Hello, commerce lovers! This is Hana Yoo, stepping in to helm this week’s edition of the Commerce Media Roundup while our senior editor and commerce sage, James Hercher, is out on paternity leave.
For today’s dispatch, I spoke with David Sommer, Snap’s newly appointed head of US verticals. In his CPG-focused role, he oversees two divisions. One is food and beverage; the other is health and beauty, personal care and home care.
Sommer joined Snap in April after serving as chief commercial officer at shopping rewards company Fetch. But his CPG journey started much earlier.
“I grew up in CPG,” Sommer said. And he means that literally.
Sommer’s father was a food broker, so he spent his formative years working in the family business selling groceries to supermarket chains like Price Chopper, Wegmans and Tops in New York state.
In 2005, Sommer started his own company, Retail Media Link, which was acquired the following year by WPP. He stayed on until 2011 to run GroupM’s CPG, retail and shopper marketing practice.
He then spent nearly 11 years at Facebook (now Meta) working with CPG brands. During that time, he grew Meta’s CPG, retail partnerships and shopper marketing practice from $3 billion to more than $100 billion in annual revenue.
Sommer spoke with AdExchanger about his experiences and how he’s applying his CPG knowledge to the tech space.
AdExchanger: What’s the CPG opportunity at Snap?
DAVID SOMMER: Snap takes a measurement-first approach, so everything is about driving results. We run programs, we measure everything and we learn.
That could be reach: How many people do we reach? It could be resonance: Did we move the needle on the brand? It could be reaction: Can we drive sales lift?
Who are Snap’s CPG and retail partners and how do you work together?
I’ll talk about two key brands, one on each side of the business, that are driving great results using Snap.
On the beauty and personal care side, NYX Professional Makeup recently ran a program where we drove 13 times the normal return on ad spend, and it was because they used creators in an authentic way. Makeup is a natural [fit] for Snapchat because you can try it on using our camera and augmented reality, which reduces returns of the product and allows people to pick the correct product.
Another example of a big CPG we work with is Coca-Cola, which recently created an augmented reality experience using their vending machines. It was simple – hand motions would change the bubbles on the vending machines – but it was a rich brand experience.
I want CPGs to know that we have a scaled way they can reach people at key moments, including at the point of market entry, and that drives lifetime value.
Is Snap building its own tech?
We’ve got new mass reach products we just launched, like First Story, which allows you to reach the audience in the first story they see every day, and we’ve rolled out ads in Spotlight, [a TikTok-esque short video feed].
We’ve also got a suite of new creator opportunities, including Snap Star Collabs studio, so we can connect advertisers with the right Snap stars to build their brands.
Do social commerce and livestream shopping have a place at Snap?
Snap has an opportunity because the camera is such a fundamental part. It’s very natural for people to take pictures and try on products using augmented reality. We have shopping and retailer solutions that allow people to, within the camera portion of Snap, try on things or have a rich brand experience with a CPG brand and buy [products].
You would go to the mall in the old days to try things on. But with a camera you can try things on, Snap them to your friends, see how they like them and decide to make a purchase in a frictionless way.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
For more articles featuring David Sommer, click here.
