If you're on Snapchat today scrolling through the sports-centric channels on Discover you're likely to see an invitation from Under Armour to play a game.
That game, It Comes From Below, allows Snapchat users to enter the world created by Droga5's latest ad campaign for Under Armour starring Cam Newton. Instead of watching the NFL star quickly dodge a variety of obstacles, you play as Cam Newton and your fingers are responsible for how fast—or if—he's able to avoid those obstacles.
"We feel like there are multiple ways into our core audience to help demonstrate the power of foot work and the power of the products that we create around them," said Jim Mollica, vice president of global consumer engagement at Under Armour.
The game, which focuses on foot work and has been in the works for about six weeks, is one of those ways, according to Mollica. It also helps Under Armour reach its 14- to 22-year-old high school and college athlete target, a demo that is already spending time on Snapchat.
Created in collaboration with RED Interactive Agency the game is an "endless runner," explained Mollica, which means that players are able to run around the obstacles—mostly trees and wolves—for however long they're able to keep Newton alive.
"We have these 10 second ads that appear in Discover section, in the Sports related and NFL related content areas," said Mollica. "We have two on-ramps that we're testing: One that has the Cam Newton 'Prince of a Thousand Enemies' footage that leads into an invitation to play the game and another one that is much more game footage and an invitation to play the game. When you swipe up that then launches the game."
Once users have finished playing the game, they are able to take a snap of their score and send that to their friends. When their friends see the snap they are able to click on it and launch the game for themselves.