The 2019 Snapchat Partner Summit was filled with current and upcoming updates to the platform. From the introduction of Landmarks (augmented buildings), increased functionality with AR tracking, new Snap Originals, multiplayer games and more!
We were so inspired by the power of marketing on this platform we decided to transcribe the talk for anyone who missed it or would just rather read. Take a look and let us know if you have any questions about Snapchat, AR lenses, filters and how they can be a force for creativity in your next marketing campaign.
Evan Spiegel, CEO & Co-founder, Snap
Bobby Murphy, CTO & Co-founder, Snap
Ben Schwerin, VP Partnerships, Snap
Sean Mills, Head of Original Content, Snap
Vanessa Guthrie, Director of Programming, Originals, Snap
Will Wu, Director, Product, Snap
Luke Muscat, Creative Director & Co-founder @ Prettygreat & Snap
John Imah, Global Head of Gaming Partnerships & Strategy, Snap
Please welcome to the stage, co-founder and CEO, Evan Spiegel.
[Clapping]
Evan Spiegel
Welcome, welcome everyone. We have really been looking forward to this day. There are people here today from all over the world representing more than 429 partners. Woo!
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Thank you so much for joining us. We’ve got a lot of great things to share with you today. Today we’re gonna be talking about our camera platform for building augmented reality experiences, Snap Kit for integrating Snapchat features and partner applications and discover our storytelling platform for publishers and content creators.
We built so many awesome things together over the years we couldn’t have done any of this without you. You make such a huge difference in the lives of people who use Snapchat everyday. You bring your creativity, your brilliance, your talents and so much more to people all over the world. You believe in our community and our commitment to doing things differently and we are so grateful.
I wanted to share a quick update on our Snapchat community because they inspire us to challenge convention every day. From ephemeral messaging to vertical video, stories, lenses, maps and Bitmoji. Our Snapchat community has fearlessly embraced so many new forms of self-expression. In the United States Snapchat now reaches nearly 75% of all 13 to 34-year-olds and we reach 90% of 13 to 24-year-olds. In fact we reach more 13 to 24-year-olds than Facebook or Instagram in the United States, the UK, France, Canada, and Australia.
[Clapping]
That’s because Snapchat empowers people to express themselves. On Snapchat you’re free to be you with your real friends and we are proud to serve the next generation of leaders in these countries and around the world.
Before we get started I wanted to talk a little bit about why we are a camera company. Cameras have changed a lot over the years. In the past cameras were clunky pieces of hardware you wore around your neck to document special occasions. But today cameras are software, a window into the way we experience the world. The Snapchat camera changes how we see, how we speak, how we shop, how we tell stories, and so much more, but most importantly our camera lets the natural light of the world penetrate the darkness of the Internet.
The internet started as a military research project. It’s just not our natural habitat. But as we use the Internet more and more in our daily lives we need a way to make it a bit more human.The Snapchat camera allows people to use computing in their natural environment, the real world. We believe that by opening into the camera we can create a computing experience that combines the superpowers of technology with the best of humanity. Things like friendship, compassion, creativity, generosity and love. That is why we are a camera company and with that I’d like to introduce my partner, Bobby, to talk about some of the amazing new things happening on our camera platform.
[4:25] Bobby Murphy
Thank you Evan, and thank you everyone for being here today. I am so excited to share what we’ve been working on. In just a few short years since we started Snapchat we’ve dramatically changed the notion of what a camera can do. Cameras used to be primarily for documenting moments. Today the Snapchat camera is used primarily for talking.
With lenses, our augmented reality product, the camera now plays a central role in way people experience the world around them. Lenses help us talk to one another, and play with our friends. They transform us into our favourite characters, transport us to fantastic worlds and allow us to experience magic anywhere. Snapchat lenses combine some of the most advanced camera technology with the endless creativity of our community to provide the best augmented reality experience on mobile.
We want to empower anyone to be able to create their own augmented reality experiences so in December 2017 we launched Lens Studio, a desktop tool that makes it easy to create and publish a lens. In just over a year more than 400,000 lenses have been created by our community and people have played with those lenses over 15 billion times. That is incredible. We’ve been absolutely amazed by the creativity of our community. Take a Look.
[6:00] - Lens Community Video
We love that lens creators are pushing the boundaries of artistic expression and new technology. When you create a lens you give people something new, a window into your imagination but from their own perspective. So we designed a home in Snapchat uniquely for Lens creators. Today we’re announcing creator profiles. Dedicated spaces for creators to showcase their work and learn about their audience.
