Social start-up makes history with ‘ethical’ Snapchat ads

● Good-loop deal with Unilever lets viewers of its online advert choose a charity to receive a donation

An Edinburgh-based advertising platform aiming to raise £5 million for charity within two years is launching the first “ethical adverts” on Snapchat as part of a deal with Unilever.

Tech start-up Good-loop runs an advertising service which rewards viewers of online video adverts by facilitating donations to a chosen charity.

Today the firm, which has offices in Edinburgh and London, will launch its “ethical ads” for Lynx body spray on the social media app Snapchat. The video, which will sit within the Snapchat stories function, will feature Belgium and Manchester United footballer Marouane Fellaini and Made in Chelsea star Ollie Locke.

Under the agreement with Good-loop, Unilever will donate 10p to anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label every time a user opts to swipe up and learn more after viewing the video.

The launch takes place on “Giving Tuesday”, a social media-driven movement which encourages people to donate to charity on the Tuesday following big shopping days on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Last year’s Giving Tuesday raised more than $300m (£233m) for good causes worldwide.

Good-loop’s Lynx partnership follows a successful pilot with Unilever brand Knorr, facilitated by the Unilever Foundry platform, which allowed consumers to opt in to watch a piece of branded content and then select one of three charities to which Knorr would donate money.

Unilever chief marketing and communications officer Keith Weed described the deal as “win-win” advertising, driving marketing effectiveness and social impact.

Good-loop, which launched in October 2016, has seen its revenue more than double in the last month, with brand partners now including Nestle, Coca-cola and Eurostar, and backers including Skyscanner co-founder Gareth Williams.

The start-up has raised almost £200,000 for charity to date and is on target to reach £5m by 2020.

A recent advert for footwear brand Toms raised £50,000 which was shared between Save The Children, Ashoka, and Centrepoint.

Amy Williams, co-founder and chief executive of Goodloop, said: “The extension of our Unilever partnership to the Snap environment is hugely exciting, not least because it’s testament to our ability to connect charitable donations with digital advertising at scale.

“Good-loop is all about harnessing the power of doing good to make advertising more impactful for the brand and more positive for the consumer – and we’re so excited to be breaking new ground alongside Snap and The Foundry. It’s going to be very interesting to see the results.”