Minis Are Here, Miniature Third-Party Apps In Snapchat
Snapchat Minis, bite-sized third party-apps built within Snapchat rolled out on Monday. Snapchat first previewed Minis, a lightweight, built on HTML at the 2020 Partner Summit back last month.
Four out of seven Minis debuts across the platform. These mini-apps are going live:
Meditation tool Headspace, studying collaboration tool by Tembo, an interactive messaging tool Prediction Master and Let’s do it, a mini-app by Snap.
Other minis apps -festival trip planning by Coachella, Atom’s movie ticketing, and student’s schedule planner Saturn are yet to go live.
The Easiest Way To Meditate Is With Headspace Mini
Headspace mini is a part of the initiative “to help support the mental health and emotional wellbeing of SnapChatters, said a Snap spokesperson.
Why it matters
The user base of Snapchat is one of the youngest on the social. Media as it reaches more under 30 years old who are coping up with missed schools, job loss, and socialization in the pandemic.
Details
Users can access minis within the chat and can also check-in the sessions with friends. Users can choose from the six meditation sessions of three-four minutes. According to research conducted by Snapchat, late last year reveals that young audience consults friends first about mental health issues over parents. This new tool is even more crucial at present as it will help users (especially the young audience) to deal with a range of mental challenges in the pandemic. A Headspace spokesperson said in an email to The Verge,
“By putting these useful resources front and center where friends already meet and share, we believe Snapchat can play a unique role in empowering friends to help each other through difficult times.”
Will It Replicate WeChat Success?
Even though it’s a new and fresh concept in the U.K and the U.S, this mini-App model is famous in Asian Markets. For instance, Tencent’s WeChat has over 1 million mini-app programs that allow users to perform various tasks. Also, mobile payment services Paytm and PhonePe in India has rolled out several services like flight booking, movie tickets, or ordering a cab.
Snapchat has said previously that Tencent, an investor app in L.A influenced it to replicate the WeChat-style super app. It is a win-win situation for both parties-Snapchat and developers who are making the mini-apps. Snapchat can boost user engagement and developers can access a whole new set of audiences. Facebook, last month, had a little success over replication of the WeChat model through chatbots on Messengers.
Now, it remains to be seen, what is the audience response to the mini-app model as Snapchat gains inroads to the U.S, U.K, and other markets.
Exit Lockdown. Enter Reality – What Comes Next?
10 weeks. 70 days. 1680 hours. Far too many Netflix binges to mention. Meaningless stats at any other time, but in the context of the coronavirus, it’s a stark reminder of our time in lockdown. It’s strange to think that we’ve spent over two months in self-isolation, practising social distancing and learning how to re-interact with everyone around us.
Businesses have moved online, companies have shifted their models, employees have become tech evangelists quicker than anyone would have anticipated. In essence, we’ve been living a do or die mentality during this pandemic, so now that economies around the globe are beginning to open up, what comes next?
I could put my Nostradamus hat on again and make a load of predictions, but really, what’s the point in that? No-one knows what lies ahead, the situation is changing too quickly, with multiple factors at play and an unpredictable virus that doesn’t want to play by society’s rules. The only thing we can be certain of right now is uncertainty, as annoying as that is to admit. We can’t control the environment in which we operate, but we can look at what’s happening to use as a barometer for the trends currently shaping our industry.
The Golden Ecommerce Opportunity
“While the world falls apart, the stock market – and especially Ad Tech – keeps on pumping”. Considering the ripple effect that has been felt throughout every sector, at first glance, this may seem like a stretch, however, the sentiment on Wall Street surrounding digital media, and by extension, Ad Tech is undeniably positive.
Facebook reported flat revenue year over year in April, not usually a cause for celebration, but amid nationwide lockdowns, investors are confident in the platform’s ability to rebound. Similarly, Google and Snapchat beat analysts’ expectations, however, a tougher Q2 is expected. It’s a realistic snapshot of the peaks and troughs that have become commonplace during the pandemic, and as consumer behavior patterns continue to change, the major walled gardens will find new and more innovative ways to gain market share.
You only need to look at how the duopoly has applied itself during the crisis. Gold stars all around. Announcements from Facebook have come thick and fast over the past few weeks, with everything from their Giphy acquisition to the launch of Messenger Rooms and its sister app, CatchUp for video calls, creating a buzz. And amid the fluff – their Bitmoji-inspired Avatar app is a prime example – came what we were all waiting for: a real and very viable move into online commerce.
Facebook ‘Shops’ will allow small businesses to build online stores on both Facebook and Instagram, and in the future, will extend this feature to its Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, and Messenger platforms. Products can also be tagged during live broadcasts, and if Zuckerberg’s estimations are accurate, with some 800 million people already engaging in live video sessions daily across Facebook and Instagram, the opportunity here is huge.
According to Deutsche Bank’s Lloyd Walmsley, Shops has the potential to drive as much as $30 billion in incremental revenue – the bulk coming through further advertising opportunities. This makes sense when you consider Facebook’s rationale in enabling eCommerce across all of its platforms in this way; the closer the consumers are to checkout, the more willing advertisers are to spend. That’s probably why Bezos is laughing all the way to the bank as Amazon’s ad business continues to skyrocket. Of course, Amazon isn’t immune to the fallout either. Investors were told in no uncertain terms to ‘take a seat’ during the Q1 earnings report, amid challenging trading conditions, a pullback from some advertisers, and pressure on price. Still, with a reported 44% growth in Q1 and continuing strong traffic to the site, Amazon will be a thorn in the duopoly’s side for a long time yet. Google, much like Facebook, is looking to guard against this Amazonian invasion. The platform recently added organic listings to its Shopping site, offering retailers exposure to millions of daily shopping searches, while users will have access to a wider range of purchase options. On the surface, it’s likely to gain Google’s market share and advertising dollars over time and has the added bonus of taking aim at Amazon’s convenience model by competing on variety.
Even ‘smaller’ companies are looking to get into the retail game. Criteo continued its move away from retargeting, launching a self-serve ad platform for its retail media network. It’s particularly shrewd given how valuable retail media is right now. As eCommerce continues to surge in lockdown, traditional media budgets are being funneled this way to capitalize on the opportunity in real-time. The ‘Always On’ Mentality at the outset of the coronavirus, programmatic was one of the first to be hit. Brands paused their online campaigns; the default ‘easy’ option, as opposed to reviewing their other marketing channels. However, programmatic has proved to be adaptable, resilient, and flexible in the wake of continued challenges and pressures. It is already rebounding, and I believe digital and eCommerce will take an even larger share of overall advertising in the long run.
Still, even prior to this, publishers were being cautious with their investments and not capitalizing on the programmatic opportunity quickly enough. Of course, change has now been forced at every level. Digitization is a requirement and businesses no longer have the luxury of waiting things out. The nature of operating in 2020 is that you have to be ‘always on’. Adapt. Review. Adapt. Review. There’s no room for complacency.
For my part, I’d say on balance, I’m a pretty optimistic person. Look for the opportunity, acknowledge the risk, but be ready to take action, and that hasn’t changed in the past three months. What we’ll all need to be careful of as things begin to move again is abandoning the ‘critical change’ mindset we have adopted as standard during the pandemic.
Jeff Bezos “Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.”
It’s probably more morbid than I would have put it, but he has a point. No more stasis. Let’s make every day count.
Ayman Haider
CEO at MMP World Wide – Board Member at IAB MENA
Wassim Mneimneh is a CEO at MMP Worldwide and a board member at IAB MENA. A dedication of a lifetime to career in advertising with a passion for tech, and focus on driving the transformation, implementation, and conversation on the value of programmatic and its ability to rebuild trust and safety for the media industry.
Snapchat’s New Feature ‘Snap Minis’ Will Be the Next Hot Thing in the Market
Snap introduced an array of new products and partnerships for Snapchat including original shows, Minis, new lenses, new navigation bars, and games at the 2020 Snap Partner Summit.
The highlight of the event was Minis – a suite of miniature apps developed by third parties that will run inside Snapchat. This will be integrated into the Snapchat chat window that would allow users to buy movie tickets, shop with friends or meditate.
In an interview with The Verge, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said,
“Let’s say you’re getting ready with your friends, or your school dance is two weeks from now — you can actually shop together with your friends, which I think could be a really fun experience.”
What Snap Announced:
-Minis are web-based apps built on HTML-5 for Android and iOS.
-Minis will start rolling out next month on Snapchat with the first seven minis.
-A mini-app by Coachella to coordinate and plan a festival line up with the friends.
-A mini version of Headspace to meditate and send encouraging messages to friends.
-A mini-app by Tembo to create flashcards for studying,
-A mini-app by Atom to buy movie tickets, pick seats, and choose timings.
Why They Matter:
– The inclusion of mini-apps will increase Snapchat’s functionality and potentially making it a one-stop app like WeChat for GenZ.
– The main purpose behind creating minis is creating eCommerce avenues as its main competitor WhatsApp has already ventured into digital payments and shopping.
– The company’s growth is stable in the messaging space but is not big enough to compete with the likes of Facebook and Google for ad revenues in the long term.
– As a result, it plans to build an ecosystem that revolves around its camera technology to unlock new revenue generation options.
What’s New For Brands:
– Brands especially looking to target the younger audience should consider developing a Snap Mini to provide services and ensure easy accessibility to Snapchat users.
– It is easy to maintain a mini-app than a full-size app as brands can leverage the Snapchat’s user base to gain traction.
By The Numbers:
– These miniatures applications are compared to WeChat’s mini-programs that generated $113 billion for Tencent last year, according to The Verge.
– Snap execs revealed that it reached over 229 million daily active users on average in the first quarter of this year, with over 100 million in the U.S. alone. (That’s larger than TikTok or Twitter’s U.S. footprint.)
And, there’s lots more from the 2020 Snap Partner Summit:
1. Camera Kit: It allows developers to bring Snapchat’s AR capabilities and engagement into their own apps that enable apps like Squad to create a co-viewing experience while video chatting with friends.
2. Dynamic Lenses: It allows developers to bring real-time information from their app into Snapchat lenses.
3. Bitmoji For Games: A cross-platform avatar for gaming on mobile, PC, or console. This means it is easier for a user to maintain a uniform gaming identity online by using one avatar across all games.
4. Snap Games: An interactive way for friends to play the game on mobile which includes “Bitmoji Party.”
5. Lens Studio: A free and new desktop feature that allows developers to bring their machine learning models to power lenses. For the first SnapML creations, the company partnered with Prisma, Wannaby, and others.
6. Local Lenses: A new feature that allows users to create 3D worlds on top of their building and or decorate nearby buildings with colorful paints and have a new AR experience.
7. Scans: Snap expanded its scan platform and announced new partners for plants, dogs, and nutrition information. Plant Snap will help the user identify 90% of all known plants and trees. Dog Scanner to identify 400 breeds, Yuka will launch a nutrition scanner to provide ratings on the quality of ingredients in the packaged foods and Louis Vuitton will help users scan the monogram to be transported into the inspiration behind their latest collection.
8. Voice Scan: It allows users to issue voice commands to find lenses.
Twitter Introduces Fleets – The 24-Hour Disappearing Posts
- After its first launch in Brazil in March, followed by Italy in April, Twitter has rolled out its version of Stories’Fleets’ for users to post ephemeral content in India.
- Fleets are self-deleting tweets which will disappear after 24 hours without likes, retweets or replies. People can only react with DMs to the Fleets.
Nearly, 7 years ago Snapchat introduced a feature ‘Stories’ to their platform that enabled users to share content with friends and followers that would disappear after 24 hours. Soon, a similar feature was added to Instagram and WhatsApp as Stories and Status respectively by Facebook.
Now, its Twitter’s turn.
How does it matter
India is the 8th largest market for Twitter based on usage and has around 13 million users. Twitter users in India can now have access to the feature ‘Fleets’ and in the coming days, it will be available on iOS and Apple.
Namaste! Starting today, Fleets are coming to India. If you’re in India, check it out and let us know what you think! #FleetsFeedback 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/U6QiHynm1U
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) June 9, 2020
Twitter is taking a staged approach similar to LinkedIn who rolled out its Stories feature in the UAE market, after the launch in Brazil and Netherlands.
