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The Art of the Influencer: Striking a Balance Between Data, Human Insight and Industry Knowledge

23/05/2017
Talent Agency
London, UK
322
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INFLUENCER: ITB Worldwide's Emma Gregson explains the importance of casting strategy and giving creative control to influencers
From the silver screen to the red carpet, Audrey Hepburn was almost always seen in one of Hubert de Givenchy’s dresses. Over the course of her life, she became synonymous with the French fashion designer’s work and, arguably, there’s never been a dress as iconic as the little black number that she wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She undoubtedly helped raised Givenchy’s profile and, most importantly for the brand, helped them sell dresses. Quite simply, Hepburn was an influencer. 

Brands have been tapping into talent for marketing purposes for almost a century. Seventy years on from that little black dress, brands are still using influencers to drive sales; except there’s been a fundamental shift in the way that influencer marketing is used in our increasingly digital world.  

The way in which brands engage with talent is ever evolving and, with that, the talent they’re tapping into is increasingly accessible to the public. Now more than ever, fans can engage with talent in ways that were previously impossible. These days, it’s Kendall Jenner showcasing the latest Daniel Wellington watch to her 80.2 million Instagram followers that’s helping to sell product. 

Whilst it’s nothing new, this form of social influencer marketing is big business. This year, Forbes is publishing its inaugural list of the world’s top influencers, whilst creative awards bodies such as The One Show and London International Awards are introducing categories to celebrate campaigns that successfully marry social media influencers with brands. 

The most effective influencer campaigns have one thing in common – someone who’s building and managing relationships. Successful brands are built upon relationships, and aligning with the right influencer – those that consumers admire, trust and engage with – can be a vital tool in cutting through the noise of an over-saturated marketplace. 

One of the key elements is building advocacy. The relationships we have with influencers allow us to talk to them about our clients; discuss the brand and get under the skin of the products we want to talk about. An influencer will only work with a brand if it’s going to work for both parties, and our role is to ensure that any relationship is strategic and that the product remains a key part of the conversation. You only need to look at the recent Fyre festival commentary to know how important credibility is and why its important that influencers fully know what they are getting involved with. 

Identifying the most effective and engaging influencer for a brand is a balance between data, human insight and industry knowledge. Strategies aren’t just built upon an influencer’s number of followers, reach or markets they’re resonating in, but the insider intelligence that we’ve built up over time. 

Our work with MANGO, for example, has answered a simple, yet challenging brief. They wanted to move the needle, forging a new direction for their communications that appealed to a millennial, fashion conscious audience. They also knew however they had a powerful tool to utilise – their customers fell within an important age group where 69% of consumers have made a purchase solely based on an online influencer’s recommendation.

With part of our remit being the casting strategy, we suggested that they align themselves with a ‘halo effect’ triumvirate who would become ambassadors for the brand’s “Mango Journeys” digital campaign: Camille Rowe, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Alma Jordorowsky. They’ve been supported by the #MangoGirls tribe, a carefully curated cast of fashion-focused influencers – playing their part in getting MANGO’s message out to smaller, more localised markets. So much so, that the brand continues to work with these influencers to this day because it’s understood the value in building long-term relationships with influencers. While it’s something that brands are becomingly increasingly aware of, MANGO is ahead of the game as well as a happy brand with average engagement of 13%. In a world in which a 3% engagement rate is deemed high, that figure is impressive.

Brands must also learn that giving creative control to influencers is important. Recently, Jules Lund wrote that ‘a brand which allows its advocates to create some content is simply a logical next step’. Taking such a strategic approach allows influencers to create their own brand advocacy by generating their own content and building an authentic story around the brand. It’s these stories that really engage with consumers and formed part of a successful strategy we implemented for Matalan – a brand looking to appeal to a younger consumer, whilst retaining interest from its older customer base. 

We collaborated with the retailer to identify a number of influencers who would appeal to a range of customers and Matalan’s product categories - from those with follower numbers in the hundreds of thousands, to ‘micro-influencers’ who posses lower follower numbers but greater engagement rates. Many of the influencers created their own content and harnessing creative that they know works for their audience helped build trust and advocacy. 

The rise of the ‘influencer’ has enabled us to be more creative than ever with our casting. Social media may have killed the mystic of the movie star but it has also enabled a whole new wave of talent with a vast arrange of skills come to the forefront of the conversation. From tattoo artists, skateboarders, basketball dribblers, cups players (it's a thing apparently), to the wonderful wave of silver influencers (just look how amazing Lynn Slater looks in our latest MANGO campaign!), BMX riders, astronauts and beyond – it pushes our casting and research remit and, as a result, giving us all amazing content and storytelling opportunities. 

An influencer strategy needs to sit at the heart of a campaign, not as a quick fix communication tool at the end. It’s a time intensive, relationship building exercise that requires expertise, contractual prowess and a lot of management to ensure that advocacy is built and product is received and engaged with. 

Ultimately, a combination of facts, figures, expert insight and informed decisions will make or break an influencer activation. It’s about bringing brands, agencies, and influencers together, managing relationships effectively and fruitfully to forge a brand strategy that hits the organic, authentic and credible sweet spot. 

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