The advertising industry has an important role to play and the ability to facilitate positive change when it comes to some of society's most pressing issues. Snapchat’s Creative Council was launched in partnership with Creative Equals back in 2020 to challenge creatives to use Snapchat to do exactly that - develop creative solutions to address pressing societal issues.

Snapchat's Creative Council is a collection of talent from some of the most forward thinking agencies and creatives across industry, who come together to address big issues with world class creativity on Snapchat. The Creative Council sees members nominate small teams in their agencies to respond to a creative brief, with the winning idea produced and launched on Snapchat.

The 2021 UK Snap Creative Council included a cohort of familiar industry names such as: Franki Goodwin (Saatchi & Saatchi), Ali Hanan (Creative Equals), Laurent Simon (VMLY&R), Andy Day (Uncommon), Tejali Shete (Grey), Imogen Tazzyman (McCann) and Dino-Myers Lamptey (TBS)

This week sees the launch of the winning campaign from Snap’s 2021 UK Creative Council programme, ‘The Future Looks Good’ created by Cathryn Carey, Creative Art Director and Phoebe Chetwynd-Talbot, Creative Copywriter, while at Leo Burnett. The campaign was created in response to a cause related brief focused on the mental health of GenZ in relation to their future, and career opportunities. 

For young people, the pandemic and subsequent political and socio economic unrest has been a cause of much anxiety when it comes to thinking about their future. So many young people feel hopeless and disheartened about their career and prospects so, ‘The Future Looks Good’ campaign uses AR to help young people realise the power of their digital skills, problem solving and critical thinking, by reframing the workplace of the future.  

Alongside a Snap mentor, Hayley McDonald, Cathryn and Phoebe explored research into some of the education and career challenges that Gen Z are currently facing and identified factors from a shrinking pool of entry level positions to an uncertainty about what the future of work might even look like. Yet, the research also uncovered that 75% of all jobs will require advanced digital skills by 2030. As the world's first digitally native generation, GenZ are already well-equipped and armed with some of the key skills needed to thrive in the workplace of their future.

The pair then built the campaign based on these insights and created an AR interactive experience to inspire young people, laying out some of the exciting options available to young people based on their unique skill sets. The campaign comprises an AR Face Lens that allows Snapchatters to choose from a series of skills to generate job titles for careers of the future such as Extinct Species Revivalist, Hydroponic Farmer, Digital Fashion Design. Once a job title is generated the AR progresses into a World Lens Experience that demonstrates how these jobs could impact the world around us and interact with immediate outdoor surroundings. 

“To be awarded the top prize is such an honour, and it feels amazing knowing that our vision aligned with the Snap Creative Council’s idea of hope for the next generation. Working with the incredible folks at Snapchat to bring our idea to life was so much fun, to feel the same sense of urgency and calibration of ideas right from the get-go filled us with energy and excitement and made each and every step of the process a breeze.” said Cathryn and Phoebe commenting on their win and reflecting on the process.

The AR lens, video ads and filter can be found on Snapchat from this week, lens recording available here. The Future Looks Good is a perfect example of how AR and interactivity can be used to inspire future generations and the clever use of Snap shows how engaging people where they are most active is key to providing meaningful solutions.