INFL

UEN
C ER
MARKETING 2020
 AB
OUT
We are a powerful data intelligence
tool that combines the knowledge
and insights you need to deliver a
successful celebrity and influencer
marketing strategy. From emerging
talent to mainstream taste-makers,
we help businesses worldwide to
discover and connect with only the
most relevant talent

Published November 2018

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Copyright 2018 Centaur Communications Limited

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2 influencerintelligence.econsultancy.com
 METHODOLOGY
This research report is published by Influencer Intelligence,
in association with Econsultancy, and explores how the
influencer marketing landscape has evolved in 2018,
and looks at how well collaborations are currently being
executed. As the title of the report suggests, it also
considers the future of influencer marketing, and the
challenges and capabilities that must be addressed for it
to be sustainable.

There were 1,173 marketing specialists who responded

to the research request this year, which took the form of
an online survey. Respondents included in-house brand
marketers, agencies, consultants and talent, across a broad
range of industry sectors. In addition, 500 consumers aged
18 to 34 years were surveyed, in the UK and the US, to
gauge their attitudes and perceptions of digital influencers.
Detailed breakdowns of the respondent profiles are
included in the Appendix of the report.

If you have any questions about the research, please

contact Influencer Intelligence’s Senior Content Marketing
Manager, Priyanka Mehra-Dayal by emailing
priyanka.mehra-dayal@centaurmedia.com

CONTRIBUTORS
The report features qualitative interviews from a
wide range of industry experts including brands,
agencies, influencers and consultants. Interviews
were carried out over the phone in August and
September 2018. Contributors include…

Bexy Cameron Sarah Evans NATASHA HULME Ollie Thomas Aaron Brooks
Head of Insight Head of Digital at Bottle PR Senior Strategist Managing Partner Co-Founder
Amplify Beauty SEEN Beyond Talent Global Vamp

Emma Usher Natasha Mensah Benjamin Lucy Lendrem Suri Singh Dee Mehta
Company Director Managing Partner Head of Talent UK at Influencer Expert Marketing Manager
RunRagged Media Beyond Talent Global Gleam Futures ITB Worldwide Ananya

Ella Catliff Marianne Fakinos Joseph Harper

Head of Communications at Senior Influencer and Social Media Manager,
The House of Luxury and Partnership Manager UK & Ireland
Founder of La Petite Anglaise TMW Unlimited Kellogg’s 3
 IN
DEX
06 EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

09 INTRODUCTION

10 WHERE IS THE
INDUSTRY NOW?

14 CASE STUDY:
CONVERSE’S ‘YOUNG
AND LACED’ PROGRAMME INVESTS IN A
NICHE POCKET OF YOUTH CULTURE

15 KEY
TRENDS

17 CASE STUDY:
MANGO GIRLS

18 CASE STUDY:
H&M SPORT MAKES
AMBASSADORS
OF NICHE GLOBAL
SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS

4
22 CASE STUDY:
JEWELLERY BRAND ANANYA FINDS
SUCCESS WITH AUTHENTIC, UNPAID
INFLUENCER COLLABORATIONS

26 CHALLENGES

32 CASE STUDY:
KELLOGG’S: JUSTIFYING
INVESTMENT WHEN THERE IS
NO DIRECT LINK TO PURCHASE

33 MEASURING
SUCCESS

37 WHERE DOES THE

INDUSTRY NEED
TO BE IN 2020?

41 CONCLUSION

42 REFERENCES

5
 EXEC
U T IVE
SUMMARY

KEY FINDINGS
Digital influencers
have swayed purchase
decisions for the majority
of millennials

