Agencies love to hop on to a fad, even if it’s one mostly used by teenagers. It was perhaps inevitable that an agency is using Snapchat to win new business.
Giant Spoon, a marketing agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles, is using the platform to put out a series of briefs on a wide range of cultural and marketing topics — from GIFs to emojis. Called “Spoon Snap Intelligence,” each brief in the series contains snaps modeled on the kinds of reports it would ordinarily present to a brand or client — but with a tone that’s light and native to Snapchat.
“As an agency, you’re advising clients and creating content, but you don’t end up doing much for yourself,” said Jon Haber, co-founder of Giant Spoon. “And agency Twitter feeds often tend to become overtly self-promotional. So we wanted to use Snapchat to actually add some value and push potential clients to come to us by providing them something useful.”
The first brief was a presentation on GIFs that went live on Friday in the agency account’s “My Stories” section. The brief was a five-minute story with 41 snaps on everything from GIFs’ origins to their rise in popularity and the biggest GIF makers. Naturally the presentation had plenty of GIFs, including the oldest-known dancing-baby GIF.
“We wanted to translate the story on Snapchat in a way that was native to Snapchat,” said Haber. “You have to be a little silly, have some personality but balance it out with real, useful information. The way we used the GIFs, stats and charts was organic; you almost don’t notice that you’re looking at a statistic or chart.”
For those who aren’t into five-minute pitches, Giant Spoon has also been putting up short content on a daily basis. “Spoon Facts” are marketing or cultural tidbits for CMOs. Examples include employees’ favorite podcasts, ways brands can capitalize on Facebook emojis and a take on Reddit’s new UpVoted.com.
“It’s almost like a variety show,” said Nathalie Con, senior strategist at GiantSpoon. “It’s a unique way to show our cultural prowess.”
Other agencies have also doubled down on Snapchat recently, with its rise as an ad platform. Some companies, including Taco Bell and Goldman Sachs, have even used it to recruit. GiantSpoon hopes its series will ultimately lead to new business, but short of that, they’re also a way to display its culture to potential recruits.
“Culture is not just beer pong or field trips,” he said. “We’re showcasing people and what they’re passionate about, because those are the things that ultimately drive them to do good work.”
Image courtesy of Snapchat.
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