In what may be a first for the platform, a New York frozen yogurt chain is leveraging Snapchat for a promotion that presents users with a coupon that self-destructs within 10 seconds.
The idea came about when the chain -- 16 Handles -- noted that a lot of its young users were using their Snapchat handles to interact on social media. The program works like this: If you snap a pic of you or your friends at a 16Handles location tasting one of their flavors, you can send it to Love16Handles on Snapchat. In return, you'll get a coupon for anywhere from 16% to 100% off on your purchase. You have 10 seconds to let the cashier scan the coupon, though.
Obviously, 16 Handles could have run a standard promo in which it sent a coupon in return for a photo. Jarrod Walpert, director of marketing for 16 Handles, says this adds an element of novelty. "It's a litmus test," Walpert says. "Our core user is a Snapchat user."
Snapchat was a runaway success story of 2012. Users send about 50 million pics (called "Snaps") a day on the platform. The success has prompted Facebook to release a Snapchat competitor, Poke. A rep for Snapchat says that she wasn't aware of anyone else using the platform for marketing.
In fact, marketers may have colonized Poke before Snapchat: Last week, an Israeli lingerie brand called Delta used Poke to distribute a short ad. The 10-second video shows a model getting dressed with Delta's lingerie and features a promotional message at the end for a sale on Delta's website.
While there are technical limitations to Poke and Snapchat that make it an unlikely vehicle for advertising, coupon-based promotions could be a new frontier for marketers. It's too soon, however, to tell how this program worked. If it can drum up business for a frozen yogurt chain the middle of winter, though, other marketers will take notice.