Guest Post: Tom Kelk is a tech/sport blogger and Senior Social Exec at communications agency, Pitch. You can find him on Twitter (@TomKelk), LinkedIn and his blog

TechCrunch reported last week that SnapChat have just agreed a deal with, Eric Toda, Nike’s Director of Digital, to come on board to help SnapChat develop further in sport.

To this point, very few brands have jumped on board with Snapchat – it’s a tricky one. Brands want content that can be reshared across networks and have a permanent digital life to gain maximum value for the investment. The likes of MTV, Paddy Power and Betfair have all made inroads, but none of which are regular users. It’s the same situation with MacDonalds and Heineken. Both brands used Snapchat on a one-off basis. These brands have looked to get a couple of headlines through ‘new platform innovation’, or emphasised the ‘exclusive’ nature of what they will offer.  So where are they headed next?

Snapchat’s major selling point, the self-destructive nature of its content, could be a huge selling point for its relationship with sport. With Twitter coming under-fire from the Premier League in recent times for the widespread sharing of broadcasters content, Snapchat has an inherent advantage. Self-destructing, time-sensitive content could allow for an entirely different social viewing of sports. For example, imagine being out on a Saturday afternoon and getting a Snapchat from the Times, for example, and that Snapchat is the goal just scored by your team. You can watch it and it self-destructs immediately. As it cannot be shared or recorded by the masses, doesn’t this solve many of the rights-holders concerns?

For Toda’s part, he has been part of an interesting period for Nike, where technological innovation has gone from integral – to marginal. Nothing shows this more than the fuelband which suffered from actually being ahead of the consumer curve on healthcare and wellbeing, which the smartwatch era is taking so seriously. With questions over the role of digital for Nike, it seems Toda believes this is the time to make a move.

As mentioned earlier, Snapchat has been reluctant to support mass brand adoption of the platform to this point, rejecting opportunities for partnerships to expand the platform for brands. They put tools in place for brands but we’ve still not seen brands discover the best way to use the platform. The move to appoint Eric Toda may not be aimed at bringing brands on board, but potentially as a move to work with governing bodies and rights holders – still a big move.

Next stop analytics…right??