Grace Lau

While there are a variety of social media platforms widely used today, Snapchat being used for brands is relatively new. Snapchat is an app that enables users to send photos and videos that will disappear after a certain amount of time once clicked.  To view a Snapchat, users must physically touch the screens of their smartphones.

Brands are always looking for ways to engage and customize the experiences of its customers and the use of Snapchat to do so is innovative. Snapchat is yet another avenue that brands can use to personalize relationships with consumers.  To receive an exclusive Snapchat from the brand, users must first be friends with them. Taco Bell was one of the first to experiment with the Snapchat platform, urging its followers to friend them. An article in Techcrunch ( also ref. the Taco Bell & Snapchat), also points to the fact this could be an interesting platforms for ads. I agree with this–the extra step of having to touch the screen in order to watch and knowing that the message will disappear after 10 seconds is enough to keep most users’ curious enough to pay attention.

Recently, fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff chose to use Snapchat to give her loyal fans a preview of  5-10 pieces of her new collection :

Content consumption is part of our daily routine. I am extremely curious to see if more brands will start using Snapchat to further bridge the divide between company and consumer. Snapchat’s new introduction of it’s “Stories” platform allows for longer Snaps which makes it even more attractive for companies to engage in creating platform specific content for fans.

A yogurt company in New York called 16 Handles experimented with an idea : sending its friends a mystery coupon with discount ranging from 16%-100% after users sent it a Snap of them trying a flavour a location.  This has some caveats though, as the user must open the Snapchat and the cashier must scan it within 10 seconds, before the message self destructs.

I am extremely intrigued by this new platform for brand and consumer interaction –if Snapchat makes a way for brands to save these messages –perhaps they can use the UGC on other platforms such as Facebook.  All in all, Snapchat is a relatively new social media platform with possibilities that have not yet fully been explored. Snapchat enables brands to become more “friend” like with consumers in a way that is not possible through other social networks. I think this has great potential for strengthening brand equity and customer relationships.

With the amount of content that is on the internet these days it is a tough feat to achieve ” virality” through views and shares.
Through harnessing the power of Youtube content creator Casey Neistat – Brands like Nike and Mercedes Benz have experimented with a different style of video to get people talking.

Nike #Makeitcount:

Amassing an astonishing 9.8Million views since it was first posted, this is what I would call a viral video success. Shooting a commercial with the pretense it is not a commercial and that they took Nike’s money and went on a trip around the world until it ran out is quite a clever way to reach out to Nike’s adventurous and fitness conscious consumers. Nike definitely reached out to the right person for an excellent end product that spoke to their consumers. Great, relevant content gets shared; virality is  just the cherry on top.

Mercedes recently also reached out to Casey Neistat resulting in a rather daring offbeat commercial for their CLA car.

Dubbed the Mercedes CLA project, a series of videos detailing the behind the scenes of the making of the commercial lead up to a final finished product.

Final Commercial:

Part 1 CLA Project

Part 2 CLA Project:

Part 3 CLA Project:

Verdict? I think this video series was great at crafting a story. Although the actual “commercial” definitely veers away from Mercedez Benz’s classy, elegant style, I think this is a great example of a brand trying, testing and listening and not being afraid to create interesting, thought provoking content. Difference sparks discussion.

Neistat’s style is journalistic, and at times raw–but this seems to resonate well with viewers as it gives more of an unbiased, daredevil experimental approach.

Ad spend trends are promising results too: advertisers are moving more dollars away from broadcast media to non traditional social video mediums such as Youtube.  Ad spend for digital is increasing; in the case of these examples above, it definitely makes sense. Youtube is free and brands do not need to pay to put videos up. The beauty of using an influencer who creates unique videos with a story telling aspect is that these videos have an “unlimited” worldwide reach and it is up to viewers to spread the videos around if they deem them worthy.

taken from eMarketer