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We’ve also been hard at work building brand new capabilities to further empower our community. Today we’re excited to announce some big updates to Lens Studio. We’re adding a bunch new templates and I want to show you a few of my favourites. Use the hand tracking template to put magic in the palm of your hand. Use the body tracking template to give your friends superpowers. You can even use the pet tracking template to give your dog a new friend. But, we didn’t stop there, we wanted the world to really come alive. So today, we’re announcing Landmarks. Let’s check them out.
[8:15] - Landmarks Video
[Clapping]
Today we’re launching Landmarkers in five locations, Buckingham palace, the Eiffel tower the Flat Iron building in New York City, the Capital Building in Washington DC, and the Chinese Theatre here in Los Angeles with many, many more on the way. You can actually try one here today, just right outside this building.
We have worked hard to empower creators to build incredible lenses but we also want to improve the way that people discover them. If we can show the right lens in the right moment we can inspire a whole new world of creativity. Today Snapchat can do a few different things when you press and hold to scan on the camera screen. If you see a Snapcode just scan it to add a friend or unlock a lens. If you see a product you like you can scan it to buy it on amazon or if you hear a song you like, Shazam will identify it with their music recognition technology. Today we’re announcing a major update designed to make the Snapchat camera even smarter. Now you can scan anything and we’ll show you the most relevant lenses. First a few from the partners. Just press and hold on the screen and we’ll show you contextually relevant GIFs from GIPHY and if you’re trying to solve a math equation we’ll help you do that with our partner Photomath.
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Best of all, scan work with lenses created by our community. For example scan your dog to bring out her alter ego or scan a piece of art or movie poster to bring it to life. You can scan one of our new Landmarkers and even a $10 bill to make Hamilton sing.
[12:00] - Alexander Hamilton Video
[Clapping]
Scan makes it easy to unlock the amazing creativity of our community right from the Snapchat camera. You’ll notice we also made it easier to navigate lenses with our new AR bar. AR bar is now home to all the lens experiences on Snapchat. The new AR bar will be rolling out slowly to our community. We are so inspired by the passion and creativity of our community and we can’t wait to see what all do you create with these new tools. Thank you so much for helping us invent the future of the camera.
[Clapping]
Now I’d like to welcome Ben Schwerin, our VP of partnership, to share new opportunities to empower creativity with Snap Kit.
[13:10] - Ben Schwerin
Thanks Bobby, that was all so cool, I’m going home right after this to scan my dog. I couldn’t be more excited to share our progress building Snap Kit, our new set of developer tools. Snap Kit is a way for our partners to bring fun Snapchat features like Bitmoji into their services. It can also empower their customers to be creative and share the moments they care about the most.
Snap Kit is different from other developer tools in so many ways. Most importantly Snap Kit respects the privacy of our community. Privacy is essential to self-expression and Snap Kit was built on that foundation. That means our community chooses if, when and how they share their information with our partners.
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We’re thrilled to announce that there are two hundred apps integrated with Snap Kit today powering all sorts of unique experiences. Let’s start with your Bitmoji Kit. Your Bitmoji is your Mini-Me, it can look just like you or maybe a little cooler. On Snapchat Bitmoji makes it easier to express how you're feeling, who you love or even what team you rooting for. Bitmoji Kit helps our community bring their Bitmoji with them to even more places than ever before. Today, we want to highlight two partners who are building Integrations with Bitmoji Kit.
Venmo is an amazing product for sending money your friends. With a quick scroll you can see what the people you care about are up to. Venmo will be using Bitmoji Kit to make your app experience even more personal. When your ordering a pizza, throwing a party or planning a ski trip you can say it with Bitmoji. There's already a Bitmoji for almost anything and we're adding more everyday.
Now, let's talk about Fitbit. Fitbit helps you track every part of your day. We're excited to announce that for the first time Bitmojis are moving off the phone and onto your wrist. Your Bitmoji can motivate you to get active, create healthy habits and celebrate achievements. Together Fitbit and Bitmoji are making fitness fun. Fitbit is using sensors on the watch to determine what Bitmoji to display and when to show it. That personalization makes you feel more connected to your Fitbit than ever before.
Now, let's talk about Creative Kit. With Creative Kit, partners can build stickers and filters that their users can share from their apps right to Snapchat. Here's what's new, when you discover a show on Netflix the first thing you want to do is tell everyone about it. Well, Netflix added Creative Kit and now you can show the people that you care about that you're binging Stranger Things just in time for the new season. These Snaps automatically include a link back to Netflix so your friends can tune in with you.
GoFundMe is responsible for raising over five billion dollars from more than 50 million individual donors worldwide. I'm so excited to show you this brand new integration. It's easier than ever before to share the causes that are closest to your heart with your friends and they can get involved with one simple swipe up.
