Nordstrom to throw party for Snapchat-savvy undergrads

Department store chain Nordstrom is hosting an epic party for 2,000 university students with the help of model Karlie Kloss.

Nordstrom’s “Snapchat Shoe Challenge” encourages past, present and prospective students to vote for their favorite school using the social sharing application. Currently enrolled at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Studies, Ms. Kloss is a supermodel, entrepreneur, philanthropist and coder, making her an ideal ambassador for the contest.

Study break
Beginning at 10 a.m. PST Nordstrom will post a number of university-themed snaps over a 24-hour period. Featured schools include Florida State University, University of Arizona, University of California Los Angeles, University of Oregon and University of South Carolina.

While the snaps are, live fans of the school, whether they have attended or not, are asked to screenshot their picks. The university with the most screenshots at the end of the effort will win the contest.

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The school with most votes will win a Nordstrom party “filled with swag” that Ms. Kloss will attend. Also, up to 2,000 seniors who attend the winning school will each receive a $100 voucher to be used at the retailer’s shoe department.

Snapchat has evolved to include marketing efforts and allows for brands to present consumers with unpolished, often candid, narratives. Marketers have struggled to fine-tune how to track ROI on Snapchat, but by using the app’s functions to an advantage brands will be able to better judge the effectiveness of campaigns (see story).

According to Fashionbi’s “Snapchat For Live Storytelling” report, the fastest growing social platform has the highest penetration among millennials, with 71 percent of its users under the age of 34. Snapchat users are prolific posters, with more than 400 million stories created per day (see story).