Snapchat Announces First ‘Sponsored Snap’ Campaign

Yeah, I’m tipping this isn’t going to go great.

After announcing Sponsored Snaps back in September, which will be the first Snapchat ad type that gets directly inserted into user inboxes, Snap has now announced its initial Sponsored Snap campaign, with a DM video message going out to all U.S. Snap users aged 18+ to promote the new movie “Wicked”.

As you can see in this example, the Wicked Sponsored Snap will feature actor Jonathan Bailey telling people that they should go watch the movie when it opens later this week. The Snap will also feature a CTA guiding users to buy tickets for the film.

And that message will be coming into Snapchatter inboxes very soon, which will likely be disruptive for many users.

Because while Snap says that most Snap users like movies, they won’t all be fans of musicals. And the Snap inbox is one of the most intimate connection surfaces in all of social media, with many teens using this to conduct their most personal chats.

As such, I doubt that suddenly getting ads in this stream is going to be a welcome addition. And while we’re all now pretty attuned to ads in almost every digital element, this one, in particular, feels like it could be viewed as crossing the line for some Snapchatters.

Does that mean that they’ll stop using the app? I mean, probably not, if Sponsored Snaps are fairly intermittent. Though I suspect that if this becomes a more popular ad option, and a heap more brands jump on board, that this will be an annoyance for Snap users, who, again, view their inbox as a more intimate, private connection space.

Ads in messages are rarely welcome, in any app, and I don’t see Snap users being excited to get them in their DMs.

But for Snap, it could be a valuable offering, because many brands are already looking to connect with its 443 million daily active users. DMs are more responsive, and harder to ignore, and that could see a lot of marketers watching the early examples here, to see what the value of Sponsored Snaps may be.

But I don’t think users will be as receptive.

We’ll find out, with the first Sponsored Snap campaign launching this week.