The Hershey Company?s Reese?s brand took over MTV?s Discover channel on Snapchat yesterday as part of its sponsorship of the Woodies awards, leveraging relevant new ads as well as a dedicated hashtag for the event.

The candy marketer placed its products at the forefront of millennials? minds by tapping photo-sharing application Snapchat, one of the most popular social networks for young consumers these days. Hershey?s, which has sponsored MTV?s Woodies awards for several years, rolled out a day-long takeover on the television channel?s Discover platform that showcased music-themed ads to complement its participatory calls-to-action on social media.

?Brand storytelling against premium video content, in this case MTV?s Snapchat content, is a tried and true method for brands to get in front of audiences at scale,? said Christian Brucculeri, CEO and director at Snaps. ?If Snapchat is the new TV, then it makes sense for advertisers to put their creative against that channel.

?At Snaps, we remind advertisers that mobile is also a huge opportunity for social experiences ? consumers sharing brand content to friends,? he said. ?We've driven over 100 million peer-to-peer shares for brands over the past year, and believe we're just getting started.

?Word-of-mouth marketing is the best form of advertising, and we've built great solutions for advertisers to achieve word-of-mouth in mobile.?

Unwrapping consumer engagement
Consumers visiting MTV?s Discover channel on Snapchat yesterday were privy to new content relating to the Woodies awards, which recognize up-and-coming musical artists and included performances at the annual South by Southwest festival.

One clip saw Woodies nominees demonstrating their best evil laugh. Meanwhile, a featured article snippet discussed several artists? ? including Woodies show host A$AP Rocky ? thoughts on the benefits of co-signs from labels or radio stations in the music industry.

Reese?s ads appeared interspersed throughout this content. Each of the candy company?s advertisements showed several Reese?s cups being placed upon a musical instrument, such as a guitar or drum kit, with phrases including ?Perfect for drum solos? Perfect for eating!? flashing across the screen.

The ads? musical theme correlated well with MTV?s Woodies material, and provided a relevant way for Reese?s to promote its candy cups to a younger audience. The ads all followed a similar format, using a strategy that brings campaign cohesiveness even higher.

Reese?s also jumpstarted the excitement surrounding the Woodies awards by maintaining a strong presence on other social media networks. The brand dispersed a call-to-action asking Twitter users to reveal their favorite new artists whom they would like to co-sign by posting via the #WoodiesCosign hashtag.

Music fans were quick to discuss their new artist obsessions on Twitter.

MTV and Reese?s then featured these mentioned artists and their top songs in a curated Spotify playlist available on its mobile-optimized site, giving consumers a prime opportunity to discover up-and-coming bands and singers.

Reese's has previously introduced innovative social media pushes that coincide with significant cultural events.  

Last spring, the brand drove sales and awareness of its candy products by teaming up with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to sponsor an annual College All-Star Game, and leveraging a bracket-themed promotion on social media to offer coupons to mobile users (see story).

Snapchat takeover frenzy
Reese?s move to take over the MTV Discover platform for a day was a smart tactic for the marketer, especially as it angles to ramp up brand awareness among younger individuals active on mobile and social media.

A slew of other major brands have engaged in similar strategies when deciding how to promote their products to millennial audiences.

Unilever was quick to partner with publishing brand Refinery29 for its Snapchat Discover channel launch last fall, tapping into the publisher?s audience to target millennials for the TreSemmé, Dove and Axe brands (see story).

Additionally, Victoria?s Secret ran ads for its Pink Date bra within Cosmopolitan magazine's content on the Snapchat Discover platform last year, reflecting its potential to help brands narrow in on a targeted group of consumers (see story).

?Snapchat Discover is a great channel for accessing millennials in the U.S.,? Mr. Brucculeri said. ?It's also likely expensive for what is effectively a TV-style media buy on mobile, which is a different medium than television.

?We're big believers in creating shareable experiences for advertisers.?