Subway Riders Scan Snapchat Codes in Stations

Maddie Cotterill

Coinciding with the theater release for Universal Pictures’ thriller The Girl on the Train, Kinetic in North America has executed a unique, first-to-market campaign utilizing Snapchat codes as powerful promotional tools.

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A longtime Snapchat advertiser, Universal Pictures and Kinetic – with strategic contributions from Maxus – placed billboards featuring the codes and the cryptic line “What happened that night?” across subways stations so travelers waiting for their ‘train’ could engage with the upcoming film across the Snapchat platform. The ads can be seen in subway stations in New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

The film – starring Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, and Haley Bennett – has been garnering a lot of attention due to the media mix of OOH, digital, broadcast, and online that is already out in the market. The snapcode integration, which launched this week, is the final and mysterious push to gain attention before the film’s debut. Once presented with the ad on subway platforms, users who are familiar with Snapchat and its scanning system – the millennial set, who is The Girl on the Train’s targeted demographic – will know to scan the code. They will then be taken to special, hidden geotag filters, created to promote the film further.


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