Advertising Reimagined: Why Real Relationships Matter More Than Ever

At Smartly Advance in New York, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Smartly CEO Laura Desmond took the stage for a candid conversation on the future of advertising, creativity, and connection. The session revealed why real relationships, not just reach, are the foundation of growth in a digital-first world.

Snap at Scale: Communication Reimagined

Spiegel opened with perspective on Snap’s growth: now reaching around 930 million monthly active users, with the platform expected to surpass one billion next year. For more than a decade, he argued, Snap’s success has come from reshaping how people communicate. Text was too slow and often misinterpreted. A Snap, by contrast, conveys emotion, context, and presence in a single tap.

That philosophy, that “a Snap is worth a thousand words”, has not only powered adoption among Gen Z and millennials (with over 75% of 13–30 year-olds engaged globally), it has also made the platform a natural home for brands. As Spiegel put it, brands are often “the glue” in relationships: the Coke shared among friends, the sports team followed together, the concert remembered in stories.

The Inbox and the New Frontier for Brands

The biggest product change for Snap advertising came this year with the introduction of sponsored Snaps directly in the inbox. Moving beyond the vertical video format that Snap pioneered, this innovation has already proven its value: advertisers including sponsored Snaps see conversion lift of roughly 20% and a similar reduction in cost per action.

For marketers in the room, Spiegel’s point was clear: the spaces where people connect with each other are also the spaces where brands can most meaningfully appear -provided they do so with relevance and authenticity.

Trust Built Over Time

When asked about building trust with younger audiences, Spiegel emphasized consistency. From the start, Snap differentiated itself by making messages ephemeral, counter to an internet built on permanence. That early commitment to privacy, he argued, gave Snap “permission” to innovate in areas like location sharing, where users share real-time data only because they trust the product and its intent.

Trust, then, isn’t won in a moment - it is built over years of consistency, design choices, and transparency.

Creative Velocity and Personalization

Laura Desmond pushed Spiegel on how consumer expectations are evolving. His response: today’s consumers expect both speed and personalization. The volume of content has exploded, fueled by the ease of creation (from snaps to generative AI). Brands can no longer rely on a “perfect” creative asset distributed endlessly. They need creative velocity - the ability to produce content daily, test what resonates, and adapt in real time.

Equally, personalization has become non-negotiable. Products and messages must feel made for the individual - reflecting their passions, friendships, and communities. This is where Smartly, Spiegel noted, plays a critical role, helping brands pair velocity with tailored personalization.

AI and the Future of Design

Looking ahead, Spiegel spoke about AI’s role in reshaping design. Snap is experimenting with generative interfaces - apps and AR experiences built on the fly for each user. With new AR Spectacles slated for release in 2026 after more than a decade of investment, Spiegel envisions computing that keeps people grounded in the real world, connected to friends and family, rather than locked into small screens.

This shift, from static interfaces to generative, adaptive environments, could redefine not just design, but the very way people experience technology and advertising.

Leadership and Growth

The conversation also turned reflective. Having led Snap for 14 years, Spiegel admitted that the role has demanded constant personal growth. His mantra: enter every room assuming you know nothing, and learn fast. He credited Snap’s operator-led board and a culture of relentless idea generation, where the design team produces thousands of concepts and discards nearly all, as sources of resilience and innovation.

For him, success is simple: serving the community by helping people build strong relationships. If Snap continues to do that well, the business will thrive.

Why It Matters

The takeaway for marketers in the room was that the future of advertising lies in empathy, trust, and adaptability. Technology accelerates creative cycles and personalization, but enduring success will come from building real relationships - the kind that are consistent, trustworthy, and culturally relevant.

Spiegel’s final note was a reminder that while AI and AR will shape the tools of tomorrow, the true measure of success is whether those tools help people feel closer to each other and to the brands they invite into their lives.

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