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Snap Native Advertising

Snapchat benefits from 'authentic' brand content rather than native advertising says COO

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

October 24, 2014 | 2 min read

Native ads in apps trick mobile users, Snapchat’s chief operating officer Emily White has claimed.

Emily White speaking at GroupM conference in New York - Rojo

According to Business Insider, the ads, which are strewn among editorial content to make brands fit more contextually within the environment, were criticised by the Snapchat COO who felt they mislead consumers.

Speaking at the GroupM conference in New York on Wednesday, White said that users would be “confused” and feel “tricked” if native ads were weaved throughout Snapchat's picture content.

She said that Snapchat is against native ads because the app is “different than other traditional social networks.”

“It’s getting really confusing to users, they don’t like to be tricked,” she said, adding that brand posts on the service should be “authentic”.

The firm recently launched a sponsored glimpse of the movie “Ouija” in users’ “recent updates” feed. This allowed users to view the ads in a separate area of the app - if they wished to do so.

She claimed it was very important that ads do not water down the service or interrupt users’ enjoyment of it. As a result, pre-roll ads will not be implemented by the firm.

Earlier this week, the firm introduced ads in the US, stating that it will not use personal data to individually target users but that “it needs to make money”.

Snap Native Advertising

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