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- Mercedes-Benz Enlists AMG Enthusiasts
- Influential x MLB Partnership
- $200 Million Dollars Raised to License YouTube Catalogs
- TikTok Wants Longer Videos—Whether You Like It or Not
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Great Reads
From the 1700s to 2020s: Here's how the influencer game actually began
The concept of influencer marketing is not as novel as we think it is. Before the advent of the internet and social media, the masses depended heavily on advertisements that were featured in newspapers, magazines, television and radio for their daily “influencer” fix. However, the job of influencing people was not as streamlined and democratised as it is today. This elusive responsibility was entrusted only to public figures such as kings, queens and the pope, as well as politicians, film stars and business leaders.
Now, anyone with an Instagram or Twitter profile can become an influencer if they manage to garner a considerable audience through their content. Social media influencers can have a powerful impact on users by building meaningful and trustworthy relationships with the audience.
This is majorly because of a general distrust of big brands and corporations, who may not be transparent about the viability of their products. Thus, people turn to an influencer who would tell them the pros and cons of the product.
Owing to the spurt in the number of influencers over the years, brands seem to have replaced celebrities with social media influencers to endorse their products to tap into the niche audience and boost sales. This makes influencer marketing a powerful sales strategy that can no longer be ignored in today’s dynamic social media landscape.
Influencer Marketing With Darryl Gordon Of San Diego Foodie
Darryl Gordon says he “fell into” being a food influencer and loved it. One day, he got a call from a woman who had seen his writing online, and she asked if he would be interested in doing a restaurant review. He said yes and loved the experience of talking to the restaurant owners and creating a restaurant review. Eventually, he started his own blog writing reviews and an Instagram account, San Diego Foodie, after a friend recommended he post his reviews on Instagram. He gained 18,000 followers on Instagram in two years, which surprised him.
His favorite part about being a food influencer?
The fantastic relationships he’s developed and some of the unique experiences he’s had along the way.
While Darryl will never ask, he loves being invited to tour the kitchen and see how a restaurant operates. His personal favorite experience was at a San Diego Thai restaurant. One night, he ate there with his family and really enjoyed the Pad Thai. He spoke with the chef about how the Pad Thai was made and told her that he was having a hard time making a great Pad Thai dish at home.
The next day, he received a call from her, and she invited him back to the restaurant. When he arrived, she had written the restaurant’s Pad Thai recipe and gathered ingredients in individual bags for him. It was such an incredible experience for him because not many restaurants would give out their recipes, but the chef cared enough about the Thai culture to help Darryl recreate their dishes. Darryl clearly treasures this moment, and it was a significant moment of community and love shared over food.
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Sponsored
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In making it easy for consumers to turn cookies off, marketers have made drastic changes to measurement/attribution and finding new audiences. Loss of cookie data means advertisers investing the same amount might see a decrease in results.
How can marketers work around this? Influencer marketing. Working with influencers is an easy way brands can reach specific audiences without spending additional media money.
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Campaign Insights
Mercedes-Benz's new campaign targets social media-savvy AMG customers on Instagram
Commenting on the new campaign, Santosh Iyer, Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India remarked, “The "Are you AMG-ready? campaign aims at making the brand more desirable while simultaneously reaching new target groups. It showcases Mercedes-Benz’s sharp customer focus by repurposing the media mix to ensure maximum engagement with customers. Our AMG customers are adrenaline loving, feisty spirited digital natives who seek instant reaction and constant engagement from the brand. They are performance purists whose passion for the AMG brand has led them to become semi-influencers in their own right. The campaign salutes our AMG customers, their inspiring AMG spirit and passion for performance, which will strengthen the AMG brand further.”
“The campaign acknowledges the evolving psyche and AMG lifestyle of our customers and invites them to explore the infinite possibilities just like the powerful and scintillating personality of the AMG performance brand itself. We firmly believe ""Are you AMG-ready?” campaign will redefine the marketing playbook for the future, and set a new instance for new-age performance marketing in India. The campaign also is a precursor to the introductions of some of the most exciting AMG products this year.” Elaborated Mr. Iyer
The campaign includes numerous Instagram assets each telling an individual story. They focus on four highlight vehicles from the AMG model portfolio: two historic milestones in the shape of the SLS AMG Electric Drive and the 300 E 5.6 AMG ("The Hammer" as well as two current vehicles in the form of the Mercedes-AMG G 63 and the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series.
