Dive Brief:

• Snap Inc. unveiled a partnership with the video shout-out app Cameo as part of its presentation at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s NewFronts Tuesday.
• The Snap x Cameo Advertiser Program was developed with Cameo for Business and gives Snapchat advertisers access to the platform’s talent pool of over 45,000 personalities, who will create custom short-form video ads to run on the social media app. The service is expected to become widely available to Snap partners in the coming months.
• Mattress Firm, Molson Coors and Kraft are among the marketers that have been beta testing the program this spring. With the deal — the first of its kind for Cameo — Snap is able to expand its footprint in a creator economy that plays a growing role in commanding consumer attention.

Dive Insight:

Snap had a lot of announcements on deck at the NewFronts, but the Cameo tie-up was the most substantial on the brand-side. Cameo has seen its star rise in recent years thanks to a content model where people pay celebrities and influencers from a range of backgrounds and levels of fame to read personalized video messages. After the pandemic shut down many productions and live venues, more creators flocked to the shout-out platform, with some earning massive paydays.

Pitching the new program to advertisers and media buyers, Snap and Cameo positioned the partnership as a way to lessen friction when working with talent. Striking ambassador deals for ad campaigns can be a costly and time-intensive process. The Snap x Cameo Advertiser Program aims to provide an easier way for marketers to connect with tens of thousands of creators and deploy them for short-form video campaigns on Snapchat. Snapchat now reaches over 600 million monthly active users, as well as 332 million daily active users.

Some of the brands beta testing the Cameo program have seen positive results. Mattress Firm leveraged the offering for its new “Junk Sleep” campaign, working with Cameo creators including Erin Andrews, Mario Cantone and Kerri Walsh Jennings. The effort drove an 8-point lift in category awareness, according to Snap. A portion of the push run through Snap Ads also saw a video view rate three times higher than the retail category average.

The news shows Snap trying to strengthen its foothold in the creator economy, an increasingly competitive front for social media apps that rely on creators to keep their communities engaged. Last year, the company launched a Creator Marketplace that helps brands better connect with talent on the app. For Cameo, the agreement is another indication that the service is placing more of its growth bets on advertising.

Snap at the NewFronts additionally showcased a Snap Promote solution that helps partners set up paid promotions to complement organic content running on the For You and Stories pages. The capability is integrated with Snap’s Ads Manager. The NFL beta-tested Snap Promote and saw seven times more users subscribe to its profile.

Snap on Tuesday revealed it had extended its content pacts with the NFL, NBA and WBNA. The NFL and NBA will work with Snapchat for the first time this year on Spotlight Challenges. Spotlight is a short-form video portal that shares many similarities with TikTok.

The growing emphasis on creators and short-form video comes as Snap’s larger ad business encounters headwinds. Like other social media apps, the firm has been roiled by privacy changes implemented by Apple that have made it harder to track and measure mobile campaigns. On the macroeconomic level, demand has been impacted by the war in Ukraine, a disordered supply chain and rising inflation. Snap saw revenue rise 38% year-over-year to hit $1.06 billion in the first quarter, missing Wall Street’s targets.