• This feature was launched in Saudi Arabia with leading brands such as Almarai and Starbucks, where the promoted venues feature was activated as part of large-scale Ramadan campaigns.

Dubai, UAE - Snap Inc. has announced the launch of Promoted Places, a new advertising solution that allows sponsored locations to be displayed directly on the Snap Map, enabling brands to achieve a significant increase in store visits.

With Snapchat Maps boasting over 400 million monthly active users and the app being used more than 45 times daily in the Gulf region, the Promoted Places feature allows advertisers to appear in users' frequent searches for upcoming destinations and experiences. Unlike traditional navigation maps, Snap Maps is designed for social discovery, helping users find their friends and explore places that interest them.

The Sponsored Places feature also enables retailers, stores, and restaurants to showcase their physical locations as sponsored ads with increased visibility, including the ability to add custom 3D animations. Upon clicking, users are directed to a sponsored profile for the location, where advertisers can display a Snap Ad, link their business profile so alerts and stories appear in the carousel, include custom map effects, and allow users to save the location for later.

Advertisers receive key performance indicators (KPIs), including ad impressions in promoted locations, ad open rates, and total user engagement, providing clear insights into interaction and intent. The new location partnership model also expands reach, enabling brands without physical stores to collaborate with partners operating over 200 locations.

In this regard, Hussein Freijeh, General Manager of Snap in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia Pacific, said: “Discovery in the Gulf countries begins primarily through social media, then quickly turns into real-world interaction. The Promoted Places feature enables brands to appear as soon as intent is formed, thus transforming digital interaction on the Snap map into a tangible and measurable impact within stores. This feature also contributes to building solutions that reflect how our community explores, interacts with, and experiences the world around them.”

What does this mean for brands?

The Promoted Places feature represents a shift from passive digital awareness to active, location-based engagement. For brands that rely on in-store traffic as a key performance indicator, this feature offers a comprehensive, always-available solution that bridges online discovery with in-store conversion. By combining map visibility, engaging creative content, Snap Ads, and in-store promotion on public profiles, brands can create an integrated ecosystem that fosters awareness, generates interest, and encourages in-store visits—all within a platform built on authentic connection.

Rapid adoption of the feature in Saudi Arabia

The new feature has seen great demand in the region since its launch, with leading regional and global brands activating it in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan.

Al Marai: Reviving today's neighborhood on the map

Almarai has redefined how brands are present during cultural moments through its Ramadan campaign, “Hara Al Youm,” transforming the Snapchat map into a gateway to a virtual neighborhood inspired by the values of solidarity, generosity, and belonging.

By activating the feature of promoted places across vital locations and key destinations, including waterfronts, in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar, the brand has succeeded in linking the real world with digital discovery in a way that combines cultural authenticity and immersive experience.

In a world-first implementation, Almarai became one of the first brands to connect its promoted locations with a dedicated augmented reality lens, allowing Snapchat users to seamlessly transition from map exploration to an interactive neighborhood experience. Through a 3D neighborhood icon, AR storytelling, and a weekly content series, the campaign demonstrated how location, creativity, and user behavior on the platform can be leveraged to create a fully immersive and culturally relevant interactive experience powered by Snap Map.

Starbucks: Multi-level feature

In Saudi Arabia, Starbucks, operated by the Alshaya Group, launched a promotional venues feature as part of its limited-edition Ramadan campaign featuring a Ramadan mug and cardamom latte.

The brand activated over 350 of its branches across the Kingdom on Snapchat's map, contributing to increased brand awareness and boosting customer traffic by making it easier for users to discover nearby branches. Snapchat users exploring the area were welcomed with a unique 3D design of a rotating cup with coffee beans falling around it, designed to capture their attention and encourage them to explore the branches.

The promotional campaign wasn't limited to the map; content creators also participated by using user-generated content on the HaloAI platform to guide the public on how to locate their nearest branch using the map. A special Ramadan-themed augmented reality lens further enhanced engagement by showcasing the new cup design and personalized name stickers.

The campaign demonstrated how promoted locations can increase awareness and interest by linking interactive digital storytelling across different Snapchat tabs with real-world store discovery, encouraging Snapchat users to explore nearby locations and interact with the brand on the ground.

Makkah Route: Enhancing Discovery of a Prominent Tourist Destination

Masar, a destination in Saudi Arabia, has activated the promoted places feature as part of its "Welcome to the Heart of Makkah" campaign, thus highlighting this leading residential and hotel destination on the Snapchat map.

This feature allowed Snapchat users exploring nearby areas to discover a route, thus making brands more prominent during intensive map searches and increasing project awareness among both visitors and residents.

The campaign transcended the map through an integrated media approach across Snapchat, including First Lens and First Snap , as well as a comprehensive outreach and re-emergence strategy across multiple Snapchat tabs. These elements combined to create a seamless experience that bridged interactive storytelling in the digital world with real-world destination discovery.

The impact of this feature was also clearly visible on the ground, with field teams reporting increased visitor traffic and a greater reliance on Snapchat for discovery. The campaign demonstrated how the Promoted Places feature can help prominent tourist destinations increase their visibility and encourage on-the-ground exploration by reaching audiences the moment they decide on their destination.

A new chapter in location-based advertising

As brands in the Middle East and North Africa seek solutions that are more capable of linking digital interaction with real-world impact, the Promoted Places feature offers a solution based on how people explore and experience their surroundings.

By integrating directly supported destinations into an interactive map environment, Snap helps advertisers move from awareness to engagement, turning discovery into visits, and moments into tangible results on the ground.

About Snap Inc.

Snap Inc. is a technology company that believes that the camera offers the best opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate with each other. We contribute to human progress because we give people the opportunity to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

The company operates Snapchat, a social networking app that allows users to enhance their connection with friends, family, and the world; Specs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Snap that aims to make computing more human-centered; as well as Bitmoji, Saturn, and other digital services.

Visit the official website snap.com/

For media inquiries: snap.mena@webershandwick.com

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