Snapchat Advertising Strategy: What Brands Can Learn From New Research on Attention, Memory and Sales

Marketers have never had more ways to reach consumers, yet earning genuine attention has never been harder.

Consumers are scrolling faster, skipping ads more frequently and splitting their time across an increasingly fragmented media landscape. At the same time, brands face growing pressure to demonstrate that social media investment is driving meaningful business outcomes rather than simply generating impressions.

This challenge has led many marketers to rethink how they measure advertising effectiveness. Reach remains important, but visibility alone is no longer enough. The platforms, formats and creative approaches that capture attention and create lasting memory are increasingly the ones driving long-term commercial growth.

New research from Snapchat and dentsu explores this relationship between attention, recall and sales performance, offering valuable insights into how brands can build more effective paid social campaigns.

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Why Attention Matters More Than Reach

The challenge facing marketers today is not a lack of inventory.

Consumers are exposed to thousands of messages every day across social media, streaming platforms, search engines and digital publishers. Simply appearing in front of an audience is no longer enough.

The brands generating the strongest performance are those creating experiences that people actively engage with rather than passively ignore.

This is particularly relevant on Snapchat, where users spend time communicating with friends, sharing content and engaging in more personal interactions compared to many traditional social feeds.

The result is an environment where relevance, creativity and format choice become critical to campaign success.

What the Research Tells Us About Snapchat Advertising

One of the most significant findings from the study was the relationship between attention and commercial outcomes.

The research found that Snapchat Commercials not only generated immediate impact but continued to influence spending behaviour long after exposure.

This reinforces something many marketers have long suspected.

Brand-building and performance marketing are not separate disciplines.

The strongest campaigns combine both.

When creative generates attention and memory, it creates the conditions for future purchasing decisions.

This is particularly important as many brands move away from last-click attribution models and adopt a more holistic view of marketing effectiveness.

Why Creative Remains the Biggest Performance Lever

While targeting, bidding and audience segmentation remain important, creative continues to be the factor marketers have the greatest control over.

Snapchat's own creative best practice guidance highlights several principles that consistently improve performance.

The strongest-performing ads typically:

• Establish a key message immediately
• Introduce branding early
• Use dynamic visual movement
• Prioritise vertical-first creative
• Deliver a clear call-to-action
• Maintain simplicity
• Align messaging with campaign objectives

Importantly, Snapchat is not a platform where brands can simply repurpose creative from other channels and expect the same results.

Users consume content differently, attention spans are shorter and creative needs to feel native to the environment.

For many brands, this means developing platform-specific assets rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach.

The Importance of Choosing the Right Ad Objective

One of the biggest mistakes brands make with paid social is focusing exclusively on creative while overlooking the role of campaign objectives and format selection.

Different business goals require different campaign structures.

Website Conversion Campaigns

For brands driving traffic and sales, website attachment formats perform best when they clearly communicate value from the opening frame.

Successful campaigns typically:

• Introduce the product immediately
• Include branding within the first seconds
• Clearly explain the offer
• Use mobile-first landing pages
• Focus on consideration before conversion

The experience between ad and destination must feel seamless.

App Install Campaigns

For app-focused businesses, demonstrating product functionality is often more effective than describing features.

Strong-performing app install campaigns generally:

• Show the app in use
• Feature real people interacting with the product
• Highlight key benefits visually
• Include install-focused calls-to-action
• Communicate value immediately

The objective is helping users understand exactly what they'll receive after downloading.

Lead Generation Campaigns

Lead generation campaigns require a different approach.

Rather than driving immediate sales, the goal is to make the value exchange clear.

Effective lead generation campaigns:

• Clearly communicate the offer
• Reinforce value throughout the form experience
• Minimise friction
• Support fast follow-up processes
• Connect measurement through tracking infrastructure

Click-to-Call and Service-Based Campaigns

For businesses relying on enquiries rather than ecommerce sales, creative should clearly explain who users will speak to and why the interaction is valuable.

Reducing uncertainty often improves conversion performance significantly.

Why Snapchat Lenses Remain Underutilised

While much attention focuses on video advertising, Snapchat's Lens products continue to offer unique opportunities for brand engagement.

Unlike traditional advertising formats, Lenses encourage active participation.

Successful Lens campaigns often focus on:

• Simplicity
• Interactivity
• Entertainment
• Product visualisation
• Immersive experiences

For sectors such as beauty, fashion, retail and entertainment, Lenses can help bridge the gap between awareness and consideration by allowing consumers to interact directly with products and experiences.

Different Sectors Need Different Snapchat Strategies

One of the most common mistakes in paid social is assuming that every industry should follow the same playbook.

The reality is that campaign structures should reflect business objectives.

Ecommerce and Retail

Retail brands often benefit from:

• Short-form product demonstrations
• Dynamic offers
• Strong product visibility
• Website conversion campaigns
• Retargeting strategies

FMCG Brands

For FMCG marketers, awareness and memory often play a larger role.

Success typically comes from:

• Reach-driven campaigns
• High-frequency exposure
• Broad audience targeting
• Strong brand recognition

Apps and Technology Brands

App-focused businesses generally perform best when campaigns focus on usability and product experience rather than technical features.

Professional Services and B2B

Lead generation and education-focused creative often outperform hard-sell approaches, particularly when combined with clear value propositions.

Why Formatting Matters More Than Most Brands Realise

The difference between an average campaign and a high-performing campaign is often found in execution.

Creative length, aspect ratio, call-to-action placement, messaging hierarchy and asset formatting all influence results.

For example:

• Shorter videos often drive stronger action
• Early branding improves recall
• Multiple creative variations reduce fatigue
• Mobile-first design improves engagement
• Platform-native creative improves attention

These details may appear small individually, but collectively they have a significant impact on performance.

How Pepper Helps Brands Maximise Snapchat Performance

This is where specialist paid media expertise becomes increasingly important.

Running Snapchat campaigns is not simply about launching ads. It requires understanding how different objectives, creative formats and audience behaviours influence outcomes.

At Pepper, our paid media team works closely with brands to develop platform-specific strategies built around business goals rather than vanity metrics.

That includes:

• Campaign strategy and planning
• Creative recommendations
• Format selection
• Audience development
• Conversion optimisation
• Lead generation strategy
• Ecommerce growth campaigns
• App install campaigns
• Measurement and reporting

Most importantly, we ensure that creative is designed for the outcome being measured.

A lead generation campaign requires a different approach from an ecommerce campaign. An app install campaign requires different messaging from a brand awareness campaign. A Lens activation requires different creative thinking than a video conversion campaign.

By aligning creative, format and objective from the outset, brands are far more likely to generate meaningful business results.

The Future of Social Advertising

The latest Snapchat research reinforces a lesson that applies far beyond a single platform.

Reach alone is no longer enough.

The brands generating the strongest growth are those creating advertising that captures attention, builds memory and influences future behaviour.

As social media becomes increasingly competitive, marketers will need to think beyond impressions and clicks and focus instead on how platforms, creative formats and audience experiences work together to drive measurable business outcomes.

Because ultimately, the best-performing campaigns are not They're remembered.