As Erling Haaland continues to fight the robot allegations one Snap at a time, not to mention the infamous Snapchat Derby between Nottingham Forest and Fulham, it is clear that Snapchat has become a favourite amongst athletes.
Having previously explored how footballers are rewriting the rules of sports media, we wanted to delve deeper into Snapchat’s growing prominence in the sports industry, and who better than Julie Bogaert. As Head of Creator Partnerships EMEA at Snapchat, she is responsible for onboarding Haaland among many other athletes to the platform.
In this exclusive interview, we discussed the cultural shift online, the Snapchat boom amongst athletes, and how Snapchat is looking to establish itself as the go-to platform for authentic content.
What is your role at Snapchat?
Julie B: “I’m currently the head of EMEA creator partnerships at Snapchat, which means that my team and I look after any person of influence on the app. We want our community of creators to feel safe and understand how to use Snapchat so that they can build a strong community of people they engage with and ultimately make money from it. I think it’s very important to reward creativity and the time our creators spend on the platform sharing great content.”
What do you believe is the key driver behind the massive cultural shift online, from curated and refined posts to more authentic and in-the-moment?
Julie B: “I think Gen Z audiences are a lot more savvy – it takes a lot more for them to truly engage with content they see online. They want the real stuff – content that feels true to them and is authentic. The idea of seeing content that’s perfect and curated, talking about money, brand deals, and five-star hotels, is almost obnoxious in this day and age. Given the expectations of audiences today, it means that creators need to refine how they show up online – it should feel authentic, relatable and real.”
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Onboarding Erling Haaland – How did that occur, and how encouraging has his expressive progression been since joining Snap?
Julie B: “What I love about Erling is that he’s the perfect example of someone who understands that he needs to show up as his true, authentic self, so he took a chance to be on Snapchat to be as real as it gets. Erling has always been a fan of Snapchat – he mentioned this when I onboarded him. He’s Norwegian, and in Norway, Snapchat is huge – the app reaches over 90% of 13-24 year olds. People use it to communicate with their closest friends and family every day. Erling previously used Snapchat in his private life with a close group of friends and family before he decided to create a verified, public profile. He wanted to try it to see if people would be interested in his content. And very quickly, by not taking himself seriously he started using Augmented Reality lenses when he was a bit bored – like turning himself bald and interacting with his community using the Q&A function on Snapchat. The more he loved using the app, the more he posted, and the more he posted, the more people wanted to engage with his content. When he started posting regularly, I was like, wow, this dude is actually hilarious. This is the type of content I’m seeing more of – people are no longer scared to show who they really are, because on the other side of the phone, that’s what audiences are craving to see.”
What is behind the recent boom in Snapchat amongst athletes?
Julie B: “As you mentioned in the article that you previously published, the narrative is always super controlled by all the actors in the sport ecosystem. When athletes have so many people trying to control what they can say, it’s very difficult for them to feel like it’s fun. When athletes develop a verified, Snapchat public profile, they can be their true selves and show a side to their personality that’s beyond the pitch. Snapchat is built differently to traditional social media platforms – people come to the app to chat with their closest friends and family and then stay to watch all this great content. We don’t have an unvetted feed of content, it feels more playful and less pressure. I think it’s perhaps the last place where athletes can have a good time from a social media perspective.”
How should athletes best approach Snapchat, and what advice would you give to anyone looking to join the platform?
Julie B: “When I onboard athletes or any creator, I always tell them to think about three things they like doing and post about it. Not because they have to, but it’s a way for them to start thinking about what they could post. They often love fashion, their fits, travel and hanging out with friends – these are some of the common content pillars that athletes often bring up. For example, an athlete might say – I’m going to this fashion show, or I’m going to Monaco, and I’m going to have fun there with my boys where I will post a few pictures to show what I’m up to. Once they’re used to posting, they begin to share more behind-the-scenes style content from their lives. Something I really enjoy seeing, especially in the content from these athletes, is how they tag each other to encourage interaction. They love to annoy one another, and we’ve seen this in the UK with the Snapchat Derby (Fulham’s Alex Iwobi vs Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina). I’ve also noticed that when some players are watching matches from other teams, they’ll tag other players to give them strength or send them good vibes. I think it’s also humanising something that many people just see as a very big, multi-billion-dollar industry. I like the fact that they humanise it and show that they have emotions, they share jokes, have fun, and we see that our audiences respond positively to this content.”
How is Snapchat looking to enrich the relationship between athletes and their communities?
Julie B: “It’s something we’re thinking about right now, especially in the lead-up to the World Cup. We’re trying to onboard different people within the sports ecosystem. Of course, the athletes are always going to be the most important, because they make up a large part of the sports ecosystem. However, we’re also going to onboard more journalists, coaches, agents, and their families because they will bring a different perspective to our community. For the World Cup, we want to have all of these people posting on Snapchat so that you don’t just have this one view of the World Cup, but you can see it through so many different lenses – that’s the power of Snapchat.”
Where do you see the relationship between athletes and Snapchat going in the next five to 10 years?
Julie B: “What I’d love to see, and it’s certainly what we’re working towards, is having athletes on Snapchat at the start of their career so Snapchat is first of mind. It’s no longer nice to have, but instead, it’s where they can really be themselves and connect with their community.”
How is Snapchat looking to establish itself as the go-to platform for the most authentic content?
Julie B: “I think it’s about providing more tools, more formats, and more choices for a diverse group of creators. Some creators prefer going live, so we’ve been thinking about a live product – as our CEO announced in September 2025. Some people will always love Stories, so we’ll continue to think about how we can improve Stories. We want to create an environment where everybody can pick and choose what works best for them. It’s also really important for us to reward our global community of creators – that is why we’re very proud of our creator monetisation program, which allows us to share revenue with our creators on Snapchat. We’ll continue to focus on how to improve our suites of monetisation tools so that people can build businesses and have a long-term strategy on Snapchat.”
What five footballers should the Footballer Fits community follow on Snapchat?
Julie B: “Erling Haaland, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Hugo Ekitiké, Eduardo Camavinga, and Houssem Aouar.”
