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Do Brands Need Influencers or Vice Versa?

10/03/2023
Talent Agency
London, UK
433
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LBB’s Zoe Antonov explores the secrets and know-hows of influencer marketing with Aaron King, vice president of influencer, growth and innovation at R&CPMK
Above: Influencers wearing UGGs for R&CPMK's campaign 'FEEL'

Picture this: you’re unsure about a lipstick, or perhaps a pair of shoes, or you might be looking for the perfect weekend holiday out of the city, but nothing comes to mind. Then, your sister rolls up with the best nude lipstick you’ve ever seen, or maybe gives you advice about a brand she hates because their sizing really sucks. You end up, more often than not, listening to her and running to the drugstore for that lippy. There you have it - you’ve been influenced.

Although many of us might squirm at the idea of influencers and influence, and some might even actively try to prove that they don’t get impacted by people off the internet, it will always remain true that most choices we make within a societal context are swayed by somebody out there. Most of us have been guilty of succumbing to the trend, and a lot have people online that they exclusively listen to - and that might not be such a bad thing.

Relationships between viewers and influencers online have gone through thick and thin - from the early days of YouTubers when not many people got paid to say nice things about somebody’s brand, to TikTok where the beauty and cosmetics communities go through waves on waves of drama about which opinions are true and which are paid. 

As the feeds became ‘for you pages’ that have telepathic abilities, and blue ticks next to names became catalysts for civil wars in the internet space, talks of authenticity took over viewers' minds. The scroll is endless and it’s full of people to look up to - so which ones are the good ones? Who’s real and who’s not? It’s not as simple as your sister having your best interest at heart and giving you her opinion, and neither is it as cold as a celebrity behind a Hollywood Fix pap photo. These are people that we choose to reach for in spaces we find comfort in - books, beauty, sports, cars, or any interest under the sun. After years of online spaces developing and brands learning how to exist within them, we as viewers have to face the struggles of authenticity, endless choice, and trust. 

That’s why I spoke to Aaron King, vice president of influencer, growth and innovation at R&CPMK, to find out more about what happens behind the scenes in the world of influence. Aaron is responsible for defining the company’s entire agency approach to all things influencer and leveraging that globally, both in terms of how the agency shows up as a brand in the world of influencer and in the back end with the technical process that need adherence to.

Above: Aaron King

According to him, although we look at influencer marketing as something that is still in its infancy, it’s not at all. “It’s been around forever,” he says categorically. “It just wasn’t digital and we didn’t have a name for it.” Everyone has the power to influence, he explains, because we all naturally wield influence on somebody.

“When I think about influence, I’m not thinking about the number of followers or the verticals that you work in, I’m thinking audience first, and then figuring out what is the best catalyst for a brand to spread their message through.” This means that everything depends on scale (and some other digits) - if you want to speak to a huge number of people, it’s easiest to do it through a handful of celebrities that have big scope. When you want to tap into a niche, however, is when you scavenge the internet for those best in it, to reach the right people. Simple, right?

We can’t forget, though, that viewers are growing more wary of what they see and who they listen to. “If you’re looking at influencer through the big standard ‘influencer’ lens - yes, there has been a lack of trust,” says Aaron. “Everyone is consuming social media at a much higher rate than ever before, so we’re going to feel fatigued. That’s why we need to always be keeping it fresh and new.” An integral part of Aaron’s job is to acknowledge that those trends of trust and mistrust do happen, but navigate the field through them. “When it comes to disclosure, gen z more than anyone knows when it’s an ad and when it’s not an ad - because they’ve seen so much of it. It’s all about how we do our work and who we do our work with.” Hence the pledges from our favourite content creators about collaborating only with brands they love - transparency is key, and many times the brand backbone for many creators, no matter if they want to call themselves ‘influencers’ or not.

For Aaron, authenticity is a term that can mean different things in varying situations. “It could mean an authentic match between brand and creator, which I don’t think is always the right way of thinking about it. Or, it could mean authenticity in terms of the content output of the creator.” He turns to Young Emperors aka Isabelle Chaput and Nelson Tiberghein (a style icon couple) as an example of influencers that are typically in the fashion space, however are able to practically take any product and set it up authentically in their own way, because it all comes down to their own creativity. If they themselves have a strong brand, any brand can collaborate with that to create something new beyond both of those spaces. “That formula can be relevant to any brand.”

Aaron explains it’s not always about making that instant connection between brand and creator, or about the creator always having loved the brand - things are much more complicated. “It always comes back to remembering that we need to be true to the partnership, true to the creativity or true to the audience. It’s a trifecta and you don’t have to lean on all three at all times - you can lean into one of them at a time - depending on what you’re trying to do.” So, when looking at your faves collaborating with brands that seem a little bit out of the blue, that might not actually be so bad. Of course, it makes sense when recommending a product to actually enjoy it yourself, but partnerships aren’t always about that. Aaron takes Emily Zugay as an example - a TikTok creator known for redesigning famous logos with a twist, who now ended up working with Microsoft. She started a partnership with a brand her fans would probably not put her side by side with, but her creativity made the connection relatable, interesting and lasting.

