The closest a brand can get to the group chat
Bonjour Millionaire,
If there’s 1 thing you should know about me, it’s that I can’t tolerate an unread notification.
When I go on Snapchat and see a message, I open it immediately. That’s POST-HASTE, in Bridgerton.
Lately, some of my most memorable messages have been Sponsored Snaps from brands.
I remember them, because I get maybe 2 Sponsored Snaps per day, compared to, I wish I were exaggerating, 100 ads on Instagram.
Snapchat is alive and well and the closest a brand can get to being in the group chat. I’m 31 and I have purchased from a Snap ad this month. ASK ME ANYTHING.
If you’re spending all your budget on Meta/Google/TikTok and sleeping on Snap, consider this a wake-up call just in time for BFCM.
I have data you wouldn’t believe…
And free Snap ad credits.
🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰🫰
ALL THE REAL ADVERTISERS ARE ON SNAP
Wondering who uses Snapchat? I’ll tell you.
THIS GIRL.
^ I 100% typo’d on purpose in the above for attention. Pathetic.
That’s from 2017 and while my lifestyle has changed (you can see the baby bottle counter clock widget in my screenshot), I still use Snap every day to talk to my friends. My coworkers post interesting things and I like to see them. I also talk to Daniel’s family who is abroad via Snap. It’s better than WhatsApp.
75% of 13-34-year-olds in over 25 countries use Snap!!!!!1 And yet, you don’t advertise there?
Over 930M monthly active users2 love Snapchat, because it’s a place to show up as their truest selves. Bad angles, fake-tipsy typos, blurriness, and all. Not that I’d know anything about that…
They use the platform to make deeper connections with people they actually know and like.
Snapchat is authentic, not performative.
It’s lo-fi, not overly produced.
It’s real-time check-ins, not hindsight photo dumps.
It’s about community, not clout chasing and hate-following.
If your brand’s NOT advertising on Snapchat, you’re missing out.
I don’t mean that in a FOMO kind of way. What I mean is….
Meta will always take your share of wallet. But you should always try to diversify away as much as possible so long as performance holds. And in my experience, performance improves when we show up in new markets and on new channels. Snap is that place for me.
On Snapchat, brands can reach consumers they’re NOT going to find on other platforms:
👻: Over 50% of Snapchatters (16-64 years old) aren’t on YouTube daily
👻: 40% aren’t on TikTok daily
👻: 37% aren’t on Facebook daily3
Unduplicated audience for BFCM? NET-NEW EYEBALLS AT CPMs THAT ARE FORGIVING!
Shopping’s also a HUGE part of Snapchat culture.
92% of daily Snapchatters use the platform to share their shopping journeys with friends. More than HALF send messages and photos via Snap WHILE shopping. 4
Plus, Gen Z and Millennials pay 2x more active attention to full-screen video ads on Snapchat than on other platforms. 5
I get it. When you’re on a platform that’s not inundated by ads, you’re more open to the ads you do see, especially if they match the platform in a true, native placement.
Let’s talk numbers??
SNAP IS UNDERRATED & OVERDELIVERS.
Yes, Snapchat is smaller than you know who. The other platforms that have copied Snapchat’s features since day 1.
AND YET! I see Snap outperform Meta often.
Think of your media mix like an investment portfolio. For the best long-term performance in an inherently volatile market, you need to be diversified.
That means not putting all your eggs in one basket. Some baskets are big, but everyone else is already invested in them. That means less room for explosive growth.
But with a strategic channel mix, you get options that are less competitive, more resilient, and still growing.
Those factors mean there’s more potential to unlock.
If your brand’s looking for a safe, efficient way to diversify your media mix as BCFM approaches and CPMs rise, Snapchat’s a good investment. In my 1st-hand experience.
But don’t take my word for it. Look at the research that confirms I’m right.
In May, a Triple Whale study analyzed $3B in ad spend across platforms by 20,000 ecommerce advertisers. The research revealed…
Snapchat delivered a 7.5% ROAS improvement while most other platforms declined.
