Esquire is the latest publication to join the trend of launching a pop-up channel on Snapchat Discover.
The Hearst-owned men’s lifestyle magazine launched its first 48-hour Snapchat Discover channel on Friday, featuring a compilation of grooming guides sponsored by Armani. This is Hearst’s fourth publication to experiment with Discover —it follows Seventeen, Marie Claire and Sweet, the company’s recently formed standalone Snapchat Discover product, which consistently delivers fresh content.
Esquire’s decision to use Snapchat Discover reflects a growing trend among publishers to dabble with ephemeral content via the platform. Condé Nast forayed into Discover with a channel for Vogue around New York Fashion Week in September — and a month later, it used it to promote W Magazine’s 10th anniversary issue. For Condé Nast, as well as Hearst, the effort is a move to connect with younger consumers and readers who are frequent users of the Snapchat app.
“We’re always striving to reach and get the brand in front of people who maybe haven’t seen it,” said Michael Mraz, director of content for Hearst’s men’s group. “The person using Snapchat probably hasn’t had a lot of experience with Esquire, and we want to reach those guys — Snapchat is the place to do that.”
In the featured video, viewers can learn how to hide a hangover using products like Baxter moisturizer and Kiehl’s Eye Alert cream. The tongue-in-cheek-toned channel also provides a demonstration on how to style men’s hair to go “from caveman to real man.” In addition, there’s a story on the many hairstyles of soccer star David Beckham and a section on common haircut mistakes men should avoid.
Images from Esquire’s Snapchat Discover channel
Mraz said the digital team first began conceptualizing the channel several months ago and had intended to develop something lighthearted, knowing it would be released shortly after the presidential election. “Everything had been so heavy with news and politics, so we just wanted to get away from that, and flex our style and lifestyle muscles, and do something kind of unexpected around the holidays,” he said.
He said the publication has continued to evolve since he joined the team a year and a half ago — specifically, it’s placing an emphasis on being less preachy about male culture.
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“We’ve just shifted the content strategy completely,” Mraz said. “Prior to me getting to Esquire, there was this tone like, ‘These are the rules you follow to be a man, these are the books to be a man, these are the movies to be a man.’ I feel very strongly that there are no rules, there are just voices — and it is our job to find the smartest, funniest, most compelling voices.”
