Yellow Fever – Contagious Magazine

CAS STUDY
Yellow Fever
Firt came the rainow vomit. Then the media partner. Now it’
advertiing’ turn. Snapchat’ expanion into content ha opened up new
avenue for rand to reach over 100 million uper-engaged oung people.
ut how, exactl, can ou join the part?
Iue 47 Q2 / 2016 Patrick Jeffre
Preident Oama’ final White Houe
Correpondent’ Dinner peech – traditionall a
tongue-in-cheek affair – featured Trump gag, a
mic-drop and, perhap le predictal, a Snapchat
joke. ‘Michelle left her phone, and he’ got
Snapchat,’ he aid in a ketch, efore uing the app
to take a elfie video extolling the ucce of hi
Affordale Care Act.
Unfortunatel for the Preident, he ‘accidentall’
tapped into one of Snapchat’ famou lene,
overlaing an animation that turned him into a redeed
demon. Not exactl the picture of good health.
The kit wa good for a laugh, ut wa an even
etter indication of jut how far Snapchat ha
evolved. Five ear ago, it wa a pipe dream in the
head of three Stanford clamate. Toda, uer
watch over 10 illion video ever da on the
platform, and eemingl everone, even the uiet
man in the free world, i jumping on oard.

In the lat couple of ear, the metamorphoi ha
een particularl peed. Snapchat ha changed
from a meaging ervice known principall for it
ephemeralit into a gloal media heavweight. The
app’ Dicover feature, launched in Januar 2015,
now enale uer to watch, read and hare new
from major puliher uch a Vice, Dail Mail,
uzzFeed and National Geographic – a well a
ending Snap to their friend.
“Snapchat ha more potential than a lot of
primetime TV, ut ome rand have a hard time
imagining how their trateg come to life on
the platform”
– Scott Varland, IPG Media La
Another feature, Live Storie, keep it audience in
tune with popular event, uch a concert,porting
matche or even preidential election – nearl
twice a man 18- to 24-ear-old watched the firt
Repulican deate on Snapchat than on televiion.
And on an given da, the app generate over five
time the reach of the average US TV tation among
it ke 18- to 34-ear-old demographic.
‘Snapchat i marring content and communication
together in a wa that other media companie have
never thought to do,’ a Rich Greenfield, a media
analt at TIG. ‘It’ pecificall uilt for the moile
world.’ That unique mixture of media, meaging
and moile ha attracted advertier eeking to
target a outh audience that’ increaingl hard to
reach through traditional channel.

ut thi opportunit ha alo created freh
challenge. ‘Snapchat ha more potential than a lot
of primetime TV, ut ome rand have a hard time
imagining how their trateg come to life on the
platform,’ a Scott Varland, creative director of
IPG Media La in New York. ‘Snapchat require a
cutom approach: cutom trateg, cutom creative
and agenc partner that reall grap how the
platform work.’ In other word, top thinking of it
a jut another ocial media channel.
It all tart with a Snap
‘Snapchat ring together the two element of
entertainment and converation in a ver imple
wa,’ aid Nick ell, the rand’ VP of content, in an
interview with Contagiou at Advertiing Week
urope. ‘It all tart with the camera: we’re aout
creating moment and haring them with friend.’
Uuall, the o-called 1% rule tate that onl 1% of
people on a digital platform create new content,
while 99% lurk and conume. Snapchat upend that
paradigm – around two-third of it uer create
content ever da. From the camera, uer can wipe

ight to acce chat, or left to reach the content,
uch a the Dicover channel and Storie.
The app’ interface han’t een univerall popular,
however. Critic (mainl over the age of 35) point
out that it’ not a uer-friendl a other platform.
Simple tak on Faceook, like finding a friend, can
prove to e much more difficult on Snapchat. ut
ell maintain that’ jut a mptom of eing trul
moile-centric: ‘Over the pat 15 ear, we’ve
ecome ver ued to dektop UI. If ou uild and
innovate for an audience with moile in mind, it will
look and feel different to dektop, ut once ou tart
to ue it, it ecome ver familiar and natural.’
“We count on editor and artit, not click and
hare, to determine what’ important… Thi i
not ocial media”
– Snapchat
The UI in’t the onl difference etween Snapchat
and other leading ocial media ite. ‘Snapchat wa
orn out of pure authenticit,’ a Jame Kirkham,
head of Copa90, a gloal footall network and
content platform. ‘Kid have reelled againt the
overl manicured world of Faceook, where
everthing i preened to perfection.’
Snapchat uer are le oeed with capturing the
perfect unet or oating aout their immaculatel
arranged living room furniture (ahem, Intagram).
Intead, the hare quotidian moment and one-off
gag, without the anticipation of view, Like or
retweet weighing them down. ‘It remove a lot of
the preure that ocial media ha created, and
therefore create a willingne of expreion,’ aid
ell.

