Is Snapchat the New King Kong of Authenticity?

I had the chance to attend a Snapchat event in Sweden, and here’s what stuck with me.

Snapchat is no longer just the quirky platform for Gen Z. With 5.5 million monthly users in Sweden and 2.6 million daily users, the platform is gaining serious traction—especially among the marketing elite. Brands and agencies are starting to see the potential, but there's still a lot of skepticism, particularly when it comes to performance marketing.

At the event, Snapchat positioned itself as the most “real” platform compared to its competitors: Instagram is the polished “beautiful part,” TikTok the endless “scrolling part,” and YouTube the well-curated “edited part.” Snapchat, on the other hand, leads with authenticity, starting with the camera—not the feed. This focus on real, unfiltered connections is Snapchat’s biggest selling point, and I’m starting to agree that authenticity could be the key to real business value.

However, there’s a catch. Snapchat’s focus on creativity is still very much targeted at the cool kids—big brands and agencies with resources to create highly engaging, authentic content. For smaller agencies and brands that are resource-strapped, handling yet another platform might feel overwhelming, especially if they haven’t seen the performance-driven results that Snapchat promises.

That said, there’s a lot of promise here. As Snapchat delivers more performance proof points and makes the platform easier to use, I see it becoming a bigger player, even for those with less creative firepower. Their message was clear: “Don’t be afraid to try something new.”

I think we all can agree with that.

Mikael Englund COO & Co-founder Adcredo