Why, so important
The company said in a statement,
“We learned from research that people don’t Tweet because Tweets are public, feel permanent, and display the number of Retweets and Likes. We hope Fleets will empower many more people to express themselves more freely.”
By far the feedback received is optimistic and following are Twitter findings from the launch of Fleets in the two markets:
- Fleets make it easier for people to share thoughts.
- People are finding Twitter Fleets simpler to start convos and the number of tweets/DM is also increasing.
- People are expressing their thoughts freely after using Twitter Fleet.
- Though it is early to say, only a small percentage of abuse is reported each day after using Twitter Fleets. This was a key point that Twitter was looking to focus to make the platform toxic-free that had become a part and parcel over time.
How does it work:
“Fleets are fast and familiar. People can tap on their own avatar to start, add text or media, and hit send. That’s it, that’s how one Fleets.”
Fleets, as seen in the images are similar to Stories that appear at the top of users’ Twitter home feed. Users can choose to make a post in a text (still 280 characters) or photos, GIF’s or videos. Users can tap on someone’s avatar to see what the person has posted which will eventually disappear after 24 hours.
Although Fleets doesn’t have additional visual presentation tools and AR functionality at this stage like most other Stories options but Twitter will gradually develop on this front as it had acquired Chrome Labs, a company focused on Advanced Stories presentation.
Lastly, Twitter Fleets is still in experiment mode and with access to more than 30 million users for a test pool, it could be the starting point for the global rollout.
So be ready with your Twitter Fleets strategy!
Influencers Share Their Secret to Earning Big Bucks on Social Media
Key Insights
- Affiliate marketing and paid advertising are one of the top revenue sources but the real bread and butter of influencer income is brand sponsorships reveals a survey of 69 digital stars by Influencer.co
- The survey results were gathered at the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic that has changed the consumer and digital landscape.
- The result highlighted that influencers have diversified income sources and can help them earn even in an economic downturn.
A goal is a dream with a deadline.
– Napoleon Hill
Making a living out of online business is a dream that is now achievable. For many, it is a dream turned reality but with a fair share of struggles. A survey of 69 influencers conducted earlier this year by influencer platform Influence.co highlighted myriad ways available for creators to make big money in 2020.
The results gathered before the pandemic outbreak reveals Brand sponsorship as the top moneymaker with 78% of creators calling it the main source of income. 58% of creators highlight paid advertising like YouTube AdSense also amongst the top three sources of income. However, this category has been dropped off recently as advertiser demand has run down due to the pandemic.
However, influencers have leaned on alternate revenue streams and moved away from sponsored posts as brands have paused/postponed influencer campaigns in 2020. 41% of survey respondents have named commission-based revenue as a key income driver followed by affiliate marketing (39%). Respondents also pointed to physical merchandise (26%) as one of the top income sources.
These are income sources where influencers are paid a fee for e-commerce sales that they drive from their social accounts.
Below is the breakdown of income sources that is listed by influencers as primary revenue sources in the survey.
1. Brand Sponsorships (78%)
78% of influencers surveyed listed brand sponsorships as a primary source of income.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYwIRyWgHqY/?utm_source=ig_embed
H&M has the largest followings as women reflect H&M style all by themselves as a part of the influencer campaign. H&M partnered for its fall 2017 collection with two influencers -fashion blogger Julie Sariñana and model Ela Velden. Sariñana promoted the clothes on her own Instagram account as she loved them.
Brand sponsorships are mostly sponsored posts on social platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. The most reliable way of making money and the main source of income has taken a hit in the last few months mainly because:
- Advertisers have trimmed their budget to save costs.
- Brands are facing economic headwinds caused by the pandemic.
As reported by Business Insider, the frequency of sponsored posts has dropped down on Instagram and 22% of creators have lowered their rates due to slow demand.
As this category is affected by the economic downturn, brands are partnering with influencers to conduct live streaming as consumers at-home interest in real-time videos have spiked.
2. Paid Ads (58%)
The second-highest source of income listed by influencers in the survey with 58%.
Influencers can directly earn through ads that play in their videos across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Instagram says that Live creators have seen a 70% increase in video views during the pandemic. It now prepares to launch new tools that enable video creators to earn money that includes badges that viewers can purchase during Live Instagram videos and the introduction of IGTV ads.
YouTube’s Partner Program allows influencers to earn money by placing ad breaks within the content on their channel. Ad revenue earned directly through Google placed ads is the main source of revenue and the rate YouTube pays creators depends on factors like video watch time. And viewer demographics. And if a video climbs millions of views then creators receive a big check from YouTube.
For instance, YouTube creator Groth told Business Insider that normally his channel earns $9 and $12 for every 1,000 views. BI also reported that YouTube creators earned from $3600 to $40,000 off a video with 1 million views.
3. Commissions (41%) and affiliate marketing (39%)
Affiliate marketing has been a popular source of income for influencers and 41% of influencers surveyed pointed out commission on sales as a top source of income.
Another popular revenue source for influencers.- fashion and lifestyle influencers on Instagram, Tech reviewers on YouTube, and media publishers like The New York Times that generates affiliate income on its review site, The Wirecutter.com
In this type of arrangement, creators can earn a commission on sales made through a promotional code and affiliate marketing where they promote products with a trackable link.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZQolWBB5Eu/?utm_source=ig_embed
In March 2020, the category saw a rise in revenue as many companies shifted their focus to e-commerce sales due to lockdown policies whereas April was a mixed bag as some brands like Walmart, Victoria Secret suspended their services.
4. Event Appearances (29%)
Event Appearances and Speaking engagements are big revenue streams for some YouTube creators who have diversified their businesses.
A recent college grad and YouTube creator Ruby Asabor (170,000 subscribers) have presented for events of universities like NYU and Rutgers in the US. She is a motivational speaker and recently many events and tours have been canceled owing to the pandemic. She explains in her video how the business has changed due to coronavirus and events are postponed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlG26M1a2gk
5. Physical- Merchandise sales (26%)
26% of the influencers points out physical merchandise sales as a source of revenue. The ‘merch’ trend has picked up in recent years. While some have built online direct sales to consumers and others have partnered with retailers like Walmart and others.