A ROAS improvement while other platforms raced to the bottom! This was from May – you know how hard this year has been. Snap performance is on the UP. 🆙
There’s more, though…
Snapchat also had the lowest CPA across all platforms.
A low CPA is the entire game.
And during BFCM when we’re competing in such a crowded market, ignoring the channel with the lowest CPA is not smart. I’m sorry if that sounds mean but it’s honestly not smart.
1 of my brands last year couldn’t spend up in Meta the way we planned to. We hit an efficiency wall and instead of accepting our fate and our scale, we diverted more spend into Snap. It held up to that spend and overdelivered. We then planned more spend for December in Snap because of the strong BFCM results. IT HELD UP TO THAT SPEND.
We never scaled it back down.
OH SNAP…
There are so many best practices, insights, and competitors on other platforms that it feels like there’s a high barrier to entry.
Snap is a place for experimentation without overthinking.
And, Snapchat Ads is straightforward to set up, so please don’t waste any mental bandwidth stressing about it. It’s a cake-walk and I’ve found Snap reps to be incredibly helpful and hands-on.
I’ve also found the creative that works on Snap to be very forgiving.
Just like it does for everyday users, Snapchat gives brands a place to keep it real, make it weird, and highlight lo-fi. I do that on Snap, for sure. But I also will put the most polished of hype-reels and studio-content in play that also performs. Like with all channels, creative diversity is better than assuming your way into any style.
Brands have space to play with Public Profiles, AR Lenses, and Creator Ads.
The platform’s newest opportunity, Sponsored Snaps, gets your brand closer than ever to your target audience. Right in their Chat tab, where they talk to all their friends! This is where I talk to my coworkers about what they had for lunch.
Here’s how it works:
- Your brand sends an irresistible message directly to your audience. In a DM.
- Recipients have to clear the DM otherwise it shows as unopened. Nobody wants that. They’ll watch your ad. And, they’ll like it because the targeting is amazing. I just got a Nanit ad. I am a mom! Perfect!
Which brings me to my point. If Nanit knows to advertise on Snap, and Nanit’s customers are literal MOMS, THEN THERE IS NO EXCUSE TO WRITE SNAP OFF AS HAVING AN AUDIENCE THAT IS TOO YOUNG.
Exhibit A:
SNAP AD CREDITS!!!!
The best time for your brand to advertise on Snapchat was yesterday.
The 2nd-best time is today, right now, before BFCM gets any closer.
The same, limited strategy isn’t going to cut it this holiday season.
Tried and true is tried and THROUGH.
With Snapchat, you can diversify your media mix and meet Gen Z and Millennials in their native shopping habitat. (Habisnap? We’ll workshop that 1.)
Luckily for us, Snap is ready to splash out thousands in ad credits for qualified brands.
That’s free $$ to make more $$$.
Reach out to Snapchat Ads by 11/30/2025 to get set up for BFCM.
And, reminder, if Nanit will show up on this channel then you can, too.
Yours,
Ari
P.S. If you’re reading this, you’re special. You’re curious. You’re my favorite. And, I want you to know I’m doing an event with Snapchat with a live Q&A about how to make all of this ^^^ real for your brand. We haven’t told anyone yet. But I begged the team to get this page up and running so you (you, specifically) could save your (virtual) spot.
1Snap Q2 2024 Investor Letter, August 1, 2024. Yes I read investor letters, sometimes!
2Snap Q2 2025 Investor Letter, August 5, 2025. See??
3GWI Q1 & Q2 2024. Sample Size: 8,569 Snapchatters aged 18-64 who use the platform daily. Market: USA
4 Source: 2023 Havas Next Gen Social Commerce study, commissioned by Snap Inc. 1. “When shopping or browsing online, how do you involve your friends in your online purchase or browsing?” Personally, I text a minimum of 3 people. Glad I’m not alone.
5 Source: Attention research conducted by Amplified Intelligence, commissioned by Snap Inc, Apr-Jun 2022, Sample size – 2962