And ecaue Snap diappear into the digital ether,
the take on an entirel new role. ‘Photo have
changed from memor to converation,’ explained
van Spiegel, the app’ 26-ear-old CO, in a recent
YouTue video. So, rather than reling on the app to
capture taged cene or event (like, a, a wedding
photo), people are uing it to hare a pecific
moment or thought without the urden of it eing
immortalied.
“Snapchat i marring content and
communication together in a wa that other
media companie have never thought to do”
– Rich Greenfield, TIG
Thi new approach to communication ha quickl
created a highl engaged audience that chooe to
pend an average of 25 to 30 minute a da on
Snapchat. ‘The realit i that people aren’t haring
or aving content in the ame wa, ut the’re
coming ack continuoul,’ a TIG’ Greenfield.
‘Snapchat create a virtuou ccle where uer are
contantl eing rought ack into the app ecaue
of the communication laer, and that then fuel
their ailit to come into contact with content.’

No interruption
Thi model – one aed on time pent in-app rather
than on view or reach – i at the heart of
Snapchat’ trateg. ‘We elieve we’ve uilt the et
moile ad unit in the world,’ a Imran Khan,
Snapchat’ chief trateg officer, in an interview
with Contagiou. ‘We’ve taken familiar format like
video and made them more effective… o our
advert add to the experience intead of
interrupting.’
Snapchat enure high engagement through it ‘3V’
philooph – vertical video view – enuring that
ever ad i tailored perfectl for moile: hot in
portrait, plaed full-creen and with ound. When
ad are vertical and full creen, the have nine time
higher engagement on the platform than letterox
video, the compan claim.
3V ad tailored for Snapchat are then inerted into
either a Dicover channel or a Live Stor, and
viewer can wipe up to acce more information,
download an app or watch a video. arl reult are
impreive. A recent ad for Furiou 7 increaed the
viewer’ likelihood of watching the movie threefold.
And 93% of Snapchatter who watched it either
liked or loved the content.

Another ad, thi time from make-up rand
Lancôme, recentl ran on Comopolitan’ Dicover
channel. Uer could wipe up to explore the rand’
Juic Shaker lip oil and even u the product

without leaving the Snapchat app – the firt
example of hoppale ad on the platform.
aed on initial reult, Snapchat report that
engagement rate are ‘multiple time higher’ than
on other, comparale ite – omething the
compan attriute to the content eing perfectl
uited for moile, and for Snapchat.
“Photo have changed from memor to
converation”
– van Spiegel
Perhap the igget difference – from a uer
experience perpective – i that viewer can
immediatel kip an content the don’t like or in’t
relevant to them. ‘rand came to u and aid: “Can
we force the uer to watch [our ad]?” That didn’t feel
right to u, o we conducted reearch around it,’ aid
ell. The ke finding: 50% of conumer forced to
watch content form a negative entiment toward
the rand.
‘Major media companie put a lot of their content
online and then diale the ailit to rewind and
fat forward – the force ou to watch the
commercial,’ a Greenfield. ‘Snapchat a: “You
don’t want to watch our ad? Flip pat them.
Hopefull we’ll how ou a etter ad the next time.”
Again, it jut put the conumer in control.’
Around the water cooler
For ome rand, 3V ma eem like too much of a
departure from advertiing norm. ‘We’re moving
into a world where moile video ad have to work
verticall and mut e hort. That’ prett much the
polar oppoite of how the ad world ha een
thinking until now,’ a tan Oren, CO of lock
Part, an agenc dedicated to helping rand
achieve a preence on meaging app.

ut while 3V ma e the mot comprehenive
advertiing option, it’ certainl not the onl one.
Gatorade ha never launched a 3V ad, nor ha it
even et up a Snapchat account, et it tand out a
one of the mot memorale rand to have ued the
platform. A ponored len, which allowed uer to
hower a cooler full of Gatorade over their head
and then hare the video with friend, wa viewed
165 million time over the Super owl weekend in
Feruar 2016.
‘We know the power of their platform, epeciall in
reaching our target: teen competitive athlete,’ a
Kenn Mitchell, enior director of conumer
engagement at Gatorade. ‘ut ecaue we don’t
have an ongoing Snapchat preence, it i important
that our engagement are contextuall relevant.’
While Gatorade did not dicloe how much the
activit cot, Mitchell did hare that it generated a
30% lift in ad awarene and an 8% lift in purchae
intent. ‘It exceeded all of our expectation,’ he a.
“You need to create a new et of tool – a new
context – that feel right for the platform”
– Paul Marcum, Truffle Pig
Lene give rand the opportunit to create pike
of activit without the need to uild a following and
then keep it continuoul engaged. A do Geofilter,
which let anone create an image overla, upload it
to Snapchat and then launch it within a pecific
area. oth tend to e particularl ucceful around
pecific event or occaion. Taco ell, for intance,
launched a len that turned the uer’ head into a
taco in celeration of the Mexican holida Cinco de

