Cruz launching Iowa's first branded Snapchat filter

Donald Trump and three other GOP presidential candidates may be swinging by Saturday's Iowa-Iowa State game in person, but the campaign of Texas Republican Ted Cruz is taking its message to Snapchat.

The Cruz campaign will launch a Snapchat ad -- using the photo-sharing platform's geofilters -- for three hours Saturday, campaign staff told The Des Moines Register exclusively Friday. The geofilter lists the words "two teams" with an arrow pointed to "one candidate" and then the name of Ted Cruz.

The Cruz-branded geofilter will be the first of its kind from an advertiser in Iowa, as well as the first from a political campaign that specifically targets Iowa, Snapchat confirmed.

Snapchat users in Iowa will see the ad from 2:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., the campaign said.

It is the second branded geofilter so far of the 2016 election cycle.

Earlier this month, the campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich put sponsored geofilter in New Hampshire, TIME reported.

Candidates have already taken to Snapchat to run live video ads, but the use of sponsored geofilters is relatively new terrain.

The social media company launched the branded filters in June. Geofilters are images, logos or designs that are used as overlays for photos taken on Snapchat. The filters are typically tied to a specific area.