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• Transcript

  James Kotecki (00:07):
  This is CES Tech Talk. I'm James Kotecki, bringing you one of the many conversations I recorded live at CES 2025 in the C Space Studio. You can find all our C Space Studio interviews on the CES YouTube channel, but we've selected this one especially to bring directly to your podcast feed. Enjoy.

  
  (00:28):
  Welcome back to the C Space Studio. We're still here pumping out the jams. It's CES 2025. My name is James Kotecki. I'm your host, and joining me is Alex Dao, global head of agency development and sales partnerships at Snap. Alex, welcome to the C Space Studio.

  
  Alexander Dao (00:43):
  Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

  
  James Kotecki (00:44):
  So glad to have you. I think most people would understand what Snap is if you were to ask them here at a tech-forward conference like CES, but just how do you define the brand generally? Do you ever run into someone who doesn't know what Snap is and kind of need to explain it?

  
  Alexander Dao (00:57):
  Yeah, we get that question a lot, especially if somebody's not on Snap. But the way I like to explain it is it's a place for people to connect with their closest friends, family, and the community around them. It's where people come to have real conversations with their closest friends. They're looking at content from our creators, and they're posting a lot of things on the platform as well.

  
  James Kotecki (01:17):
  It's an app for connecting with people. And is it entirely used by people on the phone or does it even make sense to think of it in terms of the desktop or is it all about the mobile device?

  
  Alexander Dao (01:27):
  So it's primarily on the phone. However, we did launch a desktop version so people can see their messages and things on their desktop as well.

  
  James Kotecki (01:35):
  Snap it at work.

  
  Alexander Dao (01:36):
  Yeah.

  
  James Kotecki (01:37):
  What are the industry trends that you're looking at here at the beginning of 2025 from your perspective that you think people should be paying more attention to?

  
  Alexander Dao (01:45):
  A few things. So a few things that have been top of mind and that have kind of dominated the conversations this week is really around creators, building trust and authenticity, and then also attention of platforms. And so as brands are thinking about what platforms, what ad formats are driving a lot of attention and engagement, how can they start to build around that? How can they start to adapt their strategy to focus on the most engaging platforms? And so that's been a big topic for us.

  
  James Kotecki (02:15):
  When brands think about how to get the attention from the folks that are using Snap, do they need a certain mentality to approach that in the sense of Snap? As you're saying, it can feel like maybe more of an intimate thing, so you need to approach it as a brand in a way that is careful or at least thoughtful and deliberate.

  
  Alexander Dao (02:31):
  We always like to say brands should be building for Snap. Make Snaps, not ads. And so if you think about the way that people are using Snap, they're sending selfies to their best friends. They're just saying, "Hey, I'm at the hotel. I'm on my way out." It's very unfiltered. It's easy. And so when brands think about creating content for it, it should feel similar. It should feel native to the platform itself.

  
  (02:57):
  One of the things that we've recently rolled out with is a new ad product called Sponsored Snaps where brands can actually show up in a user's inbox. And so those messages that people receive, it feels like a Snap. And some of the coolest things we've done is actually having creators show up in there with the brand. We did something with Wicked where they were our launch partner on Sponsored Snaps, and for their premiere, we had Jonathan Bailey send a Snap to all of our community. Our community opened it up, they saw him promote it in the movie, and it was great.

  
  James Kotecki (03:30):
  This is the actor who played Fiyero, is that right?

  
  Alexander Dao (03:33):
  Yeah, yeah.

  
  James Kotecki (03:33):
  The guy who was dancing around in those wheels, those hamster wheel things in the library in Wicked. Am I right about that?

  
  Alexander Dao (03:38):
  Yep.

  
  James Kotecki (03:40):
  But that must be a pretty cool experience then for the user to kind of feel like, "Oh, this is an authentic kind of reach out by a creator or an actor that I know, as opposed to just some brand spamming me with another ad."

  
  Alexander Dao (03:51):
  Yeah, exactly. And the way our community engages with creators is different than other platforms too, because with the creators on Snap, they're posting the behind the scenes. It's not the end finished product, it's the behind the scenes of the creation of that, their day-to-day. And so it feels very engaging. A lot of times creators say that they feel like their community on Snap, actually feels like their friends, they're interacting with them like their friends. And so if a creator then sends you a Snap, it feels very personal. It feels like a gift that people want to open.

  
  James Kotecki (04:22):
  So in all of this human-centric back and forth, where is AI coming into play for you right now? What's actually being used in practice and what's working not just for users but for brands?

  
  Alexander Dao (04:32):
  So we're incorporating AI across a number of different areas on the platform. I'll talk about some of the advancements we've made on the advertising side. So for example, we use AI with our dynamic product ads. And so for a retailer or brand that has a catalog, we're able to match that product to the users using AI.

  
  (04:53):
  We also use it with our auto-bidding feature to make sure that they're paying the right bids based off of the users that they're looking for, the performance that they're looking for. And some of the most innovative things we've done is actually with our augmented reality. We've always been a leader in the AR space, and some of our most viral lenses have been AI-generated. So it's AI-generated lenses that brands can now tap into and use.

  
  James Kotecki (05:16):
  And in what sense is it AI-generated? Is there a human who's giving a recommendation and the AI is creating it, or is the AI just creating something that a human would've never even thought of?

  
  Alexander Dao (05:24):
  It's human-prompted. So the human will still go in and kind of tell it what it's looking for, and then it'll generate that lens and create a branded experience.