With VSCO anyone can learn to create stunning images with their powerful editing tools and now it's never been simpler to share those beautiful photos on Snapchat.
Millions of people listen to podcasts as part of their day and we love discovering new podcasts on Breaker. Now you can use a custom sticker to tell your friends about every great new show you discover. And Anchor is the easiest way to record and distribute your podcast. with Creative Kit you can share a link to the latest episode right in your story.
Creative Kit is global. Until now our community had to take a screenshot and upload from camera roll to show their friends what they were listening to. Thanks to Creative Kit, that's about to change. You can now share your favorite single from Anghami if you're in the Middle East or JioSaavn if you're in India. All of these creative Integrations offer our partners free distribution and attribution, helping Snapchatters easily navigate to our partners apps and soon you'll be able to share directly from the web too. It's going to be great for publishers and e-commerce.
Over the past few years many our partners have been telling us they wanted to bring stories to their services. But building your own camera application is hard. Well, we invented Story Kit so you don’t have to. Thousands of publishers and broadcasters are already using Story Kit to display the most relevant compelling public Snaps. Today, we’re excited to announce Story Kit is expanding. With App Stories, Snapchatters can post to a custom story in any partner app right from their Snapchat camera. This summer Tinder will launch app stories. Tinder wanted to make it easier for users to update their profiles more often with personal, engaging content. If you have Tinder on your phone once you create a Snap, you'll see an all-new Tinder Story icon. Sending your Snaps to My Tinder Story will add to Snap directly to your Tinder profile. It's a new way to express yourself right on Tinder. Showing your personality to potential matches will be easier than ever before, we can't wait for them to roll it out.
We also wanted to highlight two other upcoming partners that are building exciting integrations with Story Kit. Houseparty is a face-to-face social network. You can drop in and chat with up to 8 of your friends simultaneously. With stories you'll be able to see what they're up to even when you're not all together. Adventure Aide is a place to discover outdoor activities hosted by local Guides. With App Stories guides can post stories from their adventures directly to the app to show their customers what it feels like to actually be there. They’re inspiring their community to share, watch and join more adventures. We can't wait to see what our partners create with App Stories.
In addition to providing our partners with new experiences in distribution we want to help them generate revenue. So today we are excited to announce that Ad Kit is joining the Snap Kit family. Integrating Ad Kit will allow developers to access our new Snap Audience Network. The Snap Audience Network is designed to bring our popular mobile ad format, Snap Ads, to third-party apps. This will help our partners grow and offer advertisers new ways to reach the Snapchat community. We’re accepting application for Story Kit and Ad Kit at Snapkit.com beginning today. We're just getting started and couldn't be more excited to build the future of Snap Kit together. Thank you and let's welcome Shawn Mills to share what's-up on Discover.
[20:50] - Sean Mills
Thanks Ben and thank you all for being here and being such incredible partners, we're so grateful to work with all of you. Storytelling on Snapchat has always been brought to life through close creative partnership between our team, our partners and our community. Together we're navigating a profound transformation in storytelling. Mobile is now the dominant medium for telling stories and consuming content. In 2019 mobile will surpass television in time spent for U.S. adults. This transformation is creating massive new opportunities but realizing the potential is not as simple as repurposing old content for new screens. Mobile storytelling has to be different because the way we use our phones is so different. Short frequent sessions with our thumbs hovering over a vertical screen and so much competing for our attention.
The experience demands that we create in new ways. This is what we had in mind when we created Stories. Stories are full screen, highly visual, vertical video narratives made for your phone and it just a few short years stories have become the dominant form of mobile storytelling. We've evolved stories with new formats like Our Stories where we went from showing a single perspective to telling a story through the eyes of thousands. A new form of Storytelling was born, rooted in the community and the creativity that they bring and made possible by the unique power of the Snapchat camera.
We also collaborated with partners to reimagine their publications for mobile. Publisher Stories enabled established brands like the Washington Post, People Magazine and National Geographic to bring stories to life in an entirely new way and then in 2016 we created shows. Shows are three to five minute episodes that are vertically shot, quickly paced and made by some of the world's most Innovative storytellers, many of whom are in this room today. Shows are not clips. They are a highly concentrated form of storytelling with a beginning, middle and end and shows were an instant hit.
Over the last year alone the time Snapchatters spent watching shows has more than tripled and it's not just the way that we tell stories that’s different, it's our entire approach. Discover is not an open platform. We embrace editorial selectivity. We believe in quality over quantity. We believe that collaborating with you, a select and trusted group of partners, will bring the best possible content experience to the Snapchat community around the world and our content efforts are more global than ever before. In the past six months we’ve more than doubled the number of localized media partners outside the United States. We're creating opportunities for storytellers of all kinds to connect to an audience that is unlike any other. Our partner NBC recently shared that they reached 30 million monthly viewers with their daily news show, Stay Tuned.
