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
Future of Marketing Briefing: Accenture’s Whalar bet: own the room when creator marketing gets complicated
The Whalar deal is Accenture running the same play it ran on programmatic — only this time it got there earlier.
How DUDE Wipes turned to unconventional sponsorships after sports inventory prices surged
As sports sponsorship costs rise, brands like DUDE Wipes are turning to emerging leagues and unconventional placements.
Agency AI pitches are starting to face harder questions
As agencies race to sell proprietary AI the future of marketing, 3C Ventures argues advertisers need more proof.