  
  James Kotecki (05:34):
  Are we still using terms spatial computing to think about the future in this space and how do we see kind of AR and spatial computing evolving in the next year?

  
  Alexander Dao (05:44):
  So one thing that we've invested in for a while is actually our Spectacles. We've recently released our fifth generation of Spectacles, and we believe-

  
  James Kotecki (05:53):
  For folks who don't know, this is its own unique device. It looks like glasses, right? And you see through the lens.

  
  Alexander Dao (05:58):
  Exactly. It's glasses. We just also share our Snap operating system for the Spectacles. We have a number of companies that are developing for it. And so there's a lot of excitement around that. And one of the biggest things we've seen in AR is that it's moved away from just a novelty and something that's fun to actually a real utility. And so people are using it to figure out how to play the piano. We did something with LEGO where you can build LEGO blocks. And so it's become very interactive and people are using it to solve real everyday problems. And so what we're excited about is AR really kind of overlaying the world and helping us understand different things and needs.

  
  James Kotecki (06:41):
  Do you see the Spectacles device as continuing to look like glass? In other words, for folks who don't know, because we are just talking here, we don't have the visual. How much do they look different from regular glasses? And then are we evolving to the point where you won't be able to tell if someone's wearing one of these Spectacles or just regular glasses?

  
  Alexander Dao (06:59):
  I think it's getting there. If you take a look at the different instances of our Spectacles, processing power has gotten stronger over that period, and so the amount of space that is required has become less and less. And so you're starting to see the physical units become just more and more like everyday glasses. We're not quite there yet, but it's getting there. And so I think it's in the next five or 10 years, it's definitely moving towards that.

  
  James Kotecki (07:27):
  What has Snap learned about... I'm sorry. What has SNAP learned about Gen Z and younger consumers that you can share with us here for the audience at CES?

  
  Alexander Dao (07:34):
  Yeah, so I think with Gen Z, there are a couple of things we've learned is one, they can tell when they're being sold to in an inauthentic way. And so what Gen Z and millennials and people broadly are really looking for is real genuine relationships, connections and building trust. And if you think about that from a brand perspective, how can we continue to help brands build that trust with the consumers? And so that's why, again, we go back to saying build Snaps and not ads is how can you actually provide value back to the consumers?

  
  (08:08):
  Linking it back to creators, we've also run a number of studies that show Gen Z and millennials. They trust creators, right? They are willing to purchase more from brands and products that are creator recommended. And so that has actually captured a lot of attention from Gen Z and millennials.

  
  James Kotecki (08:27):
  Is there something about the future, say the next five years, that you think will happen that maybe others in your industry don't, that others might find implausible, but that you think is actually going to happen?

  
  Alexander Dao (08:38):
  Yeah, I think going back to AR, I think that the way that AR is then kind of stitched back into how a brand thinks about driving outcomes and performance is going to be really the center of a lot of what folks are doing. Even thinking about what people can do on our platform like a brand, if they wanted to connect with our consumers, what they could do is go in and... Let's just say you're a shoe brand. You're a shoe brand that wants to connect with consumers, you want to build some trust, you have something that you want to promote. Well, that shoe brand can then work with an athlete that is then promoting that shoe, then building an augmented reality experience so that consumers can try on that shoe and then send one of those ads to our entire community of 850 million people that said creator promoted, they could try it on and then they can purchase. And so I think AR really has an ability to drive a more frictionless kind of experience for brands if they use it in the right capacity.

  
  James Kotecki (09:41):
  I'm so glad you brought that up because it seems like we've had conversations here in the C Space studio for eight years, and certainly AI, I'm sorry, the Metaverse and VR AR was hotter in previous years, but now what I really like about this conversation is talking about the practical ways that this is actually being, as you say, kind of woven back into the reality of people. And that it hasn't gone away, but maybe people have wrestled with it, tried to figure it out, and now they actually are figuring out how to make it work for folks.

  
  Alexander Dao (10:04):
  Yeah, exactly. So I actually don't think it's as far away as we think. A lot of the features and the technologies there today, it's a matter of bringing it all together. And so that's what I'm excited about is working with brands, figuring out how do we actually get there? What are you trying to solve for, and how do we use these different aspects that we have to get there for you?

  
  James Kotecki (10:21):
  Well, thanks for bringing it all together for us, Alex Dao of Snap. We really appreciate your time here.

  
  Alexander Dao (10:25):
  Yeah, well thank you for having me,

  
  James Kotecki (10:27):
  And thank you so much for watching us. This has been day one of our thought leadership interview series here in the C Space studio, talking to marketing, media, advertising and brand leaders about the future of human connection and how new technology makes that all possible. We will be back tomorrow for day two, wherever you're watching us live right now, just come on back tomorrow at 9 A.M. Vegas time and we'll see you there. I'm James Kotecki from CES 2025.

  
  (10:53):
  Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation from CES 2025. That is our show for now, but there's always more tech to talk about. So if you're on YouTube, please subscribe and leave a comment. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Media, or wherever you get your podcasts, hit that follow button and let's give the algorithms what they want.

  
  (11:11):
  You can get even more CES at CES.tech. That's CES.T-E-C-H, our show produced by Nicole Vidovich and Paige Morris. Our C Space Studio episodes are produced and edited by Cramer. I'm James Kotecki, talking tech on CES Tech Talk.