61% of consumers, aged 18 to 34, have at some
point been swayed in their decision-making by
digital influencers, the consumer survey finds.
This consumer group is a discerning one having largely
grown up with social media and is often the first to notice
when an influencer has sold themselves out or failed to
disclose a commercial relationship. It stands to reason that
within the survey of industry marketers, 56% admit that the
changing expectations from a rising digital-born generation of
consumers is proving the biggest driver of change within their
influencer marketing programmes. Amidst growing rumours
of a backlash against influencer culture, how this younger
generation perceives influencers, and permits their opinions
and choices to be shaped by them, will ultimately determine
the sustainability of influencer marketing moving forward.
Confusion continues to plague disclosure
guidelines
Brands are fully aware that consumer trust in influencer content
is eroding, and 64% of marketers feel that drastic action to
prove transparency is critical. While the Advertising Standards
Authority in the UK (ASA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
in the US, set guidelines for influencers and have begun to take
a harder line on individuals who are not properly disclosing
their commercial brand relationships, industry experts
interviewed say there is a strong case for more clearly defined
rules that are not so open to interpretation.
100% of marketers agree that ‘relevance’ is the
most sought-after attribute in influencers
Industry experts agree unanimously (100%) on the importance
of collaborating with influencers whose following is relevant
to the brand. Three quarters of industry respondents say
influencers should already be a fan of the brand, for example,
to prove their relevance. Many of the experts interviewed for
the report championed the concept of brands supporting
influencers who are already embedded with the brand and
have been loyal supporters for some time, so that their first
posts are organic and unpaid for. This, experts claim, will
ensure that the influencer is proud and passionate about the
6 content that they create on behalf of the brand.
61% of consumers say micro-influencers
produce the most relatable content
56% of marketers questioned say that micro-influencers
are more cost-effective for them to work with than top tier
talent, and 55% also believe they have a better connection
with their target audience. When it comes to analysing the
appeal of micro-influencers, 61% of consumers believe they
produce more relatable content. Furthermore, US consumers
particularly value the transparency of this segment of talent
(44%), significantly more than UK respondents (26%).
Proving the ROI of individual influencers is a big
challenge for 84% of marketers
A resounding 84% of marketers agree that being able to
demonstrate the ROI of influencer marketing will be critical
to its future. Yet despite this, 31% say influencer marketing
is peripheral to their digital marketing ROI calculations,
and additionally proving the ROI of individual influencer
collaborations is also cited as the greatest ongoing challenge
(alongside identifying the best talent to work with).
90% of marketers say authenticity is critical to
the future of influencer marketing
More than two-thirds (68%) of industry respondents say that
authenticity and transparency is key to influencer marketing
success. Experts interviewed for this report stressed the
need for due diligence in selecting an influencer to work
with, to ensure they are not only a credible match for the
brand and their audience, but also the campaign in question.
Contract terms are also changing to reflect the gradual rise
in longer-term, organic and more meaningful partnerships
that are being forged between brands and influencers. Only
8% of survey respondents claim that they are engaging
influencers on a one-off post basis. Above all, 90% of industry
respondents say that brands need to take authenticity and
transparency more seriously, for it to be sustainable over
the long term. Consumer attitudes are similar, with 61%
expressing a preference for influencers who create authentic,
engaging content.
More than half of brands are searching for
influencers manually
‘Identifying talent’ is cited by marketers as the biggest challenge
in influencer marketing, currently. One of the main reasons
for this is that just over half (54%) of respondents say they
are continuing to search for influencers manually, via social
media platforms and forums. Experts interviewed for the report
stressed the need for the identification process to include a
360-degree analysis of influencers, benchmarking them, looking
at their audiences and their personality archetype, all through a
combination of manual due diligence and data-driven insights.

‘Fake followers’ ranks as number one concern

within influencer marketing
‘Fake followers’ ranks as number one concern with influencer
marketing. Earlier this year, Keith Weed, Unilever’s CMO, took
the stage at Cannes to expose the current state of influencer
marketing, which he argued is plagued with transparency and
authenticity issues. He claimed the industry should take a
stand against fake or bought followers and refuse to work with
influencers adopting such practices. “We need to take urgent
action now to rebuild trust before it’s gone forever,” he said.
It is therefore unsurprising that a few months on, industry
respondents rank ‘fake followers’ as their number one concern
with influencer marketing. Fraud detection is a key challenge
which the entire industry needs to take a stand against.

