5 Inspiring Snapchat Campaigns: A Guide for Marketers

Snapchat’s unique design and features— disappearing videos and stories in 24 hours—gives marketers unique opportunities to engage their audience and generate leads within their social media marketing strategy. 

Snapchat’s advertising platform has a highly captive audience with 406 million active daily users. Around 57% of businesses currently post ads on Snapchat, with Statista estimating it to have $8.34 billion in ad revenue by 2027.

To inspire your Snapchat advertising efforts, we’ve found five successful Snapchat marketing campaigns from well-known brands, from creative doodling competitions to scannable codes.

If you’re considering Snapchat marketing for your business, make sure you add these campaigns to your inspiration list.

1. Depop on Snapchat: targeted visual story ads
2. Tinder on Snapchat: ‘Single Not Sorry’ campaign
3. L’Oreal on Snapchat: mascara spotlight
4. Disney on Snapchat: 100 year milestone campaign
5. Cisco on Snapchat: ‘Day in the Life’ series

1. Depop on Snapchat: targeted visual story ads

Depop is a sustainable clothing retailer beloved by eco-conscious digital natives that has been central to the online rise of second-hand clothing. The brand turned to Snapchat to grow its audience, build brand awareness, and encourage ‘Snap Installers’ (ad click-throughs or engagements).

By partnering with a creative agency, Depop developed story-based ads with specific audience segments in mind. 

The ads targeted 18 to 34-year-olds in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia with dynamic video ads that punched through the key brand USPs with a mix of striking visual elements and sound bytes. By upping its ad spend, leaning on the platform’s audience insights, and taking a consistent approach to its messaging, Depop earned a healthy return on investment.

Why did it work?

The reason Depop’s revised Snapchat ad campaign hit the mark was because the brand took the time to understand its audience.

By leveraging its brand values and creating dynamic content with visuals tailored to its target audience, Depop sparked engagement while cementing its brand values in the minds of Snapchat users.

This smart and cohesive Snapchat ad campaign earned Depop a 91% and  48% higher LTV in the U.S & U.K. It also propelled Depop to the status of one of Snapchat’s top-performing brands.

2. Tinder on Snapchat: ‘Single Not Sorry’ campaign

As a dating app with edge, Tinder is known for cutting through the digital noise with its creative and sometimes risque marketing campaigns. The brand’s Snapchat advertising efforts are no exception.

Tinder’s aptly named narrative collection of ‘Single Not Sorry’ Snapchat ads celebrates the joys of being single as a lifestyle choice. By delivering these four head-turning and highly cohesive story-based ads in the form of Snapchat Commercials, the brand was able to hook its target audience in with razor-sharp messaging that celebrates the virtues of singledom.

As a dating app with edge, Tinder is known for cutting through the digital noise with its creative and sometimes risque marketing campaigns. The brand’s Snapchat advertising efforts are no exception.

Tinder’s aptly named narrative collection of ‘Single Not Sorry’ Snapchat ads celebrates the joys of being single as a lifestyle choice. By delivering these four head-turning and highly cohesive story-based ads in the form of Snapchat Commercials, the brand was able to hook its target audience in with razor-sharp messaging that celebrates the virtues of singledom.

Why did it work?

Aimed at a young and ambitious Gen Z audience, Tinder used Snapchat as a podium to champion its commitment to empowering young singles.

Harnessing the power of brand storytelling, the brand created a mini-series of ads that was meaningful, building trust and shining a light on the dating app’s key USPs in the process.

This creative and well-crafted approach to Snapchat advertising helped to revamp the brand in the eyes of digital natives—smashing its campaign goals by four times in the process.

3. L’Oreal on Snapchat: mascara spotlight

In 2021, L’Oreal Paris took to Snapchat to plug its Paris Mascara to a highly-engaged digitally native audience and broaden its appeal.

It created a striking mix of branded non-skip commercials showcasing the product’s USPs using its unmistakable visual brand assets and alluring tone of voice. And the results were impressive, to say the least.

Why did it work?

The reason this ad worked so well is down to the brand’s targeted approach to its ads. By launching non-skip ads tailored to a younger audience and adjusting its brand message to appeal to beauty-conscious Gen Zers, L-Oreal earned droves of engagement for its Snapchat advertising efforts.

L-Oreal’s cohesive mix of audio production, cool yet aspirational visuals, and consistent delivery earned the brand a significant rise in new buyers as well as an 81%+ improvement in ROAS compared to previous campaigns.

4. Disney on Snapchat: 100 year milestone campaign

In the kind of bold digital marketing move you’d expect from Disney, the world-renowned entertainment brand teamed up with Snapchat to deliver an ad campaign linked to an immersive exhibition featuring stunning AR-driven installations and experiences in 2023.

To further drive brand awareness, Disney developed a series of immersive storytelling ads to celebrate its 100-year story which allowed fans to interact with the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy and the cast of Elemental through the app.

Why did it work?

By getting super creative and leaning on Snapchat’s AR advertising capabilities, Disney gave its fans an exciting digital experience that almost gamified some of its most iconic characters.

While there’s no specific data on the campaign, we do know it was a roaring success that expanded the already colossal brand’s reach while earning incredible levels of engagement throughout. A masterclass in Snapchat advertising.

5. Cisco on Snapchat: ‘Day in the Life’ series

At first glance, hardware manufacturer Cisco might not seem like a good match for Snapchat. Its products don’t inspire excitement like Nike or McDonalds.

However, Cisco discovered a way to make its ‘boring’ B2B business fun by chronicling the day to day tasks, appointments and workload of an account manager in its “Day in the Life of an Account Manager” series.

The series covers the daily workload of one of Cisco’s account managers, humanizing a B2B brand that’s best known for its networking hardware. 

Why did it work?

The Cisco campaign is a few years old but its key lesson is still relevant: that even the most ‘boring’ brands can create content that’s fun, engaging, and interesting by focusing on the people side of the business.

Top tip: Do you run an agency? Look for creativity in your team’s daily activity or the organizations that you’ve helped. Run a B2C business? Make content about the people behind the product to give customers a different perspective of your brand.

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