Snapchat Launches Self-Serve Ad Management Platform

Snapchat has made two significant announcements leading into Cannes 2017 regarding its platform designed to make it easy for marketers of all sizes to unlock the power of video ads efficiently and effectively.

Snapchat Ad Manager has officially opened today for use. It’s an all-in-one tool designed for marketers big and small to quickly advertise on Snapchat at scale.

Here are the key features:

• Buy, manage, optimise, and view reporting on ad campaigns.
• Pay for Snap Ads by credit card in the US, rather than by credit line.
• No minimum spend – get started with a few dollars.
• Auction-buying, so prices are set by market determinants rather than by Snap.
• All Snap Ad types (app install, long-form video, webview), targeting capabilities, goal-based bidding (‘bid for swipes’ and ‘bid for installs’), and reporting metrics are available.
• Advertisers can manage key assets (video creative, first-party audience lists) directly within the tool.
• All ads will be reviewed by Snap to ensure quality before going live. Furthermore, any ad that underperforms may also be weeded out via the market dynamics of Snap’s auction.

Advertisers also get a mobile dashboard to track campaigns on the go, monitor performance in real time, preview ads etc.; Business Manager to administer ad accounts, access levels, billing contacts etc.; Business Help Center; and chat support.

Snapchat has also announced a new browser-based tool coming in July called Snap Publisher, which will enable advertisers to create Snap Ads in under two minutes.

It will also help advertisers new to Snapchat who don’t have in-house creatives to cut and format video.

Here are the key features of Snap Publisher:

• Import existing brand assets in seconds with an automatic media importer.
• Quickly optimise existing videos by trimming horizontal videos into vertical mobile videos.
• Utilise a Snap-provided library of themes optimised by advertising objective.
• Add motion to still photos and images to quickly turn them into Snap Ads.
• Create multiple versions to test which creative works for different audiences using Ad Manager.
• Seamlessly buy ads using one-click publishing to Ad Manager.