Blippi is a popular YouTube star who makes educational videos and has more than 21 million subscribers. The man behind the creation is Stevin John. Recently, Jazwares LLC which makes toys has created a line of items “My Buddy Blippi” which includes figures, plush toys, and toy vehicles. It aims at helping children count or learn colors by putting accessories inside numbered or colored boxes. The products will be released through Walmart and Amazon.
The North Start for the toy industry is Ryan Kaji, an 8-year-old who is the face of YouTube channel ‘Ryan’s World.’ According to Pocket. Watch, retail sales for Ryan-branded products had hit $200 million in 2019.
6. Digital Product Sales (16%):
Fitness influencers on Instagram and YouTube witnessed a spike in engagement and direct-to-consumer sales due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Many fitness influencers sell fitness digital membership programs in the form of app or classes or websites. For instance, Rachel Brathen, aka Yoga Girl, is a Swedish yoga teacher and a New York Times’ best-selling author. She leverages her Instagram account to preach and encourages yoga lifestyle and sell classes from anywhere in the world.
As reported by Business Insider, a fashion stylist, and influencer, Audree Kate Lopez has nearly 30,000 followers and conducts an online course Fashion Fundamentals for college students.
7. Followers donations(6%)
Many influencers receive donations or gifts via live streaming through membership platforms and social media platforms respectively. Take a look:
- Influencers receive donations from followers through Patreon or Buy me Coffee.
- TikTok, Twitch also has features to donate to influencers in real-time.
- In April, Facebook announced the rollout of its star monetization program, where fans can send virtual stars to a live-streaming creator worth $0.01 each.
- YouTube content company launched the “FBE Super” Membership program using Patreon’s Memberful platform. It offers three paid tiers for fans to contribute either $5,$10, or $15 a month to receive exclusive live streams, discounts, or an opportunity to be cast in episodes.
Read more: 26 Stellar Video (YouTube) Advertising Examples To Take Creative Inspiration From!
Snapchat’s Automated Advertising ‘Dynamic Ads’ Is What Global Brands Need Today!
- Snapchat announced a new advertising product called Dynamic Ads. It brings automated customization to ads and is designed to make it easy for brands to set up their e-commerce business on Snapchat.
- Snap first introduced Dynamic Ads in 2019 to e-commerce retailers in the U.S and began testing the ad unit last October.
- The stock was down 1% after the company launched Dynamic Ads in the U.K, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East after being offered only in the U.S.
- Google and Facebook both offer brands Dynamic Ads.
Snapchat Dynamic Ads or Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) allow a brand to automatically create ads in real-time based on their own product catalogs which may contain hundreds of items. This means if a price or availability changes, ads will be updated automatically with less human intervention. Dynamic ads will make selling products easier for retailers and brands and can serve Snapchat’s 229 million daily active users based on their interests. Snap offers five templates to advertisers to showcase their products in a way that they look native.
Here is the example of the template after a product is populated:
Brands like Adidas, FarFetch, and Topshop were amongst the first brands to test Snapchat Dynamic Product Ads and all reported positive sales results from showcasing their products and services through customized ad formats.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Adidas has further accelerated its digital business and eCommerce is their key focus in 2020. Adidas test in Europe elicited positive feedback:
“We’re excited to beta test Snapchat’s Dynamic Ads in the U.K., Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Within weeks we saw a 52% growth in ROAS (return on advertising spend) and we have subsequently grown our investment.”
“The launch of DPAs allows us a route to reach our target Gen Z and Millennial audiences with relevant product creative throughout the consumer journey.”
– Rob Seidu, Sr. Director of Media Activation, Europe
FarFetch chief marketing officer Gareth Jones said that there is a shift in consumer interaction with eCommerce as consumers are increasingly shopping on their mobile phones during the COVID-19 lockdown which is expected to continue. Jones added that Snapchat Dynamic Ads have transformed the brand’s activity across the entire sales funnel.
“We lent heavily into DPAs during the testing period and we have seen significant success that has translated into high-quality customers and ultimately transactions. We plan to continue to build on our relationship with Snapchat and we see them as an always-on partner.”
Topshop was the first brand to do a beta test and it achieved four times the UK benchmarks for ROAS within two weeks. According to Topshop,
“DPAs have allowed Topshop to reach Snapchatters with high-quality, and relevant ads throughout the consumer journey, and based on such strong results, the activity will be scaled and launched into further markets over the coming weeks.”
Implications on Business
Lockdown has forced many businesses to shift their focus to eCommerce and keep up with consumer demands. According to Interactive Media in Retail Group, online sales reached a 10-year high in April, marking a year-over-year increase of 23.8%.
Snap reported revenue of $462 million in the first quarter, up more than 44% over the first quarter of 2019 and ad revenue grew as they relied on big-spending large advertisers.
According to Ed Couchman, general manager of Snapchat U.K,
“The coronavirus has accelerated the need for businesses to look at their digital sales channels and encouraged them to be more innovative in how they do that.”
“Since we opened up the beta testing I was impressed at the number of businesses who wanted to get involved – far above what we expected – which really shows the appetite for brands to get on board with e-commerce.”
“We are seeing strong results from advertisers in multiple sectors from high street clothing stores to food delivery who have been testing the product.”
After Instagram, TikTok Targets Snapchat With Its New Augmented Reality Ad Format
After attempting to take over Instagram with its new “Shop Now” button, TikTok is getting prepared to launch its new augmented reality ad format which is similar to popular app Snapchat and Instagram.
The upcoming ad format will allow users to place dynamic visual effects that interact with their physical surroundings to TikTok videos. For instance, a car could zoom the length of the kitchen table or the user can interact with the advertiser’s mascot as it jumps around the room.
The product is expected to launch later this year with unknown pricing. The AR ads will be clickable and will have music while the user shoots video. As reported by DigiDay, a TikTok spokesperson said,
“We’re always exploring new ways to bring creativity and joy to our community. Creative effects are a fun way for our users to express themselves and for brands to bring an interactive element to their campaigns with branded creative effects.”
