Thunderbolt Digital is a digital marking Farnham based agency that provides a number of different personalised services. As a digital agency, we make it our business to keep up to date with the latest social media trends, and love when exciting happens.
Snapchat has made a huge impression after the unexpected vending machine appearance in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. The vending machine dispensed a never before seen product called Snapchat Spectacles, sunglasses that record circular cropped videos of up to 30 seconds. Snapchat priced the sunglasses at $130 (£102.90), but they are being sold on eBay for up to $1000 (£791.51); the public is going crazy for them.
While the Spectacles are admittedly cool, we can’t help but recognise this is a very effective marketing campaign. They are creating hype through a new fad, while cleverly avoiding association with the much less popular “Google Glasses”. It is an ingenious way to have everyone talking about Snapchat, all the while making money through the campaign alone. To make the whole event more exciting the whole projected is shrouded in mystery, with the promise of more brightly coloured vending machines in unknown locations at unknown times. The location of the next vending machine was uploaded to the spectacles website 24 hours before it appeared, keeping everyone in suspense.
Despite it being a publicity stunt, the Spectacles are an exciting start in popularising technology in glasses. At the relatively affordable price of £102.90, we might well see them in stores in the not so distant future, though Snapchat has refused to comment on this possibility. It might not be long before this fashionable facial wear becomes common dress! Could it be a device to record memories or a shortcut to the Internet?