“When we think about traditional influencer, it’s all about making sure that the values of the brand and influencer match, and you’re not forcing the influencer to say or do something that is unnatural to them,” continues Aaron. “I would never ask Lydia Millen to do a logo rewrite, because it would be so inauthentic for her. Instead, I’d ask her to do a ‘get ready with me’ in her dressing room, which she does really well. It’s all about taking an individualised approach to each person, because what’s authentic for one is different to what’s authentic to another.” And while the pace between YouTube and TikTok has changed - we scroll faster, consume faster, and in turn buy faster - influence has remained steady, but is now adapting to newer and better platforms, where it can stretch beyond traditional collaborations.

This is why, while influencer marketing in the metaverse is something Aaron believes will happen in time, he is way more excited right now about augmented reality. “You wouldn’t ask someone to jump off the highest diving board straight away, right? You would get them on the low diving board, then have them try the middle diving board before braving the top. The metaverse is that top diving board. Web2 is the lowest one and through our intense usage of social platforms and all things digital, we’re now getting comfortable with the middle, which is experimenting with AR.” After all, one thing we know for sure is that people have been and are still engaging with augmented lenses on their phones when using their favourite social media apps, which is always an opportunity within the world of influencer.

We all know it’s a big win for any creator online to be related to a big brand, but why is it the same for brands, and are the risks bigger? According to Aaron, a brand’s image can be wholly changed through influencer-led approaches - be it changing your target audience, redeeming a product, or even resurfacing on the market after a flop - but it all goes back to the idea of authenticity, and thinking about it through that lens with who you are speaking you. This requires some thoughtful and strategic overview “both with the client and the influencer about how to do it.” 

R&CPMK have seen it happen time and time again and their latest example is their brilliant work with UGG, with the goal of repositioning the brand. “UGG had made so many great commitments and work on diversity, equity and inclusion - doing some amazing things to support people of colour and the LGBTQIA community - but nobody knew about it.” The ‘FEEL’ campaign was the one that leaned into the stories of those individuals, which won the agency the Gold award for Best Fashion and Style campaign at the Influencer Marketing Awards 2022. In Aaron’s words, the effort took some meticulously strategic planning which although time-consuming, ended up in natural and authentic pairings between UGG and people who wanted to share their stories on the brand’s platform. And besides, unrelated to the ‘FEEL’ campaign, but still in the vein of changing the face of UGG - did you notice when Kendall reappropriated the ultra mini UGG and it quickly trickled down to the Pinterest boards of the coolest model-off-duty-looking girls in your town? Exactly.

Shots from R&CPMK's campaign for UGG

“On a personal level, this was one of my favourite campaigns to work on, because it was a perfect whirlwind and helped educate me on a lot of things,” shares Aaron. “More than that, a lot of heart went into it from all parties involved. The brand was behind it, every member of our team wanted to work on it.”

For Aaron, one is clear - nearly all brands need an influencer strategy. “Harping back to my point that it’s all down to the audience and the media they’re consuming now, the majority of people are on social media - so it’s a given in most cases that influencer should be a part of the work that they do.” Humanising brands has indeed become a favourite pastime of gen z. Take Duolingo, a brand that took TikTok by a storm and people loved it - unhinged comments under videos where one would never expect the green owl to pop up are a small, but crucial detail to remind viewers that your brand is made up of hundreds of people like them. 

Aaron continues, “For the most part, it should be in the plan at varying degrees of level - but it comes back to understanding what the job that needs to be done is and taking it from there. It will depend on the needs of the client and the types of brand that we’re working with.” Looking at global giants such as Unilever, for example, means that influencer work is often ‘laddering up’ and working towards a bigger goal because of the huge scale. “On the flip side, there are many occasions where we do work that is completely influencer end-to-end. And that might be because a brand has an awareness or perception challenge that they want to tackle, which could be done with influencer.”

Aaron hopefully turns to the future, where what he calls the new dawn of influencer rises. In society, choices never came in a vacuum, and they never will, especially when we’re constantly connected to each other, so influencer marketing is only getting bigger going forward. More platforms, more eyes, perhaps less time to trust traditional advertising. He leaves us with this: “Influencers are changing the game for everyone - for creative, media and communications agencies. We need to remember that influencer is a channel that consists of communications, creative, media and social - it combines all four disciplines. Influencer isn’t just the future of communications, but the future of creative, media and social - where all those disciplines come together.”

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