Although the film trailer wasn’t targeted at particular users by no means and was optional to view, so non-creepy in that sense. The sponsored snap from Universal Pictures featured in the ‘Recent Updates’ feed among users’ stories so there were no notifications for it–and like any normal Snapchat – disappeared after one viewing.
Snapchat is only testing the ad campaign in the US for the meantime so if you’re not Stateside don’t expect to be bombarded just yet; although if all goes well and the ads are well-received then they will no doubt expand to other countries. The company was very frank in the blog post as to why ads are a necessary path to go down, simply stating: "We need to make money. Advertising allows us to support our service while delivering neat content to Snapchatters.”
Using a film trailer was a safe bet from Snapchat as their first ever paid ad, as trailers have always been a welcome marketing tool with the public. Facebook exemplified this when it launched the autoplay video ads earlier in the year, with a promotion for the film Divergent from Lions Gate Entertainment
