Snapchat Is Running Sneakily Fun Billboard Ads That Only Its Users Will Understand

In each case, the ephemeral app's main image for the roadside billboards represents a geofilter for that specific area. (Geofilters allow Snapchatters to overlay a graphic on their photos, transforming such images with more color while letting users share their location with followers.) The billboards do not include the Snapchat logo, making them sneakily fun for users in those cities, as non-users will be left in the dark. The creative in each instance is the work of Snapchat users via the platform's Community Geofilters. 

The hyper-local promos highlight the aesthetic of the following locales: New York's Meatpacking District and SoHo neighborhood, the Mission District and Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, Palm Springs, Calif., Chicago proper and its Lincoln Park neighborhood, Phoenix, Detroit, Boston, Miami, Portland, Toronto, Montreal and Arlington, Texas. For instance, Palm Springs' sign and geofilter creative entails—what else?—palm trees, while Boston's utilizes a depiction of Beantown's Longfellow Bridge. (Courtesy of Snapchat, see examples below.)

Later this month, similarly styled examples will be seen in additional Canadian cities and in the U.K. 

The campaign was concocted in-house, with MediaVest handling the out-of-home purchases, per Business Insider, which first reported the development. Adweek later confirmed the details with Snapchat.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based tech company also ran billboards last fall as well as in Las Vegas during CES in January.