaign will run across Video on Demand, Meta, YouTube and Snapchat. The creative was led by Weirdo, with Everett Ravens directing. Production was handled by Daydream Studios. 

The World Cup experience

Snapchat will also be running an out of home campaign and experiential takeovers. From 15–29th June, Snapchat is transforming The Shoreditch Stack into a reactive real-time celebration of fan reactions. 

The venue will feature Snaps from different Snapchatters reacting to the highs and lows of matches, draped in England flags. The campaign aims to transform authentic fan content into large-scale billboard executions. 

As the tournament plays out, the out of home creative will spotlight fans’ reactions on Snapchat, updated in near real-time to reflect England’s performance. Digital billboards will star real celebrations from real Snapchatters, interspersed with captions like ‘never doubted it’.

The out of home campaign will also be supported by homepage takeovers across digital news platforms, and reactive print ads appearing in The Times and The Sunday Times. 

Out of home buying was led by Undercover Arts, with the other media channels led by Snapchat. 

To bring fans even closer to the action, Snapchat is also taking over Black Bear Burger Shoreditch and Camden’s Box Park from the 17th June to 22nd June. The brand is creating spaces to feed the fans and for supporters to come together to watch matches, celebrate and share their experiences on the platform. 

The spaces are being transformed through Snapchat branded signage and venue touchpoints. They will also feature Snapchat’s AR Mirrors, where food lovers and football fans alike can use Snap’s Lenses to create fun memorable photos and take home a printed souvenir. 

The takeover will also extend beyond Shoreditch and Camden to nine Black Bear Burger locations across London. To mark England’s opening World Cup match on 17th June, 100 free burgers will be available for fans at each participating location.

The activation will also be fronted by Snap Star and foodie creator, The Notty Chef, Jordan Billham, who will create content around the partnership and the giveaway across Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. 

Harley Ilott, Head of Global Brand Marketing at Snapchat, explained: "Live sports creates some of the most emotional and memorable moments,and Snapchat is where so many of those reactions are created and shared between loved ones. Sport is, at its heart, about the fans, and we wanted our newest campaign to do the same."