The secret of Snapchat's advertising strategy

Snapchat has come up with a new game feature selfie filter games – Santa’s Helper. This game is playful similar as other games created in the past, from sponsored Kraft Mac & Cheese game to non-sponsored Puzzle Face, only difference is that the Santa’s Helper is a native game. 

The Snapchat game places your face into an elf body, you then tilt your mobile phone back and forth to ski down a slope. You get points by collecting presents and avoid obstacles. Snapchat uses people competitive nature to lure your friends to play when you share the scores with them.

Not only Snapchat, Facebook has also tried to create games which have greater appearance and require more interaction from users, there was Flash, and the challenging style Pac-Man and Space Invaders.

Snapchat offers different types of ads, the video ads, the sponsored Geofilters and Sponsored Lenses. Among the three, both sponsored Geofilters and sponsored Lenses encourage greater interaction between the users and brands. Sponsored Geofilters are tiny pieces of art that always make an impression. When Snapchatters take a Snap in a location defined by the advertiser, they’ll be able to see the sponsored Geofilter and use it to explain where, when, and why they took the Snap. Sponsored Lenses offer a completely new take on brand activation, offering not just an impression, but “play time” — the time the Snapchat users spend playing with the interactive ad created by advertisers. And when people finished playing, it’s easy to send Lenses to a friend or post one to your Story.

Snapchat has proven that the interactive ads have wide reach of Snapchatters. Compared to traditional banner ads, the Sponsored Lenses offer influencer marketing as Snapchat users send the Sponsored Lens-filtered creations to friends. And even if people don’t share the output, just playing with the lenses creates a much deeper experience with a brand.

For Snapchatters, there is nothing to lose, just take out your mobile phone and have fun playing the Santa’s Helper game.