Snapchat could soon brand your selfies with its sponsored lenses ad product

A spokeswoman for the company said, “Sponsored lenses allow Snapchatters to express themselves and connect with a brand in a really creative and dynamic way”.

A Financial Times report says the new sponsored lenses will allow brands to creep into users’ selfies.

Snapchat, the popular messaging app, plans to launch sponsored lenses as a new advertising platform which would charge brands to let them sell their offerings on top of selfies.

Snapchat has already reached a $100m projected annualised revenue run rate and is reportedly in talks with a few brands to get $10m next year.

It’s no secret that Snapchat is in need of money. Having ditched the brand story model it earlier employed, the company recently began to charge a dollar for three replays for a snap which would otherwise be unplayable once removed. McDonalds, the first such marketer, sponsored stickers like a double cheeseburger or a bag of french fries. This feature is called Facial Overlay and Snapchat does it better than any other app but the fascinating thing is that it uses the frontal camera which is harder to recognize due to the decreased quality, but that doesn’t seem to stop them.

The sponsored lenses idea is perhaps a brilliant one, which allows it to directly reach customers through viral videos. They will be designed by Snapchat on behalf of brands and will appear alongside the other new lense feature options introduced two weeks ago, which include adding animated hearts, rainbows and sounds to a photograph. Snapchat, of course, is contributing its expertise with young people.