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And 2/3 of these viewers represent an entirely new audience for NBC News. Daily shows like Stay Tuned have been hugely successful in building these large and loyal audiences on Discover. In addition there's the rundown from E! covering the latest entertainment news and a re-imagined version SportsCenter by ESPN with the majority of their audience watching three days a week or more.
These are not casual viewers, these are fans and more partners are joining to launch daily shows on Snapchat. Today we’re proud to announce that this spring BuzzFeed will be launching a daily afternoon show covering the up to the minutes trends in internet culture.
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And thanks to innovations in full screen Snap Ads and 6 second unskippable commercials we’re leading the way in turning mobile engagement into sustainable revenue and it's just the beginning. This past October we've introduced Snap Originals alongside a slate of serialized shows made exclusively for Snapchat. We're working closely with a new generation of creators and we're listening closely to our audience to develop new kinds of shows from the ground up. With Snap Originals we are playing a different game and we're doing it in a way that makes the small screen feel large.
[25:35] - Snap Originals Video
Endless Summer was a hit series for us reaching over 28 million unique viewers during its season and with the Dead Girls Detective Agency, over 40% of the viewers that completed the first episode went on to watch the entire first season. I'm proud to share that both of these hit series have been renewed and are coming back for new seasons this summer. We’ve also launched new immersive features like show portals, augmented reality experiences that allow our audience to step into the shows and meet the characters where they live. Today we’re excited to reveal a new slate of Snap Originals that each demonstrate our unique approach to creating for mobile. To do that please welcome Vanessa Guthrie.
[27:30] - Vanessa Guthrie
I’m so excited to be here with so many of the partners that we work closely with everyday. Each new original is unique. The shows we’re introducing today span docu-series, unscripted, comedies and teen dramas but they all have one thing in common. It's not just the shows that are original it's the way the stories are told. Snapchat is a place where you connect with your closest friends. It's personal and intimate and our Originals tell stories in the very same way. Our first new show demonstrates exactly that. From our friends at New Form, Two Sides is a scripted drama about two teens navigating a modern break up and told at the same time from their own points of view.
[28:20] - Two Sides Video
Two Sides is one of eight new Snap Originals we're very proud to introduce today. In Can't Talk Now also from New Form we’ve completely re-imagined what a scripted soap is for the Snapchat generation. We follow a group of high school freshman every single day with their stories unfolding through their phones. From group text to video chats we enter the inner world of our characters in a whole new way and we are so excited about our three new comedies. We’ve partnered with Indigo, our studio joint venture with NBC, on Sneakerheads where we’ll follow the misadventures of three College freshman as they navigate the sometimes shady world of L.A. sneaker culture. In Commanders, which comes from our partner Dakota Pictures, two teenage outcasts will discover a computer code that when manipulated can alter real life. Here's a quick look at the season.
[29:50] - Commanders Video
And in Denton’s Death Date we’ve teamed up with Insurrection Media, producers of the Dead Girls Detective Agency, we’ll enter a world like our own but with one fatal difference, everyone knows the day they will die. Unfortunately for Denton that's in exactly one week, the day of his senior prom.
With Snap Originals we want to help our audience learn about the world in new ways. With that in mind we partnered with Indigo, Main Event Media and best-selling author MK Asante on While Black, a candid docu-series that explores the issue of race in America.
From Soaps to social justice we learn so much everyday about our audiences wide range of interests and near the top of the list are shows that deliver scares and suspense. In Dead of Night the apocalypse unfolds in the palm of your hand. In this scripted drama we follow a teen girl as she risks everything to escape a quarantine city full of zombies told solely through the point of view of our main character’s phone. In Dead of Night we’ve partnered with the wildly creative Bazelevs. A team that's pioneering this new kind of storytelling through screens.
And finally in Stranded, paranormal fanatics Sam and Colby travel to investigate a small haunted town. What begins as something fun takes a dramatic turn when sinister events unfold. Our partners at Bunim/Murray have taken their footage and turned it into a frightening docu-series. Take a look.
[31:55] - Stranded Video
That’ll wake you up. We can't wait for all out these new shows and more with our incredible production partners and to continue to shape the future of mobile storytelling together. Next up please welcome Will Wu to share one more thing.
