Australian election brings first animated political lens to Snapchat

Warning: Your friends may be able to puke political rainbows on your Snapchat this fall.

In advance of Saturday's national election, the  Liberal Party of Australia is unveiling Snapchat's first political "lens" ad, an animated graphic that users can ad to their snaps urging their friends to "Vote Liberal."

American political campaigns have dabbled in Snapchat ads already. A super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton produced "Deport Trump" geofilters in December; these are still images that can be superimposed over a user's snap. Bernie Sanders' campaign used Snapchat filters to urge people to get to the polls in various states.

Lenses, Snapchat's moving animations, are more complex, but some have proven wildly popular.

In February, Gatorade produced a Super Bowl-themed lens that allowed users to superimpose video over snaps making it appear they were dunking a cooler of Gatorade over their heads — the traditional Super Bowl victory celebration. The ad was viewed 160 million times, Gatorade reported.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Obviously, the audience for these things is millennials — if you have read this far and have no idea what we are talking about, you are not the target demographic. But campaigns know these young people are a huge potential political audience, A November Global Strategy Group/Public Opinion Strategies survey found "among all millennials who are likely to vote in next year’s election, about one-third (34%) currently use Snapchat."

If this works out for the Aussie Liberals, it's hard to imagine American political campaigns will be far behind. There is already a U.S. tie-in:  Alexandria, VA-based digital firm IMGE worked with the Liberal Party of Australia to help with the Snapchat sponsored political Lens project.