A Tale of Two Snapchat Successes

In the realm of digital marketing, Snapchat is becoming an increasingly coveted territory for brands to tackle. And the potential for creativity here is massive. We’ve taken a look at how one company, popular online retailer MeUndies (who just had a recent profile piece on Digiday by Yuyu Chen), has built a successful, imaginative strategy on the platform. Should other brands follow suit?

Meet MeUndies

Touting its wares as “the world’s most comfortable underwear,” retailer MeUndies has established a unique Snapchat presence, and is reaping major results from it. Rather than being dependent on influencers, MeUndies creates original content in the form of Snapchat-exclusive product launches and TV-like sketches, and then ties it to call-to-actions like vanity URLs.

Image courtesy of Snapchat

“For us, user engagement on Snapchat is higher than Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,” said Dan King, MeUndies head of marketing, in the Digiday piece. “I think how people consume Snapchat now is like how they used to watch TV.”

MeUndies has hired writers, comedians and actors to create customized Snapchat content that includes unboxing videos, behind-the-scenes situations and sketches similar to traditional TV ads. Sense of humor is key here, and the brand also emphasizes effortlessness and an “in the moment” feel instead of high production. As a result, MeUndies recently saw a conversion rate (the total Snapchatters going on to the company website) five times higher than average.

A Universal Strategy?

MeUndies has seen great returns here, but does this kind of marketing strategy work for everyone? Relying solely on coming up with original content can take up a lot of resources (money spent hiring, time spent brainstorming and creating), and the process also requires a heightened knowledge of and familiarity with your brand personality is, without any prior guarantee that the content itself will be successful.

For other tactics, take a look at Adidas, which gathers live, in-the-moment content from events and happenings, and also puts creative control in the hands of influencers. In the case of its Adidas Football segment, these influencers include European football players and teams, while its lifestyle brand, Adidas Originals, features content from friends, family and ambassadors. Instead of having an assembly line of in-house content production, Adidas is letting its fans and supporters (even Pharell) take the wheel. This strategy is leading to huge results too, including a whopping 3.4 million views in over 24 hours.

The Takeaway

Ultimately, there’s no golden rule for how to have a successful Snapchat strategy. And that’s part of the beauty of the platform itself. Brands no longer have to depend exclusively on glossy magazine spreads or elaborate Facebook ad campaigns. Now there’s a new tool to consider, which can let brands do everything from giving consumers an insider peek into an exclusive celebrity event, to giving shoppers something to laugh about on a lunch break.