Regular People Are Dipping Their Toes in Creator Waters
One recent winter day, grad student Joey Brown went on Twitter to express her love and joy for two yogurt brands.
First, she tweeted, “@Chobani would love a sample of your most bold yogurts.” Several hours later, she wrote an ode to the frozen yogurt treat Yasso: “@yassofroyo is the only joy I have.”
While the tweets received minimal likes or retweets, due to Brown’s small Twitter following, to her surprise, Yasso dm-ed her and offered to send 20 boxes of frozen treats. While they didn’t ask her to, Brown posted a photo with the boxes to her private Instagram account, which has less than 1000 followers.
“My boyfriend and I were kind of trolling on Twitter,” Brown admitted. “It was more of a cosplay as an influencer,” she said, adding that a bit of free merch is a perk. “It feels really good to get free stuff.”
Community engagement—a well-worn social media marketing strategy—is a key part of Yasso’s marketing strategy, which is willing to trade a few free boxes for organic marketing.
“Our team is constantly looking for ways to proactively surprise and delight fans, with nothing in return expected,” says Kelsey Gill, director of integrated marketing at Yasso.
The DC Police Department Wants to Recruit New York Foodies, Gamers, and Influencers
The banner ad depicts the red-white-and-blue badge-shaped logo of Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department. Nearby are images of two young people, as well as an encouragement for “gamers,” “foodies,” “techies,” and “influencers” to to “Join Us”—”us” being “the next generation of DC Police.” Typing in the ad’s URL or scanning its QR code will take you directly to the department’s hiring page. But this ad, which is running on buses locally, reaches riders on a subway system that doesn’t travel anywhere in DC, Maryland, or Virginia—it’s in New York City.
The call is meant to attract members of Generation Z and millennials, in addition to veterans and second-degree candidates, says Brianna Burch, a spokesperson for the department. So why target subway riders only in New York? Burch cites low ridership on Metrorail for its decision. It’s part of a system-wide subway ad campaign, Burch says, and it’s the first time the DC Police have recruited this way in New York City—though, in the past, the DC force has attracted people from New York and New Jersey.
The DC Police have approximately 3,550 officers, about a tenth the total of the New York City Police Department. According to a press release from DC Mayor Muriel Bowser late last year, that’s the lowest number of officers in two decades. Bowser asked for $11 million to hire 170 police officers in 2020 and 2021; the DC Council provided $5 million instead. (The council also established a Police Reform Commission that recommended several reforms, such as “decentering” the role of police as first responders in some situations.) The US Department of Justice kicked in more than $3 million last December to hire officers.
Influential-MLB Players, Inc. Partnership Empowers Players to Become Successful Content Creators
Influential announced a partnership with MLB Players, Inc., the business arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association. The agreement gives 1,200 MLB players the opportunity to secure and execute branded campaigns with Influential's wide range of Fortune 500 clients.
In addition to developing campaigns, the partnership with Influential will give players insights into their social media data across all leading social platforms including TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. Backed by the power of IBM Watson, Influential's AI-powered Social Intelligence technology facilitates connections with a range of top global brands, including Ford, McDonald's and the NFL.
Influencer marketing allows sports brands to expand their reach to previously untapped audiences. According to Nielsen data, athlete influencers have the ability to generate 63% more engagement than other social media content producers. With these tools at their disposal, MLB players will be able to grow their personal brands and create successful content campaigns.
"This partnership provides our members with the tools they need to understand the value of their digital profiles and impact," said Evan Kaplan, Managing Director of MLB Players, Inc. "Access to Influential's robust technology platforms will also help players generate meaningful brand partnerships."
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Interesting People
Michael Patterson: Bay Area Food Influencer Powering Restaurant Sales
Michael’s journey to becoming a food influencer started when he noticed that the most liked pictures on his Instagram account were food-related.
“Also, because I travel a lot, my family and friends would hit me up whenever they went somewhere or were in town. ‘Hey, what’s the new spot?’ or ‘Where are you eating?’. Even at work people would always ask me where to eat. A lot of places nowadays put 90 percent of their effort into the image of the restaurant. It’ll be a cool space and look very appealing. But then the food will be lacking flavor. The ‘energy’ should be in the food first.”
He has been a food blogger for nearly four years now. While he is on this full time now, he did it part time for about three years. Michael lives in Stockton but most of the brands he works with are in the San Francisco Bay Area. He identifies restaurants to visit based on recommendations from his followers, looking up reviews on sites like Yelp to find places to eat in an area he is in, and responding to restaurants that reach out to him directly.