Engagement is the number one benchmark

for success
85% of marketers say engagement data, such as comments
and content shares, is the biggest metric of success for
influencer marketing. What was once an industry that measured
its success according to big follower numbers and volume of
‘likes’, has matured significantly to focus on how audiences are
reacting to and interacting with influencer content.
Overall, brands are becoming better educated in the ways
available to them to measure the success of their influencer
collaborations, and the expert interviews carried out for this
report reveal that many are now having the confidence to
request analytics from the influencer directly. 7
 Discover.
Connect.
Influence.
The only celebrity and influencer marketing
tool you need
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8
INTRO
DUCTION
2018 has been the year that influencer marketing has
exploded, while simultaneously coming under the
greatest scrutiny. Initially heralded as the future of
digital marketing and thought to have the potential
to challenge more traditional forms of celebrity
marketing, the past 12 months have exposed chinks
in the armour, raising questions over the long-term
sustainability of influencer marketing.
Articles have surfaced claiming influencer marketing
is dead, and a couple of high-profile investigations by
the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) into whether top
tier influencers have been endorsing products without
disclosing their commercial interests, have cast doubt
over the credibility of digital talent, with critics claiming
their influence has also begun to wane.
To add fuel to the fire, Keith Weed, Unilever’s CMO,
took the stage at Cannes this year to expose the
current state of influencer marketing, which he argued
is plagued with transparency and authenticity issues.
He called for a three-pronged approach to influencer
marketing in which misleading engagement, dishonest
practices and a lack of transparency need to be fixed.
“We need to take urgent action now to rebuild trust
before it’s gone forever,” he said.
Mistakes have clearly been made, by influencers and
brands alike, and significant challenges still exist; but
to tarnish the entire industry with the same brush
is unjustified. There was a period of education as
there would be with any new form of marketing, and
experts interviewed for this report agree that we have
arrived at a place where brands are beginning to do
influencer marketing properly. Bexy Cameron, Head
of Insight at brand experience agency Amplify and
an expert on British youth culture, shares: “How we
are working with influencers is changing: the industry
isn’t dying but we need to get smarter about how we
do influencer marketing and work with people who
have expertise, who are relevant and who are already
embedded within the brand. Brands need to stop
looking at just reach and start considering all of the
other parts of influence.”
For a few years brands gravitated towards working
with the biggest names and largest followings in the
industry, for understandable and valid reasons: after
all, that is what has characterised celebrity marketing
for many years, with proven success. But diversity
is on the rise and brands are seeing the benefits
of working with a range of influencers, particularly
micro-influencers. Approximately 6 in 10 of the
digital marketers surveyed for this report claim
the purpose influencer marketing serves for their
business has changed in the last 12 months (see Fig.
4 below), with the younger generation of consumers
being the biggest driver of change (see Fig. 3). Young
people have come to more firmly reject the way that
influencer marketing has been done over the past
few years and are instead demanding higher levels of
authenticity and relevance. “In its infancy, influencers
were engines for product promotion, but today, we are
crafting collaborative brand and product narratives
through influencer content partnerships. We’re looking
for influential voices with interesting stories and points
of view for brands,” shares Natasha Hulme, Senior
Strategist at Beauty SEEN. “We are taking learnings
from the past and understanding how to balance paid
endorsements with organic advocacy.”
A simple example illustrates this point well. Grime
artist Stormzy, and singer and actress Rita Ora,
have both had collaborations with Adidas. Stormzy
has been a loyal follower of Adidas for years,
dating back to well before he found fame. “You
could scroll back five years on his social stream to
see him wearing Adidas with his crew - he was very
embedded with the brand, because he loved it,” says
Bexy Cameron, Head of Insight at Amplify. Rita Ora,
on the other hand, has put out several collections
with Adidas Originals, but during that time she also
shared pictures of herself wearing Fila and Reebok,
among other athletic brands. “Rita Ora got pulled in
to do a campaign with Adidas and she had a much
bigger reach at the time than Stormzy, however
two weeks beforehand her audience had seen her
wearing Sketchers. That says to her audience she is
there for a brand activation, rather than because she is
in embedded with the brand, and when young people
are so savvy you can’t afford to make slip-ups like
that,” says Cameron.
But the tide is turning, and contrived commercial
partnerships are waning in favour of genuine, organic
brand tie-ups where there is already some natural
affinity or advocacy. Lucy Lendrem, Head of Talent
UK at Gleam Futures, shares: “We are seeing a lot of
beauty brands only engaging commercially with talent
who naturally endorse the brand, i.e. they have to be
fans of the brand. In the early days there was a lot
of paying people who didn’t already talk about the
brand in order to increase reach, but increasingly that
is becoming a must-have for brands, which means the
talent who are most passionate about a brand end
up working with them commercially, and that is only
a good thing.”
As we look ahead to 2020, the future of influencer
marketing, like any marketing strategy, will be subject
to changing trends, audiences, and technologies.
The wider the landscape gets, the harder it will be to
navigate, and the experts interviewed for this report
agreed more challenges are coming. For influencers
also, the barriers to entry are becoming higher,
which is making it harder for rising talent to break
through. This report will consider the opportunities
and threats shaping the future of this increasingly
critical segment of digital marketing. Through
qualitative expert interviews and bespoke survey
data collected from both industry marketers and
consumers within the UK, US and globally, it will seek
to clarify the capabilities and approaches required to
make influencer marketing a sustainable investment
for brands, both now and in the future.
9
WHERE
IS THE
INDUSTRY
NOW?
On Instagram alone, influencer marketing is now a $1bn
industry, and this figure is rising steadily, predicted to
reach $2bn by 2019.01 Recent new features such as
Instagram Stories, Live and Gallery, along with the
new paid partnerships tag are all designed to benefit
brands and influencers alike, while drawing audiences
in deeper.

