Tag: snapchat

Snapchat Partners With Oracle To Track Offline Attribution

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Right on the heels of introducing its ad API, Snapchat announced on Wednesday a new partnership with Oracle to use its Data Cloud service to measure how its ads impact offline sales. As part of the partnership, Oracle analyzed twelve Snapchat campaigns for CPG brands, concluding that 92% of the ad campaigns increased in-store sales, although Snapchat did not say by how much.

Lately, Snapchat has been on a tear, partnering with third-party analytics firms such as Nielsen, comScore, Moat, and DoubleClick to improve its ad products, with Oracle being the tenth measurement partner it has added in the last 12 months. Last week, Oracle also announced a similar deal with Pinterest to help it measure offline attribution of its Promoted Pins.

What Brands Need To Do
This partnership should bring more accountability to Snapchat ads, enabling CPG brands to effectively measure the real-world impact of their Snapchat campaigns. As Snapchat strives to shed some light on its ad performance, brands looking to reach the app’s young-skewing users will have more data at their disposal which they can utilize to adjust their Snapchat campaigns and inform future ones.

 

Source: Bloomberg

Snapchat Launches Ad API And Ad Partner Program

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat took a major step in building out its ad business on Monday as it launched its first ad partner program and its first official ad API. Together, they allow third-party ad networks to create and serve ads on Snapchat, helping the hot messaging app to score more ad revenue. Also, Snapchat says it will soon start showing ads between stories from friends for the first time. Previously, Snapchat ads have only appeared in the media section of Snapchat, i.e., Discover channels and Live Stories. Initial launch partners for this new ad unit include Hollister, P&G, Verizon, and Warner Brothers.

Why Brands Should Care
With the API and some newly-added measurement tools, Snapchat’s growing ad business seems to be catching up to its rapid growth. According to eMarketer, Snapchat is expected to expand its user base by 27.2% this year, surpassing its rivals such as Twitter and Pinterest. Nearly one in five Americans will be on Snapchat by the end of the year. For brands, now is the time to consider getting on Snapchat to reach its young-skewing users (about half of its users are below 25) via a variety of means, including purchasing Discover ads, custom selfie filters, or branded Geofilters, as well as sponsoring events that Snapchat covers in Live Stories.

 

Source: Digiday

Snapchat Promises Ad Viewability With Moat Partnership

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat continues to build out its ad measurement with some new partnerships. On Thursday, the fast-growing messaging app announced that it is teaming up with analytics firm Moat to track the viewability of video ads on Snapchat and to provide brand advertisers with more behavioral data, such as how long people watch the ads and whether they are viewed with the sound on. Snapchat is also adding Google’s DoubleClick to its arsenal of ad network partners to offer more robust data on ad reach and engagement.

Why Brands Should Care
According to Snapchat, two-thirds of the videos that it serves, including video ads, are watched with the sound on. This is an interesting departure from  other social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, where video ads are played on mute by default. In fact, a recent study found that about 85% of Facebook video is watched without sound. Therefore, it makes sense for Snapchat to enlist Moat to help it prove the viewability of its video ads. For brands, the partnerships should come as welcome additions as they can make advertising on Snapchat more accountable and transparent.

 

Source: AdExchange

Snapchat Revamps App To Draw More Eyeballs For Publishers And Brands

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat rolled out a revamped app design on Tuesday, aiming to get more users to check out the Discover content created by its publisher partners and give its ad business a boost. True to the initial report of the revamp surfaced over two weeks ago, this redesign is focused on making the Discover channels more visible and accessible. The publishing portals are transformed from the dull circles of media company logos into dynamic tiles that serve as covers teasing the content inside. The Live Stories section in the app now includes a carousel of Discover channels at the top, and Snapchat also added a subscribe button to the Discover channels to allow users to follow the publishers they like in their Stories feeds.

What Brands Need To Do
With a new look designed to draw more eyeballs to its publishing channels and the ads they carry, it is clear that Snapchat’s decision to bring its publishing hub into the spotlight is fueled by its chase for more ad revenue. The popular messaging app has been making strides in gaining new users and building out its ad products, recently enlisting comScore to track Discover traffic and launching a shoppable ad format. Therefore, brands wishing to connect with the younger generations should consider adding Snapchat to their media buying plans.

 

Source: Variety

Snapchat Reportedly Surpassed Twitter In Daily Users, Inks Deal With Wimbledon

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
There is no denying that Snapchat is one of the fastest growing and most in-demand social networks at the moment. A recent report from Statista revealed that Snapchat had accumulated 110 million daily active users as of last December. Today, a new report from Bloomberg claims that the hot messaging app now has 150 million people using it daily, possibly surpassing Twitter’s 140 million daily active users.

In related news, Snapchat has scored a three-year deal with Wimbledon to promote content from the prestigious, London-based tennis tournament. One global Live Story will be created for opening day and closing day, whereas the day-to-day coverage will be geofenced for U.K. users only. Major Wimbledon sponsors such as Stella Artois, Evian, and Jaguar are reportedly in talks to appear as part of the Live Stories.

What Brands Need To Do
With consumers increasingly shifting from traditional media to digital and social channels, brand marketers need to be mindful of the rising social platforms and move in quickly. Snapchat has been steadily building out its ad products in a bid to win over more ad dollars. The Wimbledon partnership serves to grow Snapchat’s audience with live sports events, an area Twitter also recently got a major boost in thanks to its partnership with the NFL. For brands, it is time to consider getting on Snapchat to reach its 150 million young-skewing users via ads in Live Stories, event sponsorships, custom selfie filters, or branded Geofilters.

 

Sources: Bloomberg & Digiday

20th Century Fox Pulls A One-Two Punch On Snapchat For X-Men Movie

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
To promote the upcoming X-Men movie, 20th Century Fox launched a twofold campaign on Snapchat to engage with young-skewing users. The movie studio bought the first-ever Snapchat Lens takeover ad, which replaced all the Snapchat selfie lenses on Monday with X-Men-themed lenses that transform users into nine different X-Men characters. More importantly, 20th Century Fox also purchased ads in Discover channels to encourage users to purchase tickets for the movie. The vertical video ads prompt users to swipe up, revealing a page where they can put in their zip codes and be redirected to Fandango’s site to buy tickets for showings at their local theaters.

What Brands Need To Do
Using the Lens takeover to raise awareness for the movie and the direct response ads in Discover to drive ticket purchases, 20th Century Fox devised a clever one-two punch on Snapchat to reach its over 100 million daily active users. Snapchat has been improving its ad products to court brand advertisers, introducing shoppable ads earlier this month and improving its ad measurement with a ComScore partnership. This X-Men campaign provides a good example of how brands looking to advertise on Snapchat can utilize the ad products Snapchat offers and devise an effective campaign.

 

Source:  Ad Exchanger

Shoppable Ads Coming To Snapchat

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snapchat has been steadily building out its ad products to attract advertisers, adding support for branded content and third-party traffic measurement to its platform in recent weeks. Today, the popular messaging app started testing shoppable ads, with Target and Lancôme being the first two brands to test this new ad format with placements in Cosmopolitan’s Discover channel. Users are instructed to swipe up on those ads, which then pull up the mobile sites of these two brands where users can shop for the featured products without leaving the Snapchat app.

What Brands Need To Do
Over the past few months, Snapchat has been experimenting with a variety of ads that ask consumers to swipe up for more content. In February, mobile game Cookie Jam became the first advertiser to run app-install ads on Snapchat. As consumer attention, especially that of the younger generations, increasingly shifts from traditional media to mobile apps, it is imperative that brands follow suit and reallocate their ad budgets. As Snapchat continues to diversify its ad products and make its platform more brand-friendly, we expect more brand advertisers aiming to reach the coveted young Millennials to give it a shot.

 

Source: AdWeek

Snapchat Struck Deal With NBC For Rio Olympics Content

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Friday, Snapchat scored a non-exclusive deal with NBC to show highlights from the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, marking the first time the U.S. network has agreed to publish video content of the Olympics off its own digital properties. Snapchat will set up a dedicated Live Stories channel in its app to showcase content created by NBC as well as the athletes and fans on the scene. It will also work with BuzzFeed to curate short clips and behind-the-scenes content from the games in Rio for the publisher’s Snapchat Discover channel.

Why Brands Should Care
With this deal, Snapchat takes another firm step toward establishing itself as a mobile video platform. Earlier this week, the company said that its app now has 10 billion video views each day, up from 8 billion per day in February. On the other hand, NBC no doubt wants to leverage Snapchat’s popularity among teens and young adults to expand the reach of its Olympics content. Given that both Live Stories and Discover channels feature ads, brands now have another reason to advertise on Snapchat to reach the app’s young users.

 

Source: Bloomberg

How Starbucks Is Promoting New Loyalty Program On Snapchat

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Earlier this week, Starbucks rolled out an update to its popular mobile app, which came with a revamped loyalty program. Now, the Seattle-based coffee chain is promoting the changes with a sponsored selfie lens on Snapchat. The lens cleverly incorporates golden stars – the symbol for Starbucks’ loyalty points – into its design. Snapchat first introduced the Sponsored Lens in October last year, and 20th Century Fox was the first marketer to buy one, promoting The Peanuts Movie. Starbucks also reports that 17 million people are using its app, which processes 7 million orders per month or roughly 21% of its U.S. in-store sales.

What Brands Need To Do
Besides Sponsored Lenses for selfies, Snapchat has also opened up its sponsored geofilters to allow all users to buy customized filters recently. As the popular messaging app continues to grow its user base and improve its ad products, it is quickly becoming an important marketing platform for brands to reach younger demographics. With consumers increasingly shunning traditional ads (for more on this, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016), we expect to see more brands try out Snapchat’s Sponsored Lenses and Branded Geofilters to reach their audience.

 

Source: AdWeek

ComScore To Measure Snapchat Discover Traffic

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Following its deal with Nielsen to provide brand advertisers with some transparency on how many times their ads are shown, Snapchat is now reportedly teaming up with online measurement firm comScore to bring traffic measurement to the Discover channels, Snapchat’s content portals for publisher partners. By introducing a respected third-party like comScore, Snapchat can offer advertisers a clear idea of how many views each of the Discover channels receives. Last October, Snapchat started allowing brands to sponsor non-permanent Discover channels to showcase their branded content, and on Monday, Burberry became the first luxury brand to get its own Discover channel.

What Brands Need To Do
This partnership should bring more transparency to Snapchat ads, enabling brand advertisers to choose which Discover channels to advertise in. It also puts pressure on publishers to improve their content quality and compete to attract more traffic to their Discover channels, which would in turn bring in more eyeballs for brand advertisers. As Snapchat offers more clarity on its ad performance, brands looking to reach the app’s young-skewing users will have more data to adjust their Snapchat campaigns with accordingly.

Source: Digiday