Snapchat stages a viral hashtag takeover on rival Instagram

Snap is taking a delicate dig at rival social media platform Instagram in its 1st international advertising campaign launched on Tuesday.


The campaign, referred to as “Real Friends,” aims to focus on how users can connect with their close friends on the company’s app, Snapchat. As a part of the launch, Snap staged a “hashtag takeover” on Facebook-owned Instagram, filling the #realfriends and #friendshipquotes pages with quotes from notable figures concerning friendly relationship.


Snap said it partnered with “Quotefluencer” accounts on Instagram to post the ads. The ads are distinguished by Snap’s signature yellow and ghost logo, nicknamed Ghostface Chillah.


“Snapchat is for real friends, thus nowadays we’re launching a celebration of the buddies who share, laugh, love and connect with each other using our platform,” Chief marketing Officer Kenny Mitchell, who joined Snap in April, told CNBC.

“Featuring over 70 Snapchatters from twelve completely different countries, ‘Real friends’ shares the stories behind real friendships round the world.”


In a blog post, the corporate said the campaign underscores its mission of letting friends “express themselves” and share how they feel “in the moment.”


Snap additionally published a series of short videos that includes Snapchat users talking concerning their friendships, aboard footage from the app.
In addition to the social media campaign, Snap said it’ll run ads through cinema, broadcast, print and digital channels within the USA, India and Australia, as well as in Europe this fall.


The campaign comes after Snap last week published better-than-expected results for the second quarter. Snap’s user base grew to 203 million daily active users, representing the second quarter in a row of growth for the corporate.


It’s not the primary time Snap and Instagram have engaged in a little bit of friendly fire. Facebook attracted attention once it copied many popular options from Snapchat, most notably its ephemeral Stories feature and augmented reality camera effects.

In response, Snap chief executive officer Evan Spiegel, quipped that he wished Facebook would copy Snap’s “data protection practices,” not simply its product, and criticized Facebook as being an area for “shallow friendships.”


Facebook wasn’t instantly available to reply to the campaign.