Social media has become part of our norm. We engage with the digital world from the minute we wake up until the day’s end. Nothing seems to capture our attention more than a “like” or a “share,” except for one thing— a Snapchat video. This platform has became all the rage thanks to its 24-hour only timeline, fun filters, and amusing face-recognition applications. The app has acquired 150 million people utilizing 10 billion videos per day. Of course, brand’s and organizations have taken note of how many Snapchat users there are and how they’d be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity to reach hundreds of thousands of new and existing consumers by advertising on its platform.
It’s officially March, which means sports fans are about to indulge in a particular kind of madness this month. Anyone that loves college basketball will have their eyes glued to any and all digital screens for March Madness, which means that most people will be on Snapchat. Thanks to this video platform, fans can get an inside look at games, scores, go behind-the-scenes with players, coaches, and even see how other fans are partaking in the celebration and chaos that ensues all month long. We’re anxious to see what kind of brands will be featured in association with March Madness, and what filters and stories will be shared over the next few weeks. One fan suggested that Oreo should take their infamous 2013 “Dunk in the Dark” tweet and apply it to a filter where fans can “dunk” with their favorite NCAA players. Pretty clever, right?
This made us think of one of our all-time favorite Snapchat campaigns—Gatorade’s cooler dump for Super Bowl 2016. The most popular sports drink in the world took the tradition of winning to a whole new level last year. Gatorade designed an ad and filter to re-create the infamous dumping of the Gatorade-filled cooler onto the coaches head of the winning team. In order to make this come to life, Gatorade partnered with Snapchat to purchase a sponsored lens with the steep price-tag of $450,000, on a typical day, but on “peak days” like the Super Bowl, the asking price was $750,000. The ad featured professional tennis player Serena Williams and was viewed 100 million times in less than 24 hours. The company also turned the ad into a filter so that all fans could experience the winning dump and share it with their followers.
Okay, so our most memorable Snapchat ad to date isn’t basketball related, but it is akin to winning and something similar could easily be recreated for March Madness. What kind of ads and filters do you think we can expect to see from brands over the next few weeks? Tweet us your thoughts, ideas, and highest hopes here.