He further added that they will share details soon and are still experimenting with various ways to make it a valuable experience for brands. This new ad product will be in direct competition with Sponsored Lens and Word Lenses augmented reality formats and Instagram’s AR filters, though the latter is not an ad product but a filter.
TikTok already offers a product ‘Branded Effect’ which allows users to add 2 D animated lenses to their videos through their hand and face movements. These effects were produced by an in-house team costing $100,000 whereas Snapchat helped pioneer augmented reality advertising but launched Sponsored Lens costing $500,000 minimum for brands. However, over time, Snapchat introduced its lenses to ad auction, bringing the price down and billed on a CPM basis. In its Q1,2020 result, Snapchat reported that 85% more over the last year are playing with the lenses and self serve ad platform is a predominant way to buy AR products.
Meanwhile, the popularity and growth of the video app are soaring. The measurement firm Sensor tower s reveals, TikTok app and its Chinese version, Douyin, crosses 2 billion downloads on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in March.
TikTok is quick in following the roadmap laid out by competitor social media platforms in rolling new ad products and the pace at which they are moving forward is frightening. As quoted by Digiday, Paul Kasamias, managing partner of performance at media agency Starcom said,
” If they get it right they’re going to be a huge player in the next six months to a year.”
News of the AR effect ads follows just in a month after the development of TikTok testing a new ad format call-to-action button ‘Shop Now’ for Influencer videos
Snap’s Q1 2020 Report: Users and Revenue Increases, Ad Spend Declines
Snap Inc. the parent company of the popular social media platform Snapchat reported in its Q1 2020 earnings – strong gains in both users and revenues but a dip in advertiser spend despite the growing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
No Coronavirus Negative Impact on Earnings-Yet
The stock was up nearly 20 percent after the company reported a 44 percent (Y-o-Y) increase in its first-quarter revenue to $462 million. That was a far better performance than expected. The ad spend growth grew 58% in January and February, and fell to roughly 25% in March (when the pandemic grew rapidly), the gains from the first two months helping to end the quarter positively.
CFO Derek Andersen said during Snap’s earnings call,
“The economic environment has become challenging for many of our advertising partners.”
The company didn’t provide guidance for Q2 citing uncertainty related to the worldwide economic crisis but in an unusual step, provided revenue growth figures for the first week of April. The advertiser mix on Snapchat contributed to the Q1 performance and continues to help in Q2. Snapchat has a few small business advertisers unlike Facebook and Instagram, however many large advertisers are ready to commit on a regular basis.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said in a statement,
“We are grateful for the opportunity to serve our community and partners during this difficult time.” He added, “Snapchat is helping people stay close to their friends and family while they are separated physically, and I am proud of our team for overcoming the many challenges of working from home during this time while we continue to grow our business and support those who are impacted by COVID-19.”
Strong User Growth and increase in Engagement
Snapchat’s daily active user (DAV) base reached 229 million in the first quarter across all regions and on Android and iOS.This represents a 20 percent increase from last year.
There is some concern over the divergence of Snapchat’s users’ growth. Snapchat added 2 million more users in North America- the most lucrative market but the majority of the growth was from the ‘Rest of the World’ category. Snapchat has witnessed significant growth in the Indian market since it revamped its Android app, a key contributor to the ‘Rest of the World’ category.
However, the key area of opportunity that Snap would prefer to boost growth in the US as it will get more 3.5x more revenue per user.
Besides, the time spent on Snapchat has increased due to coronavirus. CEO Evan Spiegel reported that the average time spent in the last week of March vs. the last week of January was up more than 20%. On the other hand, markets like the U.K, France saw more than a 30% increase.
Mobile app tracker App Annie’s findings point out 54% growth in average time spent per user on Snapchat in South Korea from March1-14,2020, compared with Q4 2019. Italy marked a 36% increase and Japan was up 23%.
Additionally, this pandemic increased communication with friends and family on Snapchat, up more than 30% in the last week of march compared to the last week of January whereas in some other geographies there was an increase of more than 50%.
Games, TV, Chat, Calling are other highlighting points of group engagement.
Snapchatters watching Snap’s premium content hub ‘ Discover’ grew 35% Y-o-Y in Q1 2020 which represents the total time spent watching shows more than doubling this quarter. The company also mentioned hiring Hulu senior vice president of advertising sales Peter Naylor.
Chief business officer Jeremi Gorman said,
“As TV budgets migrate to digital, they move to places that carry the same advantages of linear, and we’ve been investing in those things for years. Peter is just the most recent investment in the strategy.”
Snap has also launched App Stories -brings its popular stories feature to the app. It also launched five new Snap games globally. With the use of videoconferencing and live streaming to connect with friends and family, Snap has seen more than 30 times increase in the daily download of Snap camera, a desktop app that allows people to add lenses to whichever video service they use. Besides, it added more than 120 partner app integration with its Snap Kit, and the numbers of Snapchatters using on a monthly basis is up 75% from the Q4 of 2019.
Direct-Response advertising budgets make up half of the revenues.
Snap continues to double down on direct response advertisers especially in games, home entertainment, CPG, and eCommerce. Direct response advertising now accounts for more than half of Snap’s revenue.
Speigel noted,
“In the short-term, we’re shifting sales resources and pulling forward some investments in direct response to better serve the advertisers who are trying to reach our audience during this time. For example, we can help movie studios pivot to digital releases by supporting them with a suite of products designed to track titles over a dynamic and flexible release window. We’ve also seen many large brands doing a lot of important things to help their community and the broader world, and we’re helping these brands communicate their efforts to our audience in a thoughtful and approachable way that inspires others to make a positive impact.”
Snapchat recently worked with Universal on the promotion of the animated film ‘Trolls World Tour’ released digitally incorporating Trolls AR masks into Snap Camera add-on a feature that gained significant momentum as more people work from home.
Snap has worked immensely hard over the past few years to build out measurement capabilities and ad products to interest the direct advertisers resulting in nearly double total ad revenues in two years.
So what has Snap done to get this?