Most household brands have found ways to partner

with Instagram influencers, and particularly in the
fashion, beauty and lifestyle sectors. However, a
critical finding of the survey of digital marketers,
carried out across a wide variety of business sectors,
is that 29% have never worked with influencers, and
a further 35% have an influencer marketing strategy
that is less than two years old (see Fig.1 below). A
mere 14% say they have worked with digital talent
for more than five years. This suggests that influencer
marketing isn’t for everyone yet, and that more than
half of marketers are still to see its full benefits.

Figure 1

How long have you worked with social

media influencers as part of your brand
communications strategy?
29%

21%

14% 14%
13%
9%

+5 4-5 3-4 1-2 Less I don’t

Years years years years than 12 work with
months influencers

10
Digital influencers
have swayed purchase
decisions for the
majority of millennials
61% of consumers, aged 18 to 34, have at some point
been swayed in their decision-making by digital
influencers, the consumer survey finds (see Fig. 2
below). Interestingly, US consumers (71%) are more
likely to say they have been influenced than UK
respondents (51%).

61%

39%

Figure 2
Have social media influencers in
some way ever influenced your
consumer decisions?

Yes

No

11
 How young people perceive digital influence is
critical, and as a result, more than half of industry
respondents (56%) say the digital-born generation
of customers is proving the biggest driver of
change (see Fig. 3).
Bexy Cameron, Head of Insight at Amplify, recently
published Young Blood 2, a comprehensive study
into modern British youth culture that looked
extensively at how young people aged 18-30
perceive influencer culture, and how attitudes
have shifted since 2016 when the first phase of
research was conducted.02 Above all, it unearthed
the potential beginnings of a backlash against
influencer culture, with the concept of ‘influence’
being notably less popular than it was a couple of
years ago. The report reads: “Our young audience
see themselves as influential – 62% feel they can
influence their peers, which is up from 2016 – but
they don’t want to be called influencers as this is now
a real job and one that is open season for criticism.
Only 18% see themselves as influencers on social
media. 41% do not want to be more influential on
social (with 26% not having an opinion either way).”
Figure 3
What has been the biggest driver of change?
Changing expectations from a rising generation of digital-
born customers who prefer more relatable, authentic
influencers to celebrity with mass appeal
More budget allocated to influencer marketing
Better data and metrics at hand
to better inform the influencer identification process
More choice and better representation
of influencers across all tiers
A level of consumer distrust towards media
Better integration between online
and offline strategy
Our improved ability to quantify the
ROI of influencer marketing
Other
12
Cameron explains that young people have come
to consider the role of ‘influencer’ as a job
which is hard graft, very competitive and more
commercial than it ever used to be. They have
also seen influencers get it wrong too often and
be publicly ridiculed for their mistake; overall the
novelty of having ‘influence’ has worn off, and the
digital-born generation is now more passionate
about other things, such as the environment.
According to Cameron, young people have begun
to reject the way that influencer marketing has
been done over the past five years, and their
appetites to be influenced has clearly dropped.
“There are nine different types of influence but
with influencer schemes and endorsements as
an industry we have always looked at something
that is very easy to quantify, which is reach,”
Cameron explains. “Reach is only one of the types
of influence and we should instead be looking at
things like does the individual have relevance, do
they have authority on a particular subject, how
do they treat their audience, is there some natural
affinity, etc.”
56%
42%
36%
27%
23%
22%
17%
7%
As a result, 59% of industry respondents say the
purpose influencer marketing serves for their business
has changed over the past 12 months.

