Dive Brief:

• Jameson Irish Whiskey is giving people celebrating St. Patrick’s Day a helping hand with two age-gated Snapchat geofilters per a press release. The filters are limited to Jameson’s Canadian audience.
• The first runs from the beginning of the day on March 17 through 5 p.m. and provides cover for anyone who “forgets their green” that day with a snap message, “Forgot my green, this filter counts.” After 5 the filter will feature “Cheers!”
• The brand is also holding a #CheersYourJameson sweepstakes. Fans follow @JamesonCA on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or visit the webiste jamesonwhiskey.ca for a chance to win a trip to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day 2018. 

Dive Insight:

Snapchat filters have been a popular marketing tools for brands around events and holidays, going back to Gatorade’s Super Bowl filter in 2016 that reached a then record 165 million views followed by Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo filter that beat that figure with 224 million views during its 24-hour run. Because Snapchat has enhanced its targeting features for filters, spirits brands like Jameson can take advantage of the format by age-gating its ad for the appropriate audience. Snapchat also allows for geofiltering which Jameson is using to target Canadian whiskey drinkers and St. Patrick’s celebrants.

Last November, Snapchat upped its geotargeting capabilities for filters with a partnership with FourSquare. While Jameson might be using geofilters to reach an entire nation, marketers can now get as specific as targeting an individual store within a shopping mall with a geofilter.

As mobile users spend more time in messaging apps like Snapchat, brands are looking to engage with them in ways that are organic to the experience. Filters, stickers and emoji keyboards have proven to be popular because they enable users to customize their messages or photos even as questions linger around Snapchat's relevance with more traditional display ad formats.