Written by Taylor Newberry, Account Executive on Constellation Brands Account Team.
This year proved to be an exciting year for Snapchat. The breakout social media platform became sponsored by Cannes Lions Innovation, the premier international advertising festival. At the festival Snapchat introduced Memories, a way to archive, save and share old snapchats; and reached a new demographic, older millennials aged 25-34. All of this momentum is just the beginning because Snapchat recently unveiled an advertising API in June.
What is advertising API?
API—which stands for “application programming interface”—simply put, is the exposed part of a website or application that allows developers to build tools for the site. Snapchat released its greatly anticipated advertising API to produce better measurement, targeting, and automation.
What does this mean for Snapchat?
Companies looking to advertise on the platform now have better insights into target audiences to optimize their campaigns. This advancement in conjunction with the growing number of daily users makes Snapchat a promising platform for advertisers, even outpacing platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. According to research commissioned by MediaScience, Snapchat captured twice the visual attention as Facebook ads, 1.5 times the attention of Instagram ads and 1.3 the times the attention of YouTube ads. The picture-capturing platform also has the capability to steal valuable advertising from television, especially companies looking to advertise to millennials. James Douglas, director of IPG Mediabrands’ social marketing unit Society comments:
“Younger audiences are becoming very difficult to reach on linear TV buys. If you’re a niche advertiser trying to do broad-based reach for younger audiences, Snapchat can provide a really unique capability.”
Snapchat’s advertising API also garners the attention of alcohol brands. Recent developments in measurement and targeting on Snapchat have allowed alcohol brands to more confidently market their products to users who are 21 and older, while keeping that same content away from users who are not of legal drinking age. Although there are some risks accompanying advertising on the platform, Snapchat is still ideal for marketing because of its uniquely personalized advertising capabilities, like its Snapchat lens.
Taylor Newberry is a senior public relations major with minors in business administration and comparative literature. She currently serves as an account executive on the Constellation Brands account. After graduating this upcoming spring, Taylor wishes to pursue a career in the food and beverage industry in her native sunny San Diego, California.