Natasha Hulme, Senior Strategist at Beauty SEEN,

says she has observed a significant shift in brand
perceptions towards influencer marketing over the
last year. “Expertise and a ‘niche’ are becoming
increasingly important, as is having an interest or
passion in a relevant cultural-territory for the brand or
campaign. It might be that we’re looking for people with
a philanthropic cause to support, or an advocate for a
multi-hyphenate lifestyle, or someone who’s passionate
about being an entrepreneur or perhaps someone with
a side-stream in street art. It’s increasingly important for
our brands to have purpose and be a part of interesting
conversations, so more and more we’re looking for
influencers with something extra.”

Figure 4

Has the purpose influencer marketing

serves for your business changed in
the last 12 months?

44%

32%

15%

9%

Changed Changed Remained Not

Significantly Slightly the same changed
at all 13
 S TUDY
CONVERSE’S
CA S E

‘YOUNG
AND LACED’
PROGRAMME
INVESTS CHA
LLENGE
IN A NICHE Converse, the 100-year-old streetwear brand,

POCKET
needed to keep relevant to a youth audience. It
was performing well among certain demographics,
but to remain the brand of choice for 16-25-year-

OF YOUTH old males particularly it wanted to add the urban

youth audience to its roster. The challenge was

CULTURE presented to brand experience agency Amplify,

but as Bexy Cameron, Head of Insight, shares:
“When you start working with subcultures especially,
you need to be very careful about how you do it,
and how long you do it for, to make sure there is
a level of authenticity. You need to enter it with a
certain mindset which is, ‘what can we give to this
subculture?’ rather than ‘what can we take from it?”

STRA
TEGY
Converse embarked on an influencer strategy
programme, called ‘Young and Laced’, through
which they signed up a group of boys aged 16-
20 and supported them for a year-long period.
Converse chose creative boys from urban
communities, who represented exciting, young
and local talent, and gave them bursaries and
challenges. The campaign wasn’t consumer
facing to begin with as above all Converse
wanted to understand more about the audience
and select the most appropriate talent to work
with. They also wanted to give the boys what
they needed which was a platform and funding to
get themselves going. “These guys were brilliant,
but they were ordinary, and they only had 800
followers each. But the point wasn’t reach, it was
depth, and in a grassroots way so that we were
giving back to a community,” explains Cameron.

OUT
COME
The initial programme lasted for a year and by the
end of it the talent had become genuine brand
ambassadors for Converse, truly loving and
endorsing the brand. They were given platforms
to talk about their work, artists to collaborate
with, and mentors to help with everything from
developing creative concepts, to media and PR,
to ensure their work was accessible to the largest
audience possible. “Four years later the boys still
really care about the brand, and some are huge
influencers now,” shares Cameron. “And when
they talk about Converse with a big audience,
the authentic links are there. It was a big risk,
which not all brands would be willing to take, but
it provided an important lesson in the experiences
and emotional connections that a brand can give to
14 influencers, which they couldn’t get anywhere else.”
KEY
TRENDS

Attention shifts to in a reach of 2.5m people, if only 30% of that was

our target UK audience, and over 50% were based
micro-influencers in Lithuania where the specified product isn’t even
available to buy?”

For quite some time it seemed like an influencer’s
total following and reach was the most important
thing, but the tide is turning, and experts
interviewed for this report concurred that
brands are beginning to focus on other areas
of influence, and particularly the quality of
interaction between a talent and their following
along with their audience demographics.
As a direct consequence, brands are shifting
their attention from top-tier talent to those
demonstrating higher levels of quality engagement,
and micro-influencers very often fit the bill. They
tend to have niche followings who they are deeply
connected with, and this can be well suited to a
brand who is looking to target a specific audience.
As Joseph Harper, Social Media Manager, UK &
Ireland, at Kellogg’s, puts it: “why would we invest
Ella Catliff, Head of Communications at The
House of Luxury and Founder of La Petite
Anglaise, shares that content created by top-
tier talent isn’t always the most effective. “Over
the past couple of years, I have seen a lot of
brands paying a large amount of money to top-
tier influencers, to essentially all produce the
same content for them, with the same hashtag,”
she explains. “We need to move past that and
influencer collaborations could definitely benefit
from being a bit more nuanced and bespoke, and
particularly within the luxury sector, and it is time
to look at different ways of working.”
As Fig. 5 below reveals, industry respondents say
that micro-influencers, or those with less than
100,000 followers, are in highest demand, while
top-tier talent boasting a global presence are the
least sought after.