Mao. In 24 hour, it wa viewed more than 224
million time, with the average uer plaing with it
for 24 econd.
Snapchat i currentl keeping quiet aout how much
thee kind of activitie cot, partl ecaue the
price var hugel. An On-Demand Geofilter, for
intance, can range from $5 to everal thouand of
dollar, depending on the geographic area that it
appear in (a ingle uilding in New York cot le
than one uur, which cot le than having the
filter appear to all uer acro the cit). ut ource
cloe to Snapchat indicate that 3V advert tart at
around $100k in the US and nationwide lene are in
the ten of thouand.
Going organic
If official partnerhip are a it like joining the part
through the front door, invitation in hand, then
organic campaign are more like cramling under
the garden hedge and lipping in through aide
entrance. It take more time and effort, ut the
reward can e equall a enjoale.
Much like accumulating follower on Twitter or
Faceook, organic campaign require rand to
uild a communit, keep it engaged and then
leverage it at pecific time. It’ not a quick fix –
like, a, a len over Super owl weekend – ut it
doe avoid the fee that are part and parcel of
official partnerhip.

In New Zealand, healthcare provider Countie
Manukau Health opted for thi route in an attempt
to call out oung people for moking. Uer were
encouraged to Snap a friend puffing awa, cover
their face with a funn emoji or illutration (to
conceal their identit, ut alo to provide plent of
LOL) and then end it to the Snapped Out NZ
handle. Incentive, like Spotif ucription and
muic fetival ticket were ued to encourage
participation.
After ix week, the campaign had attracted 1,100
follower, with an average engagement rate of 54%.
In total, 100,000 Snap impreion were generated.
‘Snapchat i a tick platform once ou have uilt
the following,’ a Clem Devine, creative director at
Richard Partner in Auckland, the agenc ehind
the idea. ‘ut it in’t a et and forget platform – it
need contant engagement to keep the content
freh.’
Influencer can help to uild organic following
more quickl. Sprite in razil printed the Snapcode
(eentiall QR code that, when canned, add that
peron’ Snapchat handle to our account) of 16
influencer on a limited run of can, and then alo
gave memer of the pulic the chance to umit
their own Snapcode and have them printed on it
packaging. In jut two da, 750 code were
umitted, and Sprite’ Snapchat following
increaed 300%.

‘We did feel that Snapchat i different from other
platform and we wanted to repect what the
platform i all aout,’ a Marcelo Pacoa, Coca-
Cola’ creative excellence director in razil. ‘It’ not
aout tring to u follower with media mone, it’
aout getting to know different people and uilding
an audience aed on the fact that ou identif with
the content that i eing produced. You’re going to
conquer through content, not through media.’

Don’t crah the part
Perhap the igget challenge i chooing an
engagement avenue on Snapchat. ‘If our goal i
ignificant reach, ou’re going to want one of the
national paid programme,’ a Paul Marcum,
preident of Truffle Pig, an agenc et up a a joint
venture etween Snapchat, Dail Mail and WPP. ‘If
ou want to pla locall then ou hould look at a
Geofilter. And if ou have pecific age-targeting
need, then 3V i the et tool for that.’
ut whichever path ou decide to take, there i one
rule that applie to all: ‘Thi i a white-hot platform

ight now, ut we run the tpical rik of ever rand
and their dog leaping on oard, thinking the can e
a part of the fun too,’ a Copa90’ Kirkham.
‘However man oung conumer might e on it,
the’ll till niff out a rand that i clumil
occuping a part of their ecotem ecaue it
think it hould e. rand need to intead engineer
campaign around the enefit of the platform.’
Thi advice could, of coure, eail appl to all
channel. ut it feel particularl pertinent to
Snapchat. It’ the world’ firt trul moile media
channel, and it’ governed a et of
commandment that differ from ever other ocial
media platform. Thou halt add, not interrupt. Thou
halt prioritie engagement over reach. Thou halt
cutom-make, not retro-fit.
Getting thi right require marketer to keep oth
ee firml fixed on how the platform i evolving. ‘I
think what’ intereting aout Snapchat i the pace
of innovation that van and Nick have led,’ a
TIG’ Greenfield. ‘Think aout how low Twitter
ha een to iterate. Snapchat continue to come up
with new product that keep conumer coming
ack.’
Two ear ago, Snapchat wa a traightforward
meaging app, aleit a highl ucceful one.
Toda, it’ the world’ mot forward-thinking
content platform, comining chat and media into an
infectiou lend of moile entertainment. And a
thi tranformation ha plaed out, it ha created a
few highl tempting wa for rand to join the
part. Jut watch out for the rainow vomit on our
wa in.
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