Snapchat wants more attention to get more brands on board its platform.
Using one of its splashiest ad formats, Snapchat is allowing advertisers to animate their Sponsored Filters so users can use them as overlays on top of photos and videos they share on the platform. Announced on Wednesday, Dunkin' Donuts is one of the firsts to use the campaign.
According to a Dunkin' Donuts' blog post, the company is celebrating the winter in a number of ways. One of which, is using an animated Snapchat filter, which features a moon, star, snowflake doodles, a steaming Dunkin' coffee cup, and the caption "Darkest Day Of The Year."
This is the first time Dunkin' has ever made an animated filter available nationwide.
During its initial testing phase, advertisers is only able to buy Sponsored Animated Filters through Snapchat’s sales representatives, and can only target those people at a country level.
But in 2018, Snapchat is planning to bring more brands on board, and make them buy these ads through its self-serve ad-buying tool and add audience-based targeting.
Snapchat is known to have full-screen and unusual vertical video Snap Ad format. This however, made Snapchat unique, and able to stand out from the rest of the competition.
This particular advantage has attracted many competitors that include Facebook and Instagram, to adopt their own version of Snap Ads, resulting Snapchat's original format not anymore unique.
However, Snapchat's Sponsored Filter and Sponsored Lens formats , which Snapchat categorizes as Creative Tools, are still unique to Snapchat.
In the competition where photos and videos are being shared, the main advantage of a product over another, is the uniqueness it brings.
With Snapchat being blatantly copied by competitors, much of its originality has been diluted by rivals. But here, Snapchat still has Sponsored Filters and Sponsored Lenses, which are still considered a gem in advertisement opportunities.
This is one of the strategies that kept Snapchat different from its competitors. The company has been able to capitalize on one its biggest differentiators using its unique ad format.
Many advertisers that aim to target Millennials and alike, should see the two offerings alluring, as they enable advertisers to create something that is purely different.
But again, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all have filters (not sponsored). So only time will tell if those platforms will again follow Snap’s lead.