Starbucks used Snapchat lenses as ads to promote loyalty scheme

Starbucks has joined Snapchat's Sponsored Lens ad format to promote their loyalty program, after it received mixed reviews. Starbucks can expect to reach millions of people through the Snapchat ad format, expected to cost $350,000 a day, allowing the company to boost customer satisfaction while attempting to expand demand for the new scheme that rewards customers based on how much they spend rather than how often they shop at the coffee chain. Starbucks has also updated its mobile app to include a location feature that shows users what music is playing in stores,;this is a product of the partnership with Spotify.

Starbucks is the latest brand betting on Snapchat's 6-month-old Sponsored Lens ad format that overlays graphics on the app's ephemeral photos and videos. Today, the brand is running a Sponsored Lens to promote its recently revamped loyalty program and mobile app.

Adding the sponsored graphic to a "snap" makes users' eyes bigger and then turns them into a pair of stars—the symbol the brand uses for its loyalty program—that then explode.