Snapchat, Adopting Apple's Philosophies?
Brandon Painter
Brand Solutions Lead @ Enthusiast Gaming | Co-Owner of the UEL | Founder of Rage Quit Merch | Private Lobby Contributor — Creative Strategy, Digital Marketing & Partnerships at the Apex of Culture and Entertainment
Today's Snapchat update sent people into a frenzy. They were vomiting rainbows, bathing in purple hearts and waking the dead. It was pure madness. What did it remind me of? Tech journalists and enthusiasts on the day of an Apple announcement. All kidding aside, we have seen the "3D special effects" ability before. The only difference? Prior to Snapchat's presentation, the feature has been packaged in poorly-marketed, hastily-built, free applications that people would download and use maybe once or twice before deleting the app after its novelty wore off.
A few hours after the update went live, Mashable reported that these "Lenses" are being powered by Looksery, a startup that has created a bunch of these types of filter apps. Snapchat went behind closed doors, acquired them, rolled their features into Snapchat and still haven't disclosed terms of the deal. They're saying these FX will rotate. (See some of the others here.)
In addition to Lenses, the Venice Beach-based company added a "Trophy Case" which introduces gamification elements to the Snapchat experience (and begins to provide some context to a user's Snapchat score) and their first in-app purchase: 3 replays for $0.99. Mind you, these 3 replays cannot be of the same Snap.
Essentially, today's update added some gimmicky special FX, a new element of gamification and a steep introduction into in-app monetization. What did people think about it?
They loved it. But why?
The same exact reason why people were dazzled by the iPad Pro, Apple's slightly beefier Microsoft Surface. The brand plays into it, sure, but the execution is more appealing. The philosophy is this: we are not the first, but we will be the best. If we decide to enter this product vertical, or roll out this type of feature, it will be bulletproof.
The Watch is a prime example of this. Hell, the iPhone and the iPad are examples of this as well. Snapchat introduced Chats and video conferencing when they felt the platform was mature enough to sustain the new capability. Today, Snapchat felt like its audience and its application were ready to simulate being inside Iron Man's suit. To each their own.
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About Author: Brandon is a community manager at KC-based Barkley, as well as the co-founder and product manager for Campstake, the social guide to the American outdoors.