Snap introduced conversion-optimized bidding- which allows advertisers to optimize toward their sales or app install gaols, conversion-tracking advertising pixels, and improved ad-targeting capabilities. This has attracted performance advertisers who already buy those types from other platforms.
Snap has focused on offering unique ad products like augmented reality platforms and easy self serve ad platform.
Chief business officer Jeremi Gorman said,
“Advertisers are looking for a way to make a dollar go further. “We have efficient pricing, and we’re a great place to come to get ROAS for the audience they’re looking for.”
There is also something for Snap’s brand advertisers. The company has doubled the amount of money committed via upfronts in 2020 vs. 2019. Snap is using its creative services to help brands distribute their PSAs related to COVID-19, like the filter from Adidas encouraging people across the United Kingdom and Germany to stay at home that was viewed more than 14 million times.
Snap has a lot of potential and capacity to reach a young audience. Although things look gloomy for the remaining year of 2020, Snap appears more stable and an attractive platform for advertisers and partners. If Snap manages to expand its market appeal geographically, it will be well-positioned beyond COVID-19.
26 Stellar Video (YouTube) Advertising Examples To Take Creative Inspiration From!
Stephan Vogel, Ogilvy & Mather Germany’s chief creative officer quotes,
“Nothing is more efficient than creative advertising. Creative advertising is more memorable, longer lasting, works with less media spending, and builds a fan community…faster.”
Creativity is the base of advertising and branding and what better medium to propel this creativity than video? Many businesses have started using video advertising creatives to create a buzz for their products and brand. Video tends to drive more engagement and the numbers below from a recent 2020 survey by Wyzowl says it all.
- 95% of marketers say that video has helped user understanding of product and services
- 89% of marketers say that it gives good ROI.
- 84% of consumers purchase a product or service by watching brands’ videos.
- 92% of marketers believe video is an important part of digital strategy.
Brands are facing immense competition to make themselves heard and are opting for creative video marketing to rise. So what does it take to gain attention? Let’s say, choosing influencers for marketing, video advertising campaigns or teaming up with entertainment franchises like Game of Thrones to rise above the noise.
We indeed see many ads per day but how many do we recall by night? The odds are you might not recall even four ads seen in the week. People don’t read or see ads of what the brand is selling. They are interested to read or see stories of people that have the same challenges as they do. This is why the visual guide below explains why video advertising is the best advertising choice and businesses should consider incorporating it.
Power of Video in Creative Advertising
The beginning of the age of video advertising has created a paradigm shift for marketers. As per Forbes, video ads account for more than 35% of total ad spending online.
Different types of websites – social media platforms, news organizations, company pages, all are employing video content for their voracious audience consumption. Social media platforms prioritize videos over other forms of content as videos help to build trust and engagement. Therefore, all these trends make it important to nail your online video presence.
Snapchat leads to be one of the fastest-growing social media platforms based on its video stories and Instagram successfully introduced a similar feature ”Insta Stories”.
YouTube suggests users use over 1 billion hours of video on the site every day in 2017.
Online Video is predicted to make up 80% of all internet traffic by 2020.
Video Ads are not as Short always and connects through Creative, Personalized Video
Consumers prefer to watch a 15-sec video considering images than read a block with text. However, the most popular video ad length is 30 seconds, and data suggest people are willing to watch a bit longer videos.
For instance, OYO, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, released a series of ad ‘Raho Mast campaign’ inspired by real-life stories.
Some are more than a minute long but all of them convey the same message that staying in a low-priced hotel room doesn’t require compromise on quality.
With this video ad campaign, the brand is striking a chord with consumers by providing the best hospitality solution with their standardized and comfortable stay at value for money. The advantage of an extended format is that advertisers get time to explain stories and pull consumers into it.
A digital video advertising strategy should involve mixing and matching different length pieces
15-30 seconds is the optimal length for a video ad, as it allows you to strike a balance between creating a relevant narrative and providing a short attention span.
User-Generated Content Builds Brand awareness
Brands are building creative advertisements that give you real buyers experience and perspective and it blends with the marketing strategy as well.
In an Adweek survey, 76% of respondents find UGC more influential than content created by the brand directly.
To help you encourage your own video marketing efforts, here are 26 Crazy and Creative Video Advertisements Examples on social media
Facebook Ads:
Facebook Ads are engaging and get views if they are well made and too good to be ignored. The best Facebook Ad helps brands connect with new consumers every day.
1. Hello Fresh: Orange Cashew Chicken-Stir Fry
Meal kit delivery service Hello Fresh regularly advertises cooking videos just like the above that walks through an Orange Cashew Chicken Stir-fry recipe. These recipes are impulsively watched by the audience and Facebook users are accustomed to seeing their feed.
https://www.facebook.com/HelloFreshus/videos/vl.1025847054221655/1940931509268024/?type=1
Takeaway:
Native Facebook ad matches the style and tone of the platform and is primarily for Facebook users. Facebook users are watching more than 8 billion native video ads every day and these videos are longer than 30 mins giving users a feel of organic content than a mere ad.
This proves the old adage true, People don’t watch ads, they watch things they are interested in.
Twitter research shows 43% of users would fully watch a video ad if it has interesting content.
2. Knorr: Love at First Taste
https://www.facebook.com/dnts2018/videos/1013912421977658/
The brand is passionate to inspire the new millennial foodies and How? By launching a compelling ad campaign centered around people’s personal experiences about flavor, taste, and food. Knorr’s global research report stated that people are more attracted to people who enjoy a similar flavor profile.
The brand conducted a social experiment by having strangers met for the first time over a mutually enjoyable meal .with a twist – they must feed each other and not themselves. In a way, the brand tried to tap the thirst on social media for videos including food, romance, and real-life circumstances.
The brand also partnered with a food community Tasty to spread the video. Also, people were directed to a mini-site that asks questions about your favorite type of food, before putting you to 12 flavor profiles
Takeaway:
In the first three weeks, the video received 100 million views. Creative marketing is at its finest where they building an emotional connection with their customer by trying to understand their personal flavor and setting up on date not because of the way they looked but because of their favorite flavors in common.
