Boost Mobile’s recent campaign on Snapchat’s hit series “Phone Swap” went three levels deep to make its ads as seamless and relevant as possible – all the more important because they were among the app’s first unskippable ads.
The ads ran on mobile phones while viewers watched the dating show where a potential couple trades phones. The ad creative used the contestants’ comments and reactions to dramatize the pain of using a slow network or running into hidden fees and data caps.
“Instead of dropping in our standard creative bumper, we utilized footage from the show and integrated it into the creative,” said Nick Holt, brand creative and advertising director for Boost Mobile. “It was more natural and organic, so people were thinking it was still part of the show.”
Integrating show content into the ad drove a 10% increase in ad awareness, a standout stat for the team.
The May campaign also served 11.3 million impressions and reached 4.7 million unique viewers. Boost Mobile’s ad ran in the 13th commercial spot, so “it was good to see people are tuning in and watching the show long enough to see our ad,” Holt said.
Boost Mobile tallied more than 180 online acquisitions from the Snap ads, including both signups and plan upgrades.
Besides driving conversions, the Snapchat campaign yielded some qualitative insights.
Boost Mobile has partnered with Snapchat for about two years. It generally runs one-off, opportunistic campaigns, Holt said, focused on larger brand moments. For example, Boost advertised on CBS for “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” so it worked with Snapchat when the show’s host kicked off a comedic search for his replacement. And it used Snapcodes to promote the throwback “Galactic Thunder Pony” game.
Boost doesn’t yet work with Snapchat in an always-on capacity – even as the platform’s lower CPMs make it a comparative value to Instagram Stories.
But as campaigns like “Phone Swap” offer opportunities for Boost Mobile to test the platform’s value, that’s something the telco is considering.
“The reach across the platform is massive, and it’s something we want to be a part of,” Holt said.
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And the more Boost Mobile works with Snapchat, the more benefits can carry over to future campaigns.
For this campaign, for example, the highest reach and viewership occurred in California and Texas. The phone carrier will keep those hot spots in mind for any future events or geotargeted opportunities.
Plus, Boost Mobile can build lookalike audiences using “Phone Swap” campaign data, making future campaigns more targeted and potentially boosting performance as it thinks about moving from one-off Snapchat campaigns to a more regular presence.
“We are looking to drive a little bit more always-on [marketing] cadence throughout the quarter, to have a more consistent voice within the platform,” Holt said.
