AR Lens (Sponsored Lens)

An AR Lens, also called a Sponsored Lens, is a branded augmented-reality experience Snapchatters apply to their own camera.

You build a Lens that overlays your brand onto the world or the user's face through the camera, and Snapchat promotes it so people can find and play with it. Because the user activates it and often sends the result to friends, it turns your ad into something people hold in their hands rather than watch and scroll past.

Say you sell sunglasses. You build a try-on Lens that places your frames on the user's face in real time. Someone opens it, sees themselves in three styles, snaps a photo, and sends it to a friend, carrying your product into a private conversation you never paid to reach.

A Lens lives or dies on whether people want to use it. This is production, not just media buying, and a Lens with no reason to open it gets built, promoted, and ignored. The format rewards a genuine reason to play, not a logo slapped onto a filter.

Give people a Lens worth opening, or do not build one.