Robert Downey Jr. joins Snap’s Specs team in customer experience role
The actor will work on content, lens experiences and hardware collaborations for Snap’s augmented reality glasses, with television campaign spots planned around major sports broadcasts.
Robert Downey Jr. is joining Snap Inc.’s Specs team as chief customer experience officer, The Hollywood Reporter reported on October 20. The actor’s role will focus largely on marketing for the company’s augmented reality glasses, bringing a familiar face to its push to reach consumers.
Downey will work with the Specs team on original content, lens experiences, hardware collaborations and other features, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The role links his work promoting the glasses with the experiences people will see through them.
When the Specs campaign is scheduled to air
A video campaign for the partnership was scheduled to debut during the New York Knicks–Philadelphia 76ers NBA Tip-Off game on October 20, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Another spot was planned for game one of the MLB World Series later that week. The report said the first pieces of campaign content were already on the Specs website and YouTube when it was published.
Downey said in a statement quoted by The Hollywood Reporter that he had tested Specs and was impressed within 40 seconds. He compared its possibilities with technology used by Tony Stark, the Marvel character he portrayed, and suggested families could share experiences through the glasses rather than looking down at devices. Those comments describe his own assessment of the product.
Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel welcomed Downey to Specs in a statement quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. Spiegel said Downey had been imagining what the technology could become for nearly 20 years and would help bring that vision to life.
What Snap has announced about Specs
Specs grew out of Snap’s Spectacles, whose first version appeared in limited quantities in 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Unlike a virtual reality headset, the newer glasses are designed to overlay images on the real world in a smaller, lighter form, giving the company a product whose appeal depends in part on what people can do while wearing it.
In a September 16 announcement, Snap described new experiences, services and partnerships for Specs. The company said consumers could try the glasses in person at a Los Angeles location from October 1. It listed preorders at $2,195 with a refundable $200 deposit, giving the campaign a product already offered for preorder rather than a newly announced concept.
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Sources and context
- Snap Enlists Robert Downey Jr. to Push SpecsThe Hollywood Reporter
- SPECS Make Computing More Human with New Experiences, Partnerships, and SPECS IntelligenceSnap Inc.
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.