Figure 5

After identifying potential talent to work with, which statement

best describes who you decide to go with?

65% 659

59%
57% 57% 581
51%
505 523
49%

43% 43%
41%

35%

Male
343

Female

Total
Checks

Niche Micro- Mid-tier Top-tier Authoritative

influencers influencers influencers influencers (expert
(Example: (Under 100,000 (100,000 - 1m (1m followers) representation
organic beauty) followers) followers) with a global of an industry
presence body, journalist
editor etc) 15
 Above all, 56% of marketers questioned say that
micro or niche influencers are more cost-effective
for them to work with than top tier talent, and 55%
also believe they have a better connection with
their target audience (see Fig. 6 below).

Sarah Evans, Head of Digital at Bottle PR, shares

that “clients are being more tactical with budgets,
saying they would prefer to seek out micro-
influencers, or ones with a lesser following but who
have more cut-through with their audiences and a
more engaged community. With celebrity or top-tier
talent collaborations, you’re renting their audience
for a single post, but for the same price, you could
take the time to co-create something of meaning
with multiple micro-influencers where the content is
more likely to resonate.”

Figure 6

What value have micro/niche/mid-tier influencers brought

to your campaigns over top-tier talent?
They are more cost-effective than
working with top-tier talent 56%

They have a better connection

with our target consumers 55%

The content produced by micro/niche/

39%
mid-tier influencer is more authentic

They help deliver a more targeted message 38%

They have higher engagement than top-tier talent 37%

Increased long-term loyalty 9%

They are yet to deliver more value

than top tier influencers 5%

Other 2%

One trend that appears to be rising in popularity is

for brands to use A-list talent to front the campaign
and be the disruptor, supported by a group of mid-
tier or micro-influencers. Since micro-influencers
lack the volume of reach as a celebrity or top-tier
talent, some brands have found that they need to
work with a group of micro-influencers in order
achieve scale. Furthermore, due to the lower price
tag of micro-influencers, the overall investment
in a group of such talent can still be lower than
collaborating with one A-list influencer, yet the
enhanced engagement levels mean the overall
16 ROI has the potential to be higher.
 S TUDY
The #MANGOGirls campaign, created by
entertainment marketing agency ITB Worldwide
CA S E for fashion retailer MANGO, is a good example
of how a brand can take a tiered influencer
approach. The campaign’s initial launch three
years ago, for MANGO’s SS16 collection, was
fronted by three Top Tier brand ambassadors
comprising Kendall Jenner, Karlie Kloss and
Lui Wen, who were underpinned by a combined
global micro to mid tier-influencer layer of 16
individuals. The influencers were given complete
freedom to choose their favourite pieces from
the brand’s collection and then share photos of
themselves wearing them on Instagram, with
all the required hashtags.
The campaign, now in its third year, has proven
so successful it was written about by British
Vogue in a dedicated four-page feature last
year. Guillermo Corominas, Chief Client Officer
at MANGO, commented within the article: “we’ve
rejected several girls who have a huge number of
followers because they aren’t credible as Mango
girls. It’s important to us that their style is admired
and feels unique, but they also have to like the
brand in order for it to not feel forced.” 03
Suri Singh, ITB Influencer Expert, shared the
MANGO Girls campaign has enabled the brand
to re-claim its sense of identity, and re-align itself
with its desired demographic. “Three years later
the hashtag lives on, and the needle has moved
substantially for MANGO with other brands
looking to replicate the model,” he shares. “By
carefully selecting the right type of influencer
to work with, we have built loyal influencer
relationships who have become true advocates
for the brand. Overall, the campaign has had
great impact and has continued to grow over
time, delivered great engagement rates and
importantly has formed an important layer of
MANGO’s below the line activity.”

61% of consumers
say micro-influencers
produce more
relatable content
When it comes to thinking about the appeal It additionally seems that US consumers
that micro-influencers hold for consumers, 61% particularly value the transparency of this
say they believe they produce more relatable segment of talent (44%), significantly more than
content (see Fig. 7 below). A further 43% of UK respondents (26%).
consumers also say that the micro-tier is more
likely to engage in discussion with them.

