Brief:

• Jack in the Box is collaborating with Paramount Pictures to promote this week's movie release of "Sonic the Hedgehog" with an augmented reality (AR) lens on Snapchat. The image-messaging app's Lens Carousel hosts the gamified AR face filter, which challenges mobile users to race through a virtual obstacle course while grabbing the restaurant chain's Tiny Tacos, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
• The lens is integrated with Snapchat's shoppable AR technology, letting users tap an "order now" button to visit the Uber Eats landing page to order Tiny Tacos for delivery. Snapchatters who rack up a "taco score" of 50 will win free delivery from Uber Eats on their next Jack in the Box order placed through Snapchat's shoppable AR feature.
• The fast-food chain also is using Snapchat's AR Marker Tech in an out-of-home (OOH) campaign tied to the movie. Malls in San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Monica, California, will be decorated with gold rings inspired by "Sonic the Hedgehog." People who scan the rings with Snapchat will unlock an AR experience showing the Sonic character chasing after Tiny Tacos and may win free delivery of the menu item from Uber Eats, according to the announcement.

Insight:

Jack in the Box and Paramount's joint marketing effort aims to reach their shared target audience with a multichannel campaign on Snapchat. The app's parent company Snap estimated that 75% of U.S. consumers ages 13 to 34 are active on Snapchat. That usage make the image-messaging app a key way to promote Jack in the Box's menu items and animated movies like "Sonic the Hedgehog," which is based on the hit video game that Sega introduced almost 40 years ago.

By creating gamified and OOH experiences for Snapchat users, Jack in the Box and Paramount can also engage an audience that's typically more difficult to reach through traditional media outlets like broadcast TV. OOH advertising is a powerful channel that urges consumers to visit physical locations and can trigger measurable responses through mobile devices. Other fast-food chains have developed OOH campaigns to reach consumers. McDonald's in August deployed an OOH promotion that included a Snapchat integration that brought ad posters to life with AR imagery.

Paramount's promotion for "Sonic the Hedgehog" suggets that its past marketing campaigns on Snapchat have been effective for the movie studio. In December, Paramount was the first company to sponsor Snapchat's AR "trailer reaction lens" with a promotion for "Top Gun: Maverick," the movie sequel starring Tom Cruise. Paramount also promoted the release of animated movie "Sherlock Gnomes" with an AR beauty experience on mobile devices. The studio's campaign for "Ghost in the Shell," the science fiction movie starring Scarlett Johansson, also included AR makeup features.