Snapchat touts how it helps brands like Subway engage Gen Z sports fans

Brief:

Snapchat is offering a broad range of content and creative tools with Super Bowl themes, including special augmented reality (AR) Lenses, Filters and Stickers for users to decorate their messages in the app, per information that parent company Snap shared with Mobile Marketer. The app also will have NFL content in a commemorative Marker Lens and Cameos, the feature released last month to create deepfake-style videos.
In touting its reach among sports fans, Snap said that almost 75% of Snapchat users who plan to watch March Madness also look at the image-messaging app while viewing live sports, per survey results posted to a blog. The 82nd NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament begins on March 17 and ends on April 6.
Sandwich chain Subway last year ran a campaign on Snapchat during the tournament and saw a six-point lift in ad awareness and an eight-point gain in brand affinity — three times the average for the restaurant industry. Among Generation Z and millennials, Subway saw a 13-point gain in brand favorability and 17-point lift in brand affinity, per data from researcher Kantar that Snap cited in a case study.

Insight:

Snapchat's broad range of NFL-related content during Super Bowl week aims to engage users who are getting ready to watch the game while messaging with friends. That content includes three Cameos, a new feature that lets Snapchat users transpose a selfie into a video resembling a deepfake. Fans can put their selfies into an end zone celebration by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes or San Francisco 49ers rival Jimmy Garoppolo, or applauding a big game moment while sitting on a couch during the game. The Marker Lens will show 100 years of NFL moments, in observation of this season's centennial celebration, including notable Super Bowl plays rendered in AR. Snap also has been running NFL-related programming in Discover, the app's section for content from media companies and influencers, throughout the week.

While Snap is rolling out content for the Super Bowl, the company also is looking ahead to the upcoming college basketball tournament. The social media company is highlighting how Snapchat helps brands like Subway to connect with key demographic groups that are mostly unreachable through linear TV. Subway's campaign last year blanketed several ad formats in Snapchat, including its Snap Ads, augmented reality (AR) Audience Lenses and Filters and a brand takeover of a channel in Discover.

Among Snapchat users who plan to watch March Madness, more than 65% use the app to chat with friends while they watch live sports, according to Snap's survey results. The study also found that during games more than 60% of Snapchat users update a Story, the app feature for sharing 24-hour posts with multiple people. In addition, 60% of Snapchatters, as its users are known, look at other Stories while watching live games. Almost three quarters (72%) of Gen Zers who use Snapchat weren't reached by TV, per data from researcher Nielsen cited by Snap. The data also show that Snapchat on average is seven times more efficient than TV at reaching an advertiser’s intended audience, and that the app added 23% to incremental reach.

Snap's survey results add to other data the company has provided about its ability to reach young adults and teens. Ninety percent of people ages 13 to 24 in the U.S. are active on Snapchat, which also reaches 75% of people ages 13 to 34, the company has said. Other research has cast doubt on the company's growth outlook. Social media company Pinterest last year overtook Snapchat to become the third-most-popular social network in the U.S. behind Facebook and Instagram, eMarketer said this month in a report. However, Snap has shown signs of a recent turnaround, bolstered by an expansion of advertising and AR products, along with and a push into newer areas like mobile gaming.