MARKETING
Winning With Influencer Marketing
By Graham Villiers-Tuthill
One of the most interesting things about social media is the democratization of ideas . Everyone has a voice , and all voices can be heard . Sometimes this is great . When it comes to Twitter and LinkedIn that means that some of the greatest marketing minds in strategy , creative , media and effectiveness are all accessible to everyone . Sometimes this is not so great ! It also means that some very odd marketing opinions get peddled as ‘ guaranteed ’ solutions to your business issues .
Marketing Twitter was all aflutter recently when somebody posted this classic piece of ‘ advice ’. Apologies , I have struggled in vain to find the original post online so I cannot credit the author … but maybe that is for the best ?
There is a lot going on here . Sweeping statements about the death of traditional media , which is still very much alive . Claims that you cannot measure ROI of a TVC , which is not the case . The idea that influencers and hashtags on social media can ‘ guarantee ’ a better return than other types of media , which is hard to say with certainty !
It is easy to dismiss such advice , and the fact that TikTok advertised pitch side at the Euro 2020 games did not help the argument that TV advertising is dead ! However , with so much going on in the online space , marketers are increasingly turning to influencers to put their brand in culture . How can we do that while also demonstrating a return ?
Influencers - The New ‘ Sponsorship ’
At Diageo we have a long association with influencers working on several of our brands . Guinness have created partnerships with musicians like Tom Jones , sports icons like Thierry Henry and , most famously , created their own iconic action hero ‘ Michael Power ’ in a mini-series and a box office movie that ran across Africa .
At EABL , we have had our fair share of marquee sponsorships , but prior to Covid-19 we had not used a lot of online influencers . When the pandemic hit , we accelerated our engagements in this space . Why ? People were spending more time on social media , influencers could create content quickly in a challenging lockdown environment , and they brought aspiration to our brands . In many ways they are a new type of sponsorship that provide positive association and content creation .
Streamlining Our Engagement With Influencers
Managing influencers was initially complex , so we consolidated our influencer management under two agencies Zilojo and
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