3. Always
The brand took a risk with this documentary-style video. The risk was well handled with the four-minute-long video which is a lifetime on the Facebook Newsfeed.
Takeaway:
Advertisers need more time to explain a new or complex product in the following areas:
- The uniqueness of the product to solve the problem
- How different it is from other products
- Reasons and proof of why the new product would work.
The video gets a tick in all three areas and it does with irreverent humor that keeps the viewers entertained and hooked throughout. The video starts with a joke right away – a useful tactic to attract viewers early on.
5. Samsung
Samsung poked some fun at the dedicated fan following that Apple has gathered over the years by highlighting what they consider an unwarranted mentality of a certain sect of fans.
Takeaway:
The one-minute video is an apt length for Facebook, to hold the viewer’s attention. The video highlights competitor’s pain points, and their advantages in an effective way, all tied up with humor. A hard-core Apple fan who would never consider leaving Apple for Samsung can also appreciate the boldness of the video ad is making.
Instagram Ads:
Seeing the best Instagram video ads, it will inspire you to create or boost your own campaign.
6. Underarmour
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpFQ7OrAO4A/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
]Two athletes hanging from hot-air balloons, doing tricks with a soccer ball is creative and crazy. The brand partnered with GoPro for this ad is a win-win situation for both. It is filmed with a GoPro and you can feel the thrill and excitement.
Takeaway:
The ad is a great and adventurous concept that grabs your attention.
7. Feetup
https://www.instagram.com/p/BojfmbODE3s/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
This video is simple and shows their product in action. There is nothing fancy about the advertisement but innovatively showing their product by targeting a passionate yoga learning audience.
Takeaway:
The ad shows what the consumer is interested to see about the product and might be facing a similar challenge. For instance, the video shows the visual demonstration by the FeetUp trainer. Many yogis can recognize the headstands and identify how the product will be helpful to improve the practice.
8. Get Freshly
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrtOLs-DApR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The caption of the video ad is so apt and everyone can relate “Too busy to eat healthy?” The ad is effective and quickly shows videos on how easy it is to eat smart with Freshly.
Takeaway:
The ad gives a glimpse of all the meal options which are helpful and easy for consumers and ends up with a Call to Action(CTA) of an attractive promo code.
9. Wolf and Shepherd
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmKRFonjqO3/?utm_source=ig_embed
The brand owner had put their dress shoes to a test by wearing the pair of shoes and running with the bulls. This sounds crazy but creative marketing is at its best.
Takeaway:
The brand uses its product to an extreme level to give a reality check about their product to the audience with a dramatic demonstration. This surely won hearts and helped the brand to be above the pack.
10. Eczema Honey
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl-_jvED8E1/?utm_source=ig_embed
The bright colors that pop up in the background are eye-catchy and stand out. It has followed a 2step advertising strategy: – on one hand, the color in the background will grab attention and using 5-starred customer reviews builds credibility.
YouTube Ads:
YouTube ads are best for branding and engagement. It is one of the best options for cost-effective campaigns.
With 2 million users, the platform has immense capacity to help brands find new audiences and establish a following. Soon, Google is soon going to launch Youtube Shorts an answer to Tik Tok. Tough competition lying ahead.
11. Grammarly: Words to Travel the World
Grammarly has built its social strategy around YouTube video ads. They are a chrome extension that scans your writing and rectifies your grammatical error and suggests how to make it better.
Their majority of traffic comes from video ads and is a user of Trueview ads.
Takeaway:
Google claims brands that run TrueView ads see a 500% engagement boost compared to their other YouTube content. True View ads a brand is paying for are from a more interested audience who is likely to get converted.
However, recently Google announced to stop serving unskippable 30 seconds ad to users and instead push 6-second bumpers and 20-second ad units.
12.GoPro: Fireman Saves Kitten
This isn’t a typical GoPro’s user-generated ad but shows its brand as adventurous and extreme. They repurpose many of their user-generated videos and put up on their channel that shows stuff like surfing or jumping out of planes. However, this video is different and deserves a round of applause where a firefighter is saving a kitten from a fire. This ad is beyond the athlete persona and helps to reach a wider audience keeping the heroism theme intact.
Takeaway:
Don’t hesitate to push the boundaries of your brand’s image. Experiment with different ad formats and topics to reach a wider audience and build your brand’s personality.
13. Code.org.: What Most Schools Don’t Teach
The faces in the marketing video are known and famous. The piece opens with a quote from Steve Jobs followed by an introduction by Bill Gates
Code.org is a non-profit organization that promotes computer science in schools across the country. It is a great example of influencer marketing and faces made the piece popular. The faces are the owners of renowned software companies and are sharing stories of their humble beginnings in the field.
Takeaway:
Sometimes, the field you are working in can be intimidating to the people from outside. world’s However, to grow your audience, you need to level it.
14. American’s Greetings: World’s Toughest Job
An excellent example of emotion-driven marketing created by Mullen and Cardstore by American Greetings. The content is free of sales and product placements. A creative advertisement using the faux interview to throw some light on the day-to-day mom’s routine everywhere, it is difficult for the viewers to walk away from the video without appreciation. At the close of the video, small witty talk to get your mom a Mother’s day card.
Takeaway:
Remember to show the plot with unexpected twists and turns to keep your audience engaged throughout the content.
15. Alibaba: To the Greatness of Small
The multinational e-commerce platform is based in China. The global footprint of the brand is similar to Amazon’s. it made a heartfelt and emotional statement of Loyalty to Team Kenya during the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
The message at the end of the video is the creative marketing finest of all. It shows greatness comes from small places and the comparison is drawn here is just like a young athlete having Olympic goals, all amazing brands start with an ambitious founder.
Takeaway:
Sometimes the inspiring and powerful messages are more relatable to the smallest audiences. Be around and vigilant about your actions and you will impress everyone else.
Linkedin Ads
Video advertising is one of the most famous ad formats on LinkedIn. According to LinkedIn, the most successful video ad campaigns are less than 15 seconds.
16. Salesforce
This corporate ad is a 30-second clip that gives a brief introduction about their products and services. The interaction between the animated characters and the human being is in sync and harmonious. Salesforce has done a great job with this advertising piece.
