With over 4.6 million daily active Snapchatters in Canada, Snapchat is one of the most popular social media apps. And the Beautiful Filter is the most widely used filter as it adds a blueish tint over the picture, thins the face, lightens skin and adds lip colour. This distorts our self-image and our perception of beauty.

Dove believes Canadians don’t need a filter to capture real beauty. Knowing that Friday nights are one of the most popular nights to snap filtered selfies, we took over Snapchats Beautiful Filter so it didn’t change a thing.

We approached Snapchat with our idea to “hack” their Beautiful Filter with our Real Beauty message. Instead of adding a blueish tint, thinning the face, lightening the skin and adding lip colour, our filter didn’t change a thing. By raising your eyebrows, the filter simply added a message to let your real beauty shine – a message all Canadians could get behind.

In just 24 hours, our Snapchat filter had over 4 million plays and over 1.3 million story views. Best of all, we reached millions of Canadians with our Real Beauty message, and helped them realize that they’re beautiful. No filter needed.

Dove’s commitment to Real Beauty is widespread among women 30+. But its merit can be appreciated by the next generation. And what better place to reach them than on Snapchat – a popular mobile app with millions of female users. Of those users, there is a significant number that regularly use the Beautiful Filter. Research suggests that this filter makes women feel more self-conscious and affects their overall self-esteem, giving Dove a fresh way to deliver its Real Beauty message to a younger audience.

Snapchat identified that Friday was the most popular day to use the Beautiful Filter, so we decided to “hack” the lens on that day, and address the self-esteem issue by reaffirming that real beauty doesn’t need a filter. By infiltrating the most popular mobile app, on the most popular day of the week, we could ensure our Real Beauty message reached the most people across Canada.

Since 1957, Dove has cared for real women and celebrated real beauty. Now, 60 years later, they have taken another step forward in their mission to help women discover the power of their real beauty and to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety.

In conjunction with the Real Beauty Pledge, Dove Canada wanted to reach a younger audience on a platform that was highly engaging with our target.