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Self-isolation has been a struggle for many, and megawatt movie star Will Smith is sharing his in-house experience with a new Snapchat series, “Will From Home.” Produced by Westbrook Media, the 12-episode series will feature Smith in his garage as he talks with family, celebrity friends and everyday folks who are practicing social distancing, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reports. “Will was feeling a lot of pent-up creative energy and was excited to do something with it in a new and different way,” said Sean Mills, Snapchat’s head of original content. At first, Snapchat’s strategy included increased news coverage of the pandemic. However, after the first week of quarantine , users preferred entertainment, “especially humor and comedy.” Will and the Smith family have dominated social media as of late. While the “Bad Boys” franchise lead has pretty much mastered Instagram with expertly produced content, his wife Jada, daughter Willow and mother-in-law Adrienne “Gammy”...
Multiple Snapchat employees have abused their access to tools that can give them key information about users, according to a Motherboard report . That includes user data like location information, phone numbers, saved Snaps, and more. The abuse began “several years ago,” although Motherboard was unable to provide a more specific timeline than that. In addition, Motherboard couldn’t verify how the data abuse occurred or what employees did with the information they accessed. However, the report did hone in on one particular tool: SnapLion. This tool was designed to help Snapchat respond to law enforcement who’d need user information for court orders or subpoenas. Former employees told Motherboard that SnapLion comes from “LEO,” the acronym for law enforcement officer, and a reference to Leo the Lion. The tool’s existence was never previously reported, but a number of departments have access to it. According to the report, Snap’s “Spam and Abuse,” plus its “Customer Ops,” and security...
Snapchat’s parent company — Snap Inc. — just announced its first Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Mitchell, will lead the company’s global marketing efforts. Mitchell will report to Evan Spiegel, the company’s CEO. “Snap is a great company with strong values, an inspired vision and innovative products that are empowering its global community,” Mitchell said in a statement . “I look forward to helping Evan and Snap continue to tell their story to people around the world.” Mitchell has previously held positions at McDonald’s USA as the vice president of marketing and at Gatorade as head of consumer engagement. “Kenny’s consumer marketing expertise and his deep understanding of our products will be a great combination for Snap,” CEO Evan Spiegel said in a press release. “Throughout his career, Kenny has demonstrated his ability to successfully execute innovative, global marketing campaigns, many of which have leveraged our own vertical video and augmented reality products.” Mitchell’s...
As Generation Z — the group born between 1997-2017 — comes of age, learning more about them is crucial for advertisers and platforms alike. Now, an annual study by Piper Jaffray examining the brand preferences of teens may be able to help. Piper Jaffray surveyed 8,000 teenagers from across the country and found they preferred companies advertised to them through Instagram and Snapchat. Seventy percent of respondents chose Instagram over other platforms for brand engagement. Inversely, 41 percent of teens chose Snapchat as their favorite social media platform, and Instagram as their second favorite at 35 percent. Facebook and Twitter clocked in at 6 percent each as teens’ favorite platforms. It seems Instagram is well aware of its potential. The app recently ramped up its consumer features allowing users to purchase products directly in the app. Last year, Instagram began offering direct links on posts, helping merchants push products through Instagram. Snapchat’s main user base is...
SnapChat may be ready to reveal in-app games in April, according to reporting from Cheddar. The company has been rolling out huge updates including original shows produced by big TV names, augmented reality filters and building out its Discover page. Third-party games have used the platform, but SnapChat’s expected move could prove lucrative for advertisers. SnapChat’s gaming platform is set to have an augmented reality element to it, which emphasizes its November move to connect AR creators with brands. SnapChat has been making incremental steps into the gaming industry. Since the start of 2018, Snap Inc. bought PlayCanvas and invested in Fruit Ninja’s developer Prettygreat. Bigger tech companies like Google are also taking a stab in the gaming industry. Google’s console Yeti is currently in beta and is set to use cloud features to provide games to users. SnapChat’s gaming features may be another way to boost ad revenue streams. The company has already boosted its revenue using...
Snapchat announced the launch of its Creative Partners program helping brands connect with certified AR creators who are experts in using the multimedia messaging app’s AR lenses. The platform already has 30 creators using the Lens Studio—ranging from large advertising agencies to small augmented reality design shops—to create AR lens experiences with plans to increase that number over the next few months. Creators were selected based off their experience developing augmented reality. They were also required to complete a certification course on Snapchat’s development process, ad policies, best practices, and buy models for sponsored AR Lenses, according to Engadget . The company reports over 250,000 lenses have been created through the Lens Studio and have been viewed over 15 billion times.