Snapchat is the beloved visual and social platform of Gen X’ers, boasting 100 million active daily users. It’s a lucrative channel for marketers looking to reach their younger audiences- so which brands have been using the app recently to display some innovative campaigns?

Just last week, Burberry staged their Spring/Summer 2016 campaign exclusively on Snapchat- a first for any fashion brand. In this, followers were granted access to the photoshoot shot by Mario Testino, who personally posted footage to the company’s account. Creative Director, Christopher Bailey, revealed the premise behind his decision, stating; “We wanted to play with the traditional format of an advertising campaign to make it much more immediate and accessible.” He went on to add; “Creatively this is incredibly exciting as we are totally focused on capturing the energy and the rawness of the shoot and sharing it the moment it happens.”

As Burberry has demonstrated, it is clear that Snapchat is being leveraged for promotional campaigns to target the younger generation. And this is exactly what the BBC also drew on when it marketed its recent series, South Side Story, a reality show charting the lives of 18-25 year olds determined to succeed in the entertainment industry.  In order to capture the attention of its demographic, the campaign featured exclusive “behind the scenes” previews, show teasers, character profiles, and scenes which introduced viewers to the characters themselves.

Aside from promoting new material, brands have proved that using Snapchat is a great platform to run engagement campaigns. Calvin Klein for instance, used Snapchat this year to partner with celebrities and models, in order to tap into their demographic of Millennials. The company partnered with celebrities such as K-pop star, Taeyang, singer Dev Hynes, and models Edie Campbell and Lucky Blue, who were asked to post selfies and videos from a room called the “Self Exploration Lab”. Over 200 posts were shared to Snapchat during the campaign, which helped Calvin Klein increase their engagement amongst their target audience by 15%.

So how should brands successfully approach Snapchat in their future campaigns? For one, the app can be used as a supporting platform to continue an ad story or conversation. For instance, a brand may choose to release a polished YouTube video ad in conjunction with “behind the scenes” footage posted exclusively on Snapchat, or in a Snapchat story charting the shoot from beginning to end. Secondly, and as Calvin Klein demonstrated, working with influencers to produce an engagement-focused Snapchat campaign can produce that extra amount of traction. Finally, one of the most lucrative ways is to display exclusive content not found on the brand’s other social channels. As Burberry showed, utilising Snapchat as the first port of call for their new campaign, is the most effective way to draw audiences to the platform. Brands may also wish to offer exclusive Snapchat-only offers, event news, and deals, if they want to secure increased following and repeat engagement.

Are you an avid Snapchat user? Do you think the app offers a unique creative outlet for brands and their visual campaigns? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital, and share your comments on our Facebook page.