17. WeWork
One of the best video advertising ads on LinkedIn. This corporate ad is powerful in its visual content and is below the recommended time span of 15 seconds. A simple, appealing, and short ad. It is easy to process and engaging.
18. Slack
A great example of creative marketing. The ad is impressive because of its creative way to offer a job position. It shows a couple of interviews with its existing employees and the way they bring the most out of their job. The company expresses its values in a great manner and shows the electrifying work atmosphere and happy employees which gives you an instant desire to work at Slack.
Though the advertisement is fun but a bit longer.
19. Adecco:
Two words to describe the corporate ad- hilarious and funny. In this creative advertisement, the recruiting company Adecco have compiled the best and worst CV’s received by their client and is worth the minute to watch it. In fact, it can leave you craving for the video to be longer.
The brand should have had a better CTA but its creativity is at its peak generating brand awareness and engagement.
20. Amazon Web Services
Another great simple, straight, and short video by Amazon Web Services. The best part of the video ad shows the audience’s real-life application of the technology ‘AWS’ for EDM artists. It is easy to comprehend, practical, and less technical which makes it easy to process. The CTA is also clear.
TikTok Ad Campaigns
According to HubSpot’s social media team, the video-based social app TikTok is “leaking” with brand opportunities. Recently it launched an advertising process for brands.
21. Chipotle:
Chipotle, a popular Mexican restaurant chain has over 55,000 TikTok fans. They publish an array of posts using music, memes, and other references to highlight their menu.
The above video marks the one-year celebration of TikTok using hashtag #oneyearofTikTok showing tortilla chips set around a bowl of guac with the Adele song, “Someone Like You”. As the sound bite features Adele’s audience singing back to her, it feels as if the chips are actually singing to the guac – a perfect blend of creativity and video marketing.
22. San Diego Zoo:
San Diego Zoo’s TikTok account is a treat to all animal lovers. The zoo has over 50,000 fans who are enjoying the zoo’s simple strategy to post videos of animals with fun music.
Like this one -How would one not enjoy and follow them after seeing the video of lounging meerkat?
If this is not enough to fall in love with these cute animals, check this duet created by the zoo with other friendly animal accounts, like the Monterey Aquarium.
This is a perfect example of a cross-promotion of two similar brands using TikTok features. Because of the zoo’s tagging strategy, this video ad would be seen by zoo and aquarium followers.
23. NBC’s Stay Tuned
After the success of Stay tuned originally for Snapchat News Show, produced by NBC to target Gen Z, the network started making content for TikTok. The account has nearly one million followers and offers a mix of behind-the-scenes videos, quick news bites on pop culture, and weird events.
In the following example, the reporter surveys on top fast-food chains.
In the next example, the host explains complicated AI news in a short amount of time and in a funny way.
Stay Tuned has had huge success on Snapchat and is not repurposing the content or putting the same content for Tik Tok. It creates specific content for each platform which proves that it can give you big wins for brand awareness and engagement. This strategy can help publishers, bloggers, academics or others who post about news, interesting topics, or studies on different platforms.
Snapchat Ads
Don’t believe the press- Snapchat has a big fan following and is blowing up. They have highly engaged and over 210 million Daily users. Snapchat is rising quickly in creative marketing as the Snaps are fun, engaging, and creative.
24. Shein
A global fashion brand operating in 224 countries delivers stylish and in vogue apparel to women and men. They partnered for clothing advertisements with Snapchat to create an immersive full-screen ad experience to target Gen Z and millennials.
Takeaway:
They created a short-form video to showcase their products front and center to attract Snapchatters to swipe up. The brand also used Snapchat ads to highlight their product lines to engage the audiences with fashion interest. The clever headline, creative images drove curiosity among Snapchatters to tap Story in Discovery feed.
They also used Snapchat’s optimization tools- Audience Insights and Goal-based bidding. This helped them reach the relevant audience who were likely to convert and achieve a 50% lower cost per purchase compared to other platforms. This video marketing strategy is highly effective and achieves a 20% ROI.
25. FitBod
This mobile app uses machine learning to customize your workout goal and guides you to reach your fitness goals. The aim is to create Snapchat ads to reach a new audience that would not only download the app but spend time on the platform.
Takeaway:
To achieve the goal of acquiring new users at the lowest CPC and CAC, it ran APP-install campaigns. It also used a combination of predefined and lookalike audience targeting to reach Snapchatters who are most likely to engage. Each snap ad followed a creative practice of CTA to prompt Snapchatters to Swipe up and download.
This resulted in a 54% lower CPA than other platforms and a 31% lower CPA than their average CPA goal.
26. BMW
This is an excellent example of creative video advertising where the launch of BMW X2 wanted to change the way people discover cars by turning the world into a showroom. BMW’s AR Trial lens helps Snapchatters to take X2 for a ride from their phones. A unique experience, isn’t it?
Takeaway:
One of the first advertisers to use Snap Ads that deeply connected to a World Lens in order to swipe up by users to unlock the lens.
The lens provides a different feel to experience the car. This creative video marketing campaign was running in 7 countries worldwide. The BMW X2 lens witnessed an average of 54 seconds of playtime.
To create excitement for x2 and maintain the levels, Snapchatters Gold color feature was turned on to drive awareness of the car color. This allowed lenses to change the color of the face to gold. There were 1 in 4 shared or saved x2 lens and 40 million impressions of the face lens.
Where is Video going in 2019?
This infographic by Hubspot with uscreen, a VOD platform will explain:
Summing Up:
These stellar examples of video advertising grab the audience’s attention and keep them engaged. If you want to see the increase in audience engagement and ad-click through, you need to invest in an integrated video advertising campaign.
An excellent video ad campaign is within your reach and can be a driver for increased traffic and sales. It is a great way of storytelling and drives your performance. The visual content is here to stay. Buckle up to fully embrace the effectiveness of video ads. Social media platforms are the perfect place to meet prospects who can see engaging video content.
Do you have any questions or wish to know more about video advertising trends and practices? Leave a comment below as we are happy to serve you.