By Sandra Essa, Product Marketing Lead at Snap Inc. in MENA
As the region gets ready to cherish the joys of in-person celebrations this Ramadan, brands are expected to not only build more meaningful connections, but deliver experiences – whether offline or online – that bring value to people’s lives. Moreover, when we look at consumer behaviors on Snapchat, we see that people often turn to our platforms during Ramadan to fulfill three desires: to connect, to be inspired, and to express themselves. That’s what made Snapchat the most used app at any point of the day in KSA during Ramadan in 2022.
By keeping a few key considerations in mind this year, brands will be better able to leverage significant moments throughout the month to create truly immersive and impactful experiences.
Genuinely connect with audiences: Brands looking to foster meaningful connections during Ramadan can do so most effectively on Snapchat which is the platform that connects people with friends, family and the world in a safe and private space. Snapchat was actually designed as an antidote to traditional social media; a place for friends and family to connect without the pressure of appearing popular or perfect. This is one reason why more than 89 per cent of Snapchatters say that Snapchat is where they share their most meaningful moments when celebrating during the month. And they do so at scale. Last year over one billion Snaps were posted on Stories during Ramadan. People in Saudi Arabia alone viewed AR lenses on Snapchat over 90 billion times.
Snapchatters use the camera not just to celebrate but also to get inspired and learn more about the world around them. This is all possible through our Snapchat Camera which has Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities that provide Snapchatters with innovative ways to capture, engage with, and explore the world around them. This also allows our community to connect with brands who leverage our Sponsored AR lenses.
We see two themes where Sponsored AR particularly drive outsized impact for brands and deliver value to Snapchatters:
1. Inspire action through the camera: Digital platforms are influencing purchasing decisions in MENA more than ever before. AR Lenses are particularly impactful in helping Snapchatters in their decision making. For instance, 87 per cent of our MENA community say that try-on AR lenses make them more likely to buy an item for a celebration. In recent years, Ramadan campaigns for retailers running an AR Lens on Snapchat have delivered a 4.3x higher average purchase value compared to other formats. AR tools are ultimately proven to help brands showcase products, push creative boundaries, drive sales and reduce returns during Ramadan.
2. Provide consumers with new ways to express themselves: Snapchatters are always looking for ways to use the camera to express themselves and live in the moment. This is especially evident during moments of celebration like Ramadan. In our latest studies, nearly all (98 percent) Snapchat users say that AR makes celebrations better, while 89 per cent say that they make celebrations more memorable and ultimately, shareable. Brands can tap into this by building AR lenses that help Snapchatters frame their moments and what’s amazing is that this can be done within minutes! Tools like Lens Web Builder, which exist within Snapchat Ads Manager and our free to download software Lens Studio now empower brands to build their own AR lenses, either from scratch or from a library of proven to work templates. This allows anyone, from the beginner to the expert, to build AR to reach the Snapchat community. For example, by using Lens Web Builder, a brand can build an AR lens, and plan and publish their campaign within just a few minutes, even with no experience of ever having built an AR lens before.
