PARTNER EVENT
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The IAM 2019 jury (from left to right): Denis Jacquet, Caroline Rush, Julien Macdonald,
Princess Camilla Bourbon-Two Siciles, Jeetendr Sehdev, Mickey Boardman, Céline Saint Rémy
n October 6, Monaco hosted the
2nd Influencer Awards ceremony,
which received an incredible re-
sponse from around the world. We spoke
with Lolita Abraham, founder of IAM who
shared some statistics with us: «Last year,
we organized the 1st edition of IAM and the
impact was amazing. We reached about
7 million people and had over 81 million
interactions which really put Monaco in the
spotlight».
Since her childhood, Lolita has been in-
volved in the fashion industry and has
grown up amongst entrepreneurs. 2 years
ago she came to the conclusion that the
work of influencers was underrated and
while searching for her next project, decid-
ed to create IAM.
In Lolita’s quest to further structure the digi-
tal world surrounding influencers, next year
the young entrepreneur plans to create a
charitable foundation, which in the future
will support associations collaborating with
influencers and bring to light another key
aspect of their work and dedication.
And if that wasn’t enough, Lolita teamed
up with Monaco-raised Maureen Kragt and
the pair co-founded MonacoLab, a leading
Agency in transformative visual identity and
communications.
Maureen who has also been an integral part
of the IAM team since its beginning heads
up the influencer press relations; she told
us what made the 2019 edition so special.
«The 2nd edition was exceptional; twice as
many influencers as the first year and over
30 nationalities gathered in the Principality.
IAM’s vision grows with each edition. This
year we gained credibility as an awarding
body, thanks to the hard work and dedica-
tion from everyone involved. Our main goal
has always been to provide support and rec-
ognition to all of the influencers and their
commitment to these «digital» careers that
have developed with the boom in Social Me-
dia, especially Instagram.
This year, we wanted to «up the game» and
put extra effort into making the main Gala
event unforgettable. It was amazing to be
able to work with exceptional partners like
Ali Bakhtiar who has been designing events
and interiors for almost 3 decades, working
with VIPs and royalty across the globe».
According to Maureen, this year’s edition
saw new categories emerge like «Gaming»
and «Best brand marketing campaign». It
is important to recognise brands who are
IAM public relations @maureenkragt
and IAM founder @lolitaabraham
influencer friendly and reward them for be-
ing pioneers of their time, recognizing the
power that influencers have on society.
This year, winners were selected in 14 cat-
egories. Among the influencers honoured
during the ceremony were Hofit Golan, Tony
Kelly, Maya Malnar and many others.
This year, Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two
Sicilies presided over the jury. Exclusively for
HelloMonaco, she highlighted the selection
criteria for the winners and pointed out that
influencers’ work is mistakenly regarded as
superficial.
«The influencers are so devoted. It’s a job.
I mean, people think that being an influenc-
er is superficial. Actually, not at all. It’s a real
job, it takes dedication. You work 24 hours
a day. No holidays!»
What does a representative of the Italian roy-
al family have to do with the digital industry?
«You see, I come from a background of
traditions, values, and history. The way
I explain it to my husband, who is a member
of the Italian royal family, is that I want to
become a bridge of sorts between modern
times and the past», explained the wife of
Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Winners are selected according to definite cri-
teria. «We know how many followers people
have», Princess Camilla continues. «But it’s es-
pecially the quality of their Instagram feed, of
what they post every day that matters». The
quality and frequency of publications, the ab-
sence of fake followers and a powerful mes-
sage behind their Instagram feed: these are
the main criteria of success for every influencer.
Another jury member shared with us his vision
of being a «digital businessman». Jeetendr Se-
hdev knows what it means to be an influencer
firsthand, because he is the author of the best-
selling book «The Kim Kardashian Principle»,
where he explained what popularity depends
on. Jeetendr is a pop-culture expert and a col-
umnist at the Financial Times. He told us what
it means to him to be an influencer:
«I think being an influencer is a big respon-
sibility. But the power of influencers comes
from the fact that they are very much liv-
ing their lives on their own terms and doing
what they want to do. And I think that is a
very inspiring message, that’s a very respon-
sible message to youth audiences today.
They say ‘Look, we have this life, we have to
Hello Monaco Winter 2019–2020 / 169
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