SnapMyAd: Your ads for your favorite brands

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We asked Lindsay Fultz of SnapMyAd to answer a few questions regarding their app. Learn more about how it came about and how it might help you!

1. Why and when did your company get started? What was the inspiration?

I had just downloaded Instagram about 3 week prior to flying down to Florida for vacation. Played with it the whole time. The day we left there was a tropical storm that had closed the town down and I called the airline and the flight was on time and not canceled! As we were taking off I took a really cool picture of the wing which said “AirTran.com” and uploaded it to Twitter and Facebook and told my friends about my great flight. Still bitter after paying baggage fees the whole idea for SnapMyAd came at that moment, I had just created an ad for AirTran and had no way to interact with them to get something for it. I got home and the company started that afternoon. I started doing some research on Instagram and realized all of these consumers are creating photos for their favorite brands, but they can’t get something for them and the brands have really no way of interacting with them to harvest these photos and focus them on what type of photos to take. We created SnapMyAd to solve those problems. It’s as easy as that.

2. How did you come up with the ‘name’ and concept – what’s the story behind the name?

The name came up when we designed the logo. We went through about 100 names that I wrote down, liked/disliked for various reasons. Spent many hours and late nights reviewing names that I thought might work. Cool to look at my notes and see all of these names I wrote down and then crossed off. The colors for the logo came about because I was wearing a shirt the day on the plane that I got the idea with those 4 colors on it, a shirt my dad had from the 70’s that he gave me and I love! Haha. We initially had a name and logo and went with it for about a month, but at the last minute I just didn’t feel comfortable with it. It was called “Ad On Point” and here was the logo: (we were going to heavily use the dog “ad” for marketing and he was on point!)

After getting the website and doing the logo (which I still love) I just didn’t like how the name looked together for twitter and Instagram, where it ran together as adonpoint. I thought people might pronounce it wrong if it ran together. I wanted “Ad” in there from the beginning to show that these are “ads” people can make for their favorite brands. I wanted “My” in there as well since it would tell people they were making these ads and they are theirs to decide who they want to give them to and for what type of perk. The “snap” came because we did the logo and it looked like the hand in the logo with the thumb and thought “hmm, people snapping their ads for brands”. Really, the logo and name came together one afternoon after about 3 months of thinking about it. Crazy how things come together sometimes and you just know it’s going to work. I’m a big proponent of not over thinking things and just felt in my gut it was right. We have had nothing but great reaction to the name and logo. The logo was designed by a friend who I called right after I got the idea for SnapMyAd. She has believed in us from the start.

3. What is your “big innovation?” What’s the coolest features of your tech?

Creating and building a safe place where consumers and brands can interact — a place where consumers can get rewarded for current behavior and brand promotion — and a place where brands can tap into brand advocates for trusted user generated advertisements.

4. How does your technology change the game for event professionals?

People are inherently social — even when they are lurking. Technology allows us to look at all the ways.

5. Is it possible to measure ROI on your product?

Absolutely! First we focus on the ROI. We know that by putting the consumers first and addressing their needs that the brands will come and so far so good!

6. What do your best customers love about you?

Our customers love the fact SnapMyAd seamlessly integrates into their lives and current social behavior. They were already taking branded pictures, whether they were aware of it or not. And now they can get fairly compensated!

7. What industry trends and shifts are you following that you think are important?
Crowdsourcing has been around for awhile now and with the rise, trust and transparency of user generated content brands will look to tap into their brand advocates to “sell” their products.

8. Any lessons learned from the trenches?

Be passionate about what you do. Actively listen and work with good hearted people.

BONUS: What’s your favorite app? [Not your own] Instagram of course!