Embracing Social Influencers

Last week The One Club announced the Social Influencer Marketing Discipline – a new category to premiere at the 44th Annual One Show Awards in May.

In a world of fast-moving digital trends and consumer content curation, the best creative work coming out of our industry seeks and delivers novel methods and channels to reach consumers. Recognising the importance of awarding this work, The One Show has always been reactive to new trends. Having recently expanded its categories to include a Cultural Driver discipline - an award devised to recognise a broader spectrum of entrants – the show has also sought to address innovative uses of social media. This year the new Social Influencer Marketing Discipline­­ will ‘recognise the partnership with an established social media influencer to enhance or promote a brand through that influencer's audience and style.’

Kevin Swanepoel, CEO of The One Club, explains more about the new category, its criteria and what the show hopes to achieve.

Q> Why do you think it’s necessary for the industry to recognise Social Influencer Marketing?

Kevin Swanepoel> The democratisation of media through all of these social, video and blogging platforms and channels led to the rise of these social influencers, who wield tremendous influence. Brands and agencies have taken note, tapping into these influencers, who often boast higher engagement than traditional celebrities, for their own marketing communications. I have seen some amazing work for brands done by Influencers. Early adopters like Pepsi, Mercedes and Red Bull are prime examples. It was some of these early creative successes that inspired me to create this category. Ultimately, I think this form of marketing will play a more important role in the future. In terms of The One Show, we are always looking for the best creative; the introduction of this category is simply reacting to great, new innovative work in this space.

Q> Have there been instances where you felt certain creative work or campaigns were undervalued due to a lack of recognition in the field?

KS> I do not think it is a case of overlooked or undervalued work. It is more of a trend that we’ve been seeing. More and more agencies, brands and individual influencers are gaining traction or creating social media agencies specifically to create content and work with brands on unique content.

Q> Ultimately, what do you hope to achieve by the introduction of this new category at The One Show?

KS> The One Show was the first to celebrate Branded Entertainment. When others were calling it “advertainment," we put a flag in the ground by referring to it as branded entertainment, which is now the standard for the industry. We were the first preeminent advertising award show to introduce design as a key component of advertising. Now we are breaking new ground focusing on another emerging trend. We’re proud of not only awarding the best work but also staying ahead of the creative curve. 

Q> When did you start working on the new category?

KS> It has taken six months of preparation, research and backend work on our systems to get this live.  Submitting a new category to the Board of Directors takes a ton of thought and planning.  It needs to make sense for the industry and needs to be true to our mission. It took a lot of research and finding case studies, data, speaking to people who craft the kind of work that will fall into a specific category to help mount an argument to the board. Then, we present and they deliberate.

The board gave it a green light in September and we are thrilled. In addition to keeping our finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the industry and beyond, we also tapped some experts, like Epic Signal, our partner in launching this new discipline. The news and press have, in the past few weeks, highlighted this new trend and we are so excited to be the first awards show to help legitimise and honour influencers and the great work some are doing on behalf of brands.

Q> Looking back at the last decade – what would be some prime candidates for this category? 

KS> There has been some amazing work produced in this space over the last few years. One example that really stands out to me is Loreal’s partnership with YouTube beauty guru, Michelle Phan. They were totally ahead of the curve as the campaign wasn’t just a pay to play – Michelle was actually part of the development of a brand new product line. Very forward thinking.

Mountain Dew’s new multi-channel network, Green Label is also interesting. This is the first ever brand run, creator-driven brand MCN. It's also creating long term partnerships with creators as opposed to one-off collaborations.

Then of course there are things like, YouTube’s Rewind – a round-up of their biggest and best video collaborations featuring YouTube creators, and there are some great examples of branded content. I love Textpert by Rhett & Link 

Q> So, what are the criteria for entrants?

KS> This discipline recognises the partnership with an established social media influencer to enhance or promote a brand through that influencer's audience and style. The work must be done on behalf of a brand or cause (NGO or non-profit organization).

Q> How will you measure success in this category?

KS> Whilst The One Show focuses primarily on creativity, this is a discipline that will require the capture of certain social analytics to demonstrate an influencer’s effectiveness and engagement.  We tapped a leader in the space, Wearisma, which has helped us create the tool that captures some of the data we need to authenticate reach and influence.

Q> Do you think this will attract different types of talent to enter The One Show?

KS> Absolutely, this broadens the scope of where entries can come from. It opens up to a huge creative influencer base that usually would never consider entering The One Show.