Snapchat sure has come a long way since
last year’s Super Bowl, when the four-year-old company was just fresh off the announcement of Snapchat Discover, and brands like Mountain Dew, GrubHub and McDonald’s took advantage of the platform. Since that time, the company and its ad offerings have seen explosive growth.
In 2015 alone, Snapchat grew its 18- to 24-year-old base by 56 percent, while the number of its 25- to 34-year-old users increased 103 percent and its over-35 user base grew 84 percent, according to comScore data published in the Los Angeles Times.
While Facebook and Twitter might still get most of the attention for the volume of social ads run around the Super Bowl, marketers took to Snapchat in their own unique ways for this year’s game, with big-name advertisers making the most of every feature that Snapchat has to sell.
Here’s a recap of what we saw across the platform:
Gatorade
Without a doubt, Gatorade won Snapchat (and if you ask me, the entire Super Bowl). Taking advantage of the Sponsored Lenses product from Snapchat, Gatorade created a way for fans to virtually give themselves and their friends Gatorade baths.
This lit up the internet over the weekend, and the filters were viewed more than 100 million times, the brand tweeted out. If you were wondering: 100 million views at 10 gallons per bucket roughly equates to about one billion gallons of digital Gatorade spilled in a day.
#SB50 may be over but the #GatoradeDunk @Snapchat lens lives on with 100 million+ views! Get dunked today. pic.twitter.com/1b7FHwE7No — Gatorade (@Gatorade) February 8, 2016
Taco Bell
One of the most prolific brands on Snapchat, Taco Bell did not disappoint this year.
Promoting its biggest Snapchat story ever, perhaps, it brought together seven influencers like Shonduras, Jacob Whitesides and The Mowglis, who took over the Taco Bell account across the country throughout the day on Saturday.
This all led up to the launch of Taco Bell’s new “Quesalupa,” which was revealed to fans on Snapchat.
GE
Another prolific Snapchat brand, GE is a shining example of using Snapchat’s paid media options to support building a long-term audience on a brand’s Snapchat channel.
Using the ESPN Discover channel to share branded vignettes featuring TV and sports personalities Trey Wingo and Jerome Bettis, the video ads showed the two stars enjoying a BBQ made possible by data.
At the end of each video, GE included its Snapcode to encourage people to add the brand’s account to see a longer story featuring Wingo and Bettis, as well as other GE content throughout Super Bowl weekend.
ESPN’s Trey Wingo raves about his BBQ meal cooked with GE gear.
Amazon
Amazon paid for video ads inside of the Snapchat Live Story that tied in with its commercial spot. I personally liked the way it cut its Snapchat ads throughout the night, as it did with key TV commercial placements before halftime.
Amazon also added a first half call-to-action instructing users to come back and see what happened in the second half, encouraging people to stay tuned to Snapchat.
On the brand’s Snapchat account, they worked with social influencer David Lopez, who attended the Super Bowl and created content throughout the weekend.
Pepsi
Pepsi was one of the marquee sponsors of the Live Story. Its ads featured performances from Janelle Monae in a repurposing of its Super Bowl spot, with a CTA for users to share with the hashtag #PepsiHalftime.
Marriott
Marriott was another brand that purchased ads inside of the Live Story. Its ads, featuring sports personality Rich Eisen, also ran in the Live Story from around the world, which for a travel brand like Marriott seems like a smart choice.
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox started running Sponsored Geofilters last month ahead of the premiere of “Deadpool” in theaters and rolled out two custom Super Bowl-themed filters throughout the weekend.
Playing up two lines, “Superb Owl” and “Super Pole,” the tongue-in-cheek filters were a great choice, not only because of their timing, but because of their relevance.
These types of jokes probably were used by people who might not normally have utilized a branded geofilter before, or folks who maybe aren’t the biggest football fans.
Coca-Cola
Coke has been working on its Snapchat account since it launched around the start of the school year, and the account shared artwork that played off the mystery in its commercials about the new Mini-Coke. It followed up this week with takeovers by influencers.
EA Sports
EA Sports tapped easily the hottest superstar on Snapchat, DJ Khaled, for an epic Live Story from the Madden Bowl featuring custom geofilters and a raging party.
Expect to see more and more Snapchat influencers being invited to events or asked to create content that is curated into these feeds.
DJ Khaled (right) performs at the Madden Bowl.
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