Joan MacDonald, social media fitness influencer, is proving good health has no age limit
Joan MacDonald was delighted to welcome her daughter and son-in-law to her home in Ontario, Canada just before Christmas in 2016. What she hadn’t expected was her daughter’s reaction to the news that she was on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and acid reflux.
“I was really huffing and puffing climbing up and down the stairs,” recounted MacDonald, who was 70 years old and 198 pounds at the time. “My daughter got really, really concerned. She thought that if she wanted me around, she’d better intervene.”
Luckily, McDonald’s daughter, Michelle MacDonald, happens to be a fitness trainer and coach. “Michelle challenged me, and I’m not one to back down from a challenge!” MacDonald said.
Just a few weeks later, in January 2017, MacDonald joined one of her daughter’s transformation groups along with 10 other women who were similarly determined to make a change in their appearance and ability. The only difference was that MacDonald was substantially older than every other member of the group.
By changing her food intake, physical activity and even her sleep patterns, MacDonald was able to improve her health enough to stop taking her blood pressure medication within a year. And now, at almost 76 years old, MacDonald is medication-free, 60 pounds lighter and slimmer than she was as a teenager.
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Industry News
Spotter Raises $200 Million To License YouTubers’ Old Videos
Since launching in 2019, Los Angeles-based startup Spotter has spent $350 million to license YouTubers’ back catalogs—providing creators with cash up front in exchange for their videos’ advertising revenues. But whereas musicians like Springsteen and Sting have cashed in on their catalogs as an exit strategy, YouTube creators can use Spotter to get the money they need to further grow their brands. And if they succeed, that only makes Spotter’s investment in them even more valuable.
“If we can give creators money that's on an accelerated basis, that's enough to be game-changing at whatever part of their journey they're in,” Spotter founder and CEO Aaron DeBevoise told dot.LA. “They're going to win at such a big level that everyone's gonna win.”
On Wednesday, Spotter announced a $200 million Series D funding round, led by investment giant SoftBank, that values the firm at $1.7 billion. (The company had previously raised $555 million across three previous, undisclosed funding rounds, it said.) In addition to Softbank, Spotter's investors include Access Industries, CoVenture, Crossbeam Venture Partners, GPS Investment Partners and HighPost Capital.
WPP acquires influencer agency that worked on President Biden’s election campaign
WPP has acquired Village Marketing, the US influencer agency credited in 2020 with plugging in Joe Biden’s presidential election campaign to the creator scene.
Village will become part of the Wunderman Thompson network in order to provide a deeper influencer and creator economy offering to that agency’s clients.
Chief executive Mark Read said in a statement: “Influencers have an increasingly important role in creating brands. Village Marketing will bring tremendous experience with some of the world’s leading brands in using influencer content alongside performance marketing strategies to drive results for modern marketers. I’m delighted to welcome them to WPP.”
The acquisition is part of a “focused“ strategy the holding company is pursuing under Read.
Village Marketing has 150 staff – all women – and was founded in 2013. Its clients include Nike, Netflix and spin brand SoulCycle, and it also managed the influencer partnership strategy for president Biden’s campaign.
Vickie Segar, the agency’s founder, said: “For decades, the creator economy and influencer marketing have been wildly misunderstood and undervalued. We are now at a tipping point where this is changing – and it’s changing fast.
“This acquisition is a massive opportunity for us to leverage the expertise of a global leader to both turbocharge our investment in the creator economy and integrate influencer marketing into the broader marketing ecosystem. We can’t wait to join the Wunderman Thompson family to continue to evolve the future of marketing and work on inspiring brands with entrepreneurial creators.”
Snapchat Wants to Compete With TikTok, Plans Revenue Share With Popular Users
Snapchat is currently testing a mid-roll advertisement that will appear in the Stories of a small group of US creators, and a wider rollout is planned in the coming months. The revenue generated from the ad will be shared with the creator, based “on a formula that takes into account metrics like posting frequency and engagement,’ according to The Verge.
Snapchat users already see ads in between friends’ Stories, but this is the first time creators will get a cut of the ad revenue on Stories. The program will only be available to Snap Stars, which are the platform’s power users, either creators or entertainers with large followings that have been verified by Snapchat, indicated by a gold star.
Last year TikTok introduced a feature that allowed users to tip their favorite creator, while Snapchat has introduced the Creator Marketplace to facilitate brands working with video creators.
