Sony calls on Snapchat users to become ghostbusters
If there's something strange in the neighborhood, Sony Pictures wants to call Snapchat users.
In promoting its upcoming Ghostbusters reboot, the studio partnered up with the popular app to create a new kind of lens that utilizes both the front and rear cameras of phones.
Using the front camera, Snapchatters can "bust" ghosts. By switching to the rear camera, users can "slime" unsuspecting friends or themselves.
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Music from the movie will play in the background as Snapchatters choose between wearing a proton pack and becoming a genuine Ghostbuster or getting doused with green slime by a playful apparition.
Many studies suggest teens and young adults vastly prefer YouTube and Netflix to traditional TV. So experimenting on new platforms has become a vital way to draw in return viewers and attract new ones.
"Whether it's dog ears or flower crowns, face swapping or alien eyes, Snapchat's popular portfolio of Lenses are highly engaging pieces of content that fans truly love," Elias Plishner, the executive vice president of digital marketing for Sony Pictures, said in a statement. "We are very excited to be the first ever partner to introduce this new type of Lens to the market."
Snapchat has been key in helping traditional Hollywood players broaden their audiences, with the platform reporting that 60% of U.S. smartphone owners between the ages of 13 and 34 are Snapchatters.
Sony's rival studio 20th Century Fox previously partnered with Snapchat on the app's first sponsored lens with The Peanuts Movie last November. More recently, Fox became the first advertiser on the app to purchase a ticketing ad unit, giving users the ability to buy tickets to X-Men: Apocalypse while playing around with themed filters.
The Paul Feig-directed Ghostbusters, which hits theaters 32 years after the original film, stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth. It opens July 15.
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Topics Apps & Software Film Snapchat
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
