Snap to make Super Bowl debut with anti-social media message

Snap will make its Super Bowl debut with a shorter version of the commercial it aired during the Grammy Awards, which portrays the app as a positive alternative to typical social media. The company will run a 30-second version of the spot, titled “Less social media. More Snapchat,” after running a one-minute version of the spot at the Sunday awards show, a Snap representative told Ad Age. The Super Bowl commercial starts with a fast-paced montage of social media users chasing “Likes” with increasingly desperate attempts for attention. It then says, “Less likes. More love,” and turns to scenes of activities on Snap, which appear more wholesome. The spot plays on themes that Snap has been hammering since its founding in 2012, positioning the chat app as a more private platform where messages don’t trend publicly, rewarding posters with “Likes.” “Our latest campaign shows how Snapchat is different: a place where people can talk to their real friends with more compassion, more authenticity and more love,” a Snap spokesperson said in an email. “We couldn’t think of a better place than the Super Bowl to start a conversation around how Snapchat is an alternative to social media.” The ad, which will air in the fourth quarter, was created by Snap’s in-house creative team, produced by Arts Academy, and directed by Tommy Harden. The commercial will not run on Nickelodeon, the alternative broadcast of the Feb. 11 game that Paramount is producing to appeal to younger viewers. Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Enter here In recent years, Snap has highlighted how misinformation and public harassment are less likely to spread on the app, at a time when rivals, including Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter, now X, took heat for fostering a harmful media environment. Snap has faced some tough questions, though, too. Last month, CEO Evan Spiegel was called to testify in Senate hearings on online child safety alongside fellow tech CEOs, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Chew and X CEO Linda Yaccarino. Spiegel and Zuckerberg were criticized for drug-related content appearing on their apps, and the lawmakers also questioned all the tech execs about problems of child exploitation. In past marketing pushes, Snap also has made the case that it is different from the other social media companies. For instance, in 2019, Snap’s first global ad campaign was called, “Real Friends,” a nod to the fact that most users talk with their close social circles on the platform, as opposed to broadcasting for public approval. Snap’s Super Bowl campaign also comes as the company seeks to appeal to more advertisers. Earlier this week, Snap announced fourth-quarter revenue rose 5% to $1.36 billion, below analysts’ expectations. Snap shares fell more than 30%. The ad comes in the wake of the latest round of layoffs at the company this week, as Snap announced cuts of roughly 10% of its staff, or about 500 people. The campaign has been in development since the fall, according to a spokesperson. One of Snap’s core selling points to advertisers is that it has more controls over content on the app, making it less likely for brands to appear in inappropriate settings, which has been a persistent problem on public-facing platforms. The Super Bowl commercial spreads some of that positive message with images of Snap users seeming carefree and trying on quirky AR filters instead of participating in online trolling brigades. Snap also is still growing, announcing this week that it topped 800 million monthly users. Snap has 414 million daily users, according to its financial filing. (Watch the full, nearly two-minute version of the ad below.)

Snap to make Super Bowl debut with anti-social media message

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