Venice, CA. – 71% of snapchat users are 34 and younger and 45% of users are between the ages of 18-24 according to Snap’s IPO filing in February. However with over 300 monthly active users, the fastest growing segment is 35 and older. That recipe has experts to believe Snapchat and Pharma are about to start dating.
But what does their dating profiles state that suggests a harmonious union? Well, On Snap, Inc.’s about us page, they tout themselves as a camera company, ‘empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.’ Pharma obviously operates in a heavily regulated environment. So where is the sweet spot?
Let’s turn to the experts. In a recent MM&M article, several industry leaders in the space tout multiple reasons Snapchat is a new opportunity for brand managers and agencies within pharma. With the growth in older users and milennials now having children, there is a prime opportunity to capture this audience where they like to be engaged. Snapchat also offers more real estate (read: no character limits) to advertise and is only designed for mobile use that helps with geo-targeting and other targeting tools.
So that begs the question...as leaders in the pharmaceutical and agency industries, would you encourage your teams to step into this realm? Would the regulatory processes allow for the promotion in an environment that is so ‘in the moment’?
Why This Matters –
Several trends we’re following in 2017 and now 2018 speak to the shift in expectations that end users (read: patients) want you to engage them when and where they want. Micro-communities and the rise of ‘mobile-only’, just to name a couple, both signal that this is a great time for pharma to jump on the Snapchat train. While messaging on the platform is short(er) lived than most, the opportunities to reach targeted audiences could not be more simple. But as anything in pharma, such as using VR as an empathy-building tool, most wait for someone or another company to dip their toe in and learn from their (potential) mistakes.
As the MM&M article references, Gilead Sciences recently promoted Truvada on the platform but has yet to see any other pharma campaigns emerge. However if history is a good barometer of how pharma brands jump on the band-wagon, I'm sure we're just around the corner from Snapchat becoming a new tool to plan for during brand planning season.
