Snapchat ads and giveaway promotions, with GOAT Media CEO Van Oakes

Van Oakes runs GOAT Media, an agency that manages Snapchat, Meta and TikTok campaigns as well as giveaway promotions. Speaking with an LFG Show host at an industry event, he explains why Snapchat works as a cheap second channel next to Meta, how a truck giveaway grew into a $100 million business, and what it takes to run sweepstakes legally.

In this episode

• Oakes says Snapchat opened its ad platform in 2017 and that he was the first advertiser to pass $1 million in spend, in 2018, which earned him the company's medallion (3:00, 4:02).

• He calls Snapchat a strong secondary channel to Meta, with CPMs around $2.50, roughly ten times cheaper, though he says its algorithm converts less well (4:30, 5:02).

• His team finds that running Snapchat lowers Facebook CPA by feeding Facebook more data and reaching people with no Facebook account, and its top-of-mind ads suit the upper funnel (5:02, 5:32).

• He describes a 2013 giveaway of a viral diesel truck at a company he joined as CMO: raffle tickets could not be sold online, so $5 wristbands earned entries, the first run made $400,000, and a TV show helped build a $100 million business (8:30, 9:01).

• He argues a giveaway offer can cut CPMs about threefold, so he says the prize can pay for itself through lower traffic cost and CPA (10:00, 10:30).

• Running them legally means licensing, registering and bonding in every US state, which he puts near $5,000, or joining his shared sweeps model for 5% of revenue (11:00, 11:31, 12:31).

Interview from The LFG Show, published on YouTube.