The well-known photo-sharing app Instagram has introduced adverts into the feeds of its UK users, after their introduction in the United States last year. The Facebook-owned application will run ads from such brands as Starbucks, Waitrose, Estee Lauder, Rimmel, Channel 4, Cadbury and Sony Music in the United Kingdom now. Instagram explained that it is starting with brands who already have a very strong presence on the service, because the operators want it to be a natural experience.


Instagram launched as a free iPhone app 4 years ago, enabling people to apply filters to their pictures, then share them both in Instagram and various social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

The application appeared on Android devices in April 2012, shortly before Facebook acquired it for $1bn. Today Instagram is recognized as the most popular social network and accounts for over 200 million active users who have posted more than 20 billion pictures with the app.

In the United Kingdom, Instagram advertisements will follow the template set in the United States, where they launched almost a year ago: still photos (not videos) that people can choose to like, comment on or hide from their feed.

The companies have already developed their advertising campaigns for Britain. For example, Waitrose’s first Instagram campaign will be based on its “Love Food” promotion; Rimmel will post images of women putting on make-up with the help of various reflective surfaces; Channel 4 will promote two of its new TV series; and finally, Sony Music will launch an ad for pop star Olly Murs. Instagram represents itself as a premium brand environment, just like magazines. The company charges between $350k and $1m for a month-long campaign in the United States.

According to media reports, Instagram had struck a year-long deal worth up to $100m with agency group Omnicom, which manages all the first brands launching Instagram ads in Britain.

As in the United States, Instagram has run a “house ad” a week before the first ads’ appearance, announcing its plans and demonstrating “an example of what an advertisement on Instagram looks like”. The company promised a very slow introduction to the market in order to help people understand what it looks like.

Instagram has also announced that after the US and UK, the next countries to get ads will be Australia and Canada. This means that the company opts for a rollout to English-speaking countries, which reflects its expansion of offices and editorial staff. Its operators also added that while branding campaigns remain the focus for Instagram’s advertising business right now, the company has a potential to open up to other kinds of companies and content, including editorial. For example, in the United States, the company works with many movie studios, broadcasters and sports leagues like the NFL and MLB, who are very creative about how they do the recaps via Instagram.