Multisport Magazine Issue 27 | Page 34

PURE PERFORMANCE | ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT WHO HAS MORE INFLUENCE THAN THE INFLUENCER? BY PHIL STONEMAN Social media influencers vs athlete endorsement I recently sent out a monthly newsletter to our M5 SportsPath members about the rise of the 'influencer'. The purpose was to educate our emerging sporting talent on the role influencers play in the media and sponsorship mix in comparison to athlete endorsement. It got me thinking more about how Social Media Influencers (SMI) have been impacting on my M5 business over the last five years and how SMI's such as Kayla Itsines with her 8.9 million followers are unsurprisingly taking a sizeable portion of the endorsement dollar. To put it in simple terms, currently SMI's are competing and in many ways, winning the battle of the endorsement dollar - and it's the elite/professional sportsperson that is feeling this impact the most. As much as I admire the entrepreneurial flair of the SMI, I feel there is a distinct advantage that our admired sporting identities have in their favour. I N S PI R I N G S P E A K E R S F O R YO U R N E X T P U B L I C F U N CT IO N M5 Management is proud to represent some of Australia’s finest corporate speakers with inspiring careers and experiences - tailored to your audience and objectives. CORPORATE FUNCTIONS + CONFERENCES ● TEAM BUILDING EVENTS ● CORPORATE SPORTS EVENTS Enquire at [email protected] MELISSA HAUSCHLIDT - 3 X WORLD TRIATHLON CHAMPION, COMMONWEALTH GAMES 34 | MULTISPORT MAGAZINE SILVER MEDALLIST PETE JACOBS - IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPION