Join us Sept. 24 in NYC to connect with execs from Digitas, Claire's, Marriott, Havas and others
The latest brand to join the ephemeral messaging service, Snapchat, is none other than fast food giant, McDonald’s. In signing on, the burger chain joins a growing list of companies like Taco Bell, American Apparel, Juicy Couture, and even Bloomberg’s Businessweek.
Are you following the action on @Snapchat? Add us! Username: mcdonalds
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) February 25, 2014
Snapchat boasts more than 350 million active users, makes sense for brands looking to go after the young mobile demographic — an estimated 77 percent of its college-aged users use the app daily. Although the platform doesn’t have basic tracking tools or a concrete way for brands to measure engagement yet, some brands have found the app useful for revealing sneak peeks to users. Juicy Couture, for example, sent out snaps of their spring campaign.
One of McDonald’s first Snapchats looked like a mix of shots through a PlayPlace tunnel and behind-the-scenes footage of a filmset. Hand scrawled text throughout the chat reads, “Best of the best!” Keep trying, guys.
“In this initial mode, we’ve gotten several thousand followers in a couple days,” Rick Wion, director of social media for McDonald’s, told Mashable recently. “We think it’s a good sign that this has long term viability.” McDonald’s currently has 2,200,000 followers on Twitter, and more than 30,000,000 on Facebook.
Digiday reached out to McDonald’s for comment on their plans for Snapchat, but has yet to receive a response.
More in Marketing
The case for and against retail media networks as brand-building channels
Retail media networks pitch brand-building on shopper data, but ROI metrics, costs and budget fights hold them back.
Pinterest unveils new suite of ad tools, including Visual Search Ads, in its pitch to brands
For brands, Pinterest executives said, the opportunity is huge. Pinterest’s user base is growing and, importantly for many companies, young.
Future of Marketing Briefing: Creators are learning to pitch AEO, not just audiences
The next line in a creator’s pitch: I got cited