At the moment, TikTok doesn’t share advertising revenue with its users, instead it set up the Creator Fund to pay users with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in a 30-day period for their videos. TikTok creators can make bank by riding the service to enough prominence to make money off of endorsements.
TikTok Wants Longer Videos—Whether You Like It or Not
IN JUNE 2021, TikTok executives admitted that the site's users have very poor attention spans. A slide deck shown to Japanese advertisers claimed that TikTok users have such difficulty concentrating that the sites' snappy 60-second videos made it better at engaging them than any other social media platform.
TikTok representatives presented internal survey data, seen by WIRED, which they claimed showed that social media users are “flooded with large amounts of video content.” People’s ability to concentrate was being hit. Nearly 50 percent of users surveyed by TikTok said videos longer than a minute long were stressful; a third of users watched videos online at double speed.
The app overindexed among social media users compared to other large platforms for having just the right length of videos, TikTok data showed. And to hammer home the point, TikTok quoted a speed-watching laborer in his 20s in its slide deck. “It’s not because I don’t have time,” he said, “but because I can’t concentrate. I can’t concentrate.”
Less than a month later Drew Kirchhoff, TikTok’s US product manager, announced TikTok would extend the maximum video length from one to three minutes. Since then, the app has conducted widespread testing of five-minute-long videos between August 2021 and February 2022, and has even tried 10-minute videos among a small group of beta testers.
Creator platform Collab acquires Trendpop
Creator platform Collab has acquired Trendpop, a third-party short-form video database.
Trendpop products include proprietary data and insights that help brands maximize the effectiveness of clients' short-form video campaigns.
Trendpop will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Collab. Its tools can be used to help brands discover creators, trends and actionable insights to build marketing campaigns. Marketers can use Trendpop to identify viral content by using predictable analytics in an effort to boost vitality and reach.
Trendpop's dashboard also allows brands to monitor content and campaigns across platforms like TikTok to boost measurement, the companies said in a statement.
Collab is a TikTok creative and marketing partner with API access, with proprietary tech that helps creators and brands identify opportunities on social media platforms.
Trendpop was founded in 2020 by Yoav Zimmerman, a former Google engineer, and Jonathan Ben-tzur, a former Pinterest engineer. Trendpop received funding from Y Combinator in 2021. Zimmerman and Ben-tzur will continue in their roles as CEO and CTO respectively, with Andrew Kwan as head of partnerships.
Cliqki – Africa's fastest growing influencer marketplace
CLIQKI is an Adtech platform or an ad social media marketplace, where brands, content owners, and creators, can create more awareness for their product or service by offering incentives to users/ micro/macro influencers for sharing their content.
“We show you ads, offers, and other content, to help you discover content, products, and services that are offered by the many businesses and organizations that use our platform, but also provide you an opportunity to earn while engaging with this content.
“Our mission is to give people the power to promote their product offering to a diversified and relevant audience, as well as provide a means for others to earn while using their regular social media platforms. We are extremely excited to share some of the progress we have made over the past few months, as we remain steadfast towards our vision to build Africa and eventually the world’s largest Marketplace for influencers, where users can monetize their social media engagement”
“The idea behind CLIQKI was born out of a personal problem we had trying to promote a financial services brand, promote music content and expand our following on a crypto platform”. We realized that Facebook /Instagram makes millions of dollars in ad revenues from brands/companies and shares only a small portion with influencers/users on their platforms.
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Great Paywalled Content
Emma Brooks Named Brand Ambassador for Paul Mitchell Clean Beauty – WWD
John Paul Mitchell Systems has a new brand ambassador for its “clean” hair line: Emma Brooks.
“I knew working with Paul Mitchell was going to be a unique and different experience because I’ve been a loyal user of JPMS products since I was 14,” the 19-year-old influencer, who counts 3.6 million followers on TikTok and 1.7 million on Instagram, said in a statement to WWD.
“I am a true and genuine fan of the brand,” she continued. “I used to have such fine, long hair in high school and when I first got highlights, my hair was a disaster. I had just started preparing to compete in Miss Teen Louisiana and my coach recommended me to Jim Compton, who owned a local Paul Mitchell hair salon. I went to him for years and he taught me everything I needed to know about my hair and how to take care of it. I was only using Paul Mitchell and it truly saved my hair. I have always been one of Paul Mitchell’s biggest fans, so when I was given the opportunity to work with them it felt so natural and genuine. I only like to work with companies I truly believe in and this one exceeds every expectation I could ever have for an ideal partnership.
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