[32:50] - Will Wu
Hi everyone! Today I get to tell you about something very close to my heart. We've been looking forward to this day for a long time so thank you for sharing this moment with us. Eight years ago we created Snapchat to make talking with your real friends faster and more expressive. As part of this mission we launched chat with the idea that we can make messaging feel less like texting and more like hanging out. Chat just feels different than your average messaging app. It’s ephemeral, it’s personal, it's visual and it's fun. But friendship is more than just the things you chat about. Friendship is also about experiences you have together. So we've been working very hard to build an entirely new experience where friends can play together, games!
[Clapping]
Now why games? Because games are fun! I mean who doesn’t love games. Last year mobile gaming was a 77 billion dollar industry. That's a whole lot of fun. Today there are hundreds of thousands of games available for our phones but interestingly with all of those games there aren't many that make it easy for friends to play together. We wanted to build something that makes us feel like we're playing a board game with family over a long holiday weekend. Something that makes us feel like we're sitting with friends, controllers in hand, looking at the same screen.
Oh hey, that’s me! We love these two at the game if they give us an excuse to hang out, laugh and make memories together. Unfortunately, these games are hard to find on mobile. There's way too much friction. It's hard to get everybody to install the same game then find friends to play with and it's hard to chat. So even if you're playing together doesn't really feel like you're hanging out. Snapchat has the right ingredients to break down these barriers. Snapchat can make playing games with friends incredibly fast and fun. So today we're introducing our first Snap game, Bitmoji party.
[35:20] - Bitmoji Party Video
Bitmoji Party is a mobile game made for friends featuring the number one avatar in the world. You can launched Bitmoji party right in the chat bar allowing you and your friends to instantly play together, no install required. We've carefully crafted the in-game experience to prioritize friends and communication. See which friends are playing with, shoot them a chat or even talk live with voice chat. It really feel like you're sitting shoulder-to-shoulder playing on the same screen. We are so proud of Bitmoji Party because it’s a revolutionary new way to play with friends and Bitmoji party wouldn't have been possible without the partnership of some of the most brilliant minds in the industry. One year ago we started collaborating on the Bitmoji Party with the creator of one of the most popular mobile games in history, Fruit Ninja, a game that’s been downloaded over a billion times. Luke Muscat, Creative Director of Snaps new game studio is here today tell you more. Luke!
[37:20] - Luke Muscat
Thanks, Will. Since joining Snap our team has been hard at work on Bitmoji Party. Snapchat is built around the people you care about the most so there was no question who the stars of the game were going to be. Bitmoji Party features you and your friends brought to life with incredible 3D Bitmoji. Play as a big chat group or team up with your bestie and take on other Snapchatters from around the world. It brings you all together in one place with a collection of fun surprising mini-games. So let's take a closer look.
First up we have Pool Party, dunk your friends with a giant slingshot as they do their best to dodge the incoming pool toys. In Spin Session, the DJ takes control spinning a giant stack of records as everyone scrambles to stay balanced. If, like me, you’ve ever wanted to boot your friends down a football field, well, kickoff is the game for you. And when you needed to catch your breath, take an intermission. Here you can just hang out, hit the photobooth or visit the shop to unlock new ways to celebrate your victory.
Bitmoji Party required so many different parts of the ecosystem to come together and it marks just the beginning of what will be possible on Snap Games. To tell you more I’d like to introduce John Imah.
John Imah
Thank Luke. Hi, we had so much fun playing Bitmoji party that we had to invite some of our friends that’d made mobile games, they've never seen anything like it before. Immediately they started throwing around ideas for games that, well, we hadn’t even consider. So we thought why not share the same tools that we used to build Bitmoji Party and see what they could create. We’ve collaborated with five amazing partners: Spry Fox, Pik Poc, Zeptolab Game Closure, and Zynga. Let's take a look at their games.
[39:30] - Featured Games Video
Each of our partners designed and engineered these games exclusively for Snapchat but we want to give our partners more than just an audience. We’re also launching a new ad experience within games so that all of our partners see monetization from day one. Over time we’ll be looking to expand the revenue potential as we work together and as we look ahead we want to partner with more developers in an effort to bring the very best gaming experiences to our community worldwide. We’re so excited about the future of Snap Games and we look forward to working with you to grow the platform. We know the millions of Snapchatters will love what you create. Oh and before I go, all of these games start rolling out to the world, today. Thank you.
Evan Spiegel
Well that was fun, alright! Game on! There's a lot to explore here today on the lot and our teams are hosting great breakout sessions to go deeper on the Camera, Snap Kit, Discover and of course Games. We're so grateful to work with all of you and we’re so excited about creating the future together. Thank you so much, have a great day everybody. Appreciate it.
[Clapping]
The End.