Figure 7

What makes micro/niche/mid-tier social media

influencers more appealing?

They produce more relatable content 61%

They engage in their discussions 43%

The content produced by micro/niche/mid-tier influencers 36%

The content produced by micro/niche/mid-tier influencers

is more transparent and authentic and hence more trustworthy 36%

They are yet to deliver more valuable than top tier influencers 6%

Other 1%
17
 S TUDY
H&M SPORT
CA S E
MAKES
AMBASSADORS
OF NICHE
GLOBAL SPORTS
ENTHUSIASTS
CHA
LLENGE
Fashion brand H&M wanted to make its first foray
into the sport and fitness market, but it was
keen to do so in a sensitive and thoughtful way.
ITB Worldwide, who work with H&M across their
big talent campaigns, below the line activities as
well as social media campaigns was tasked with
the challenge.
STRA
TEGY
“We needed a strategy that would give H&M Sport
a meaningful place in this market, where not only
were they aligning themselves with people of
influence, but also people who were very much
authentic to the world of sport,” Suri Singh, ITB
Influencer Expert, explains. “Sport was one of
the last sectors to embrace influencer marketing,
despite its heritage in celebrity marketing, and
H&M was quite right to tap into while it was still an
emerging market and do so in a way that wasn’t
just momentary.” ITB embarked on an influencer
ambassador programme for H&M, utilising four
carefully cast micro to mid-tier influencers
for a 12-month engagement. “Not only did the
campaign need to demonstrate authenticity but to
make a mark, it would also be less about numbers
and more about longevity and getting across to
the influencer’s audience that these people were
working with H&M as ambassadors.”
Australian influencer Amanda Bisk was the first
ambassador selected: a former elite pole-vaulter,
physio and a qualified yoga teacher. “Sport and
fitness play a big part in her day-to-day life, both
professionally and privately, and that was crucial
for the campaign,” shares Singh. “we put together
a programme that would engage her over 12
months and include shoot services, throughout
which H&M would give her product, and she
would be paid a fee for her engagement with the
brand.” The concept was to give the influencer
ambassadors complete creative freedom so that
they could introduce the H&M Sport collection
into their daily life naturally and organically. The
only requirement was that H&M Sport was
tagged in content along with the campaign
hashtag. Exclusivity within the sport and leisure
sector was however an important requirement,
not specific to footwear, to ensure the message
wouldn’t be diluted by other competing brands.
18
OUT
COME
“Three years later Amanda is still an H&M Sport
ambassador,” says Singh. Year-on-year H&M Sport
have continued its agreement with her, and her
audience looks to her as an authority in this space.
Her profile has grown to over 200k followers since
joining the programme.”
In the second year of the campaign, H&M Sport
recruited Tommy Rivers Puzey, a relatively
unknown (at the time) runner living in a remote part
of Arizona. “Tommy was a micro-influencer but his
aesthetic and the content he was producing was
incredible. H&M listened to us, and they saw the
opportunity. For Tommy it was an opportunity for him
to build his profile with one of the world’s biggest
high street brands.”
Tommy overdelivered and because of the
partnership his reach has now grown to 90.3k
followers, and he is now travelling the world with
H&M Sport. H&M have continued his contract for
year two and are about to embark on year three
with Tommy. The programme has also put him
on the radar for other brands and he now has a
lucrative footwear deal with Ultra, and a coach
for Peak Run performance. “He has established a
profile without even realising he was a person of
influence,” shares Singh.
“Three years ago, measuring engagement was
never part of our remit, but as this space has
evolved more people have come to understand that
it isn’t all about having a large number of followers;
engagement is now a key metric that everyone is
looking for,” explains Singh. “We are currently in
conversation with H&M Sport to discuss its next
signings and how we add another layer to continue
to elevate this campaign.”
90% of marketers say
authenticity is critical
to the future of
influencer marketing
Influencer marketing evolved out of a growing
appetite for authenticity among consumers. At
the time there was (and still is) plenty of research
to indicate that consumer faith in paid forms of
advertising was eroding, and that individuals
were instead gravitating towards content created
by trusted, likeminded authorities, who lacked a
clear commercial objective.
Indeed, within the consumer survey, 79% of
respondents say they prefer influencer content
over celebrity ads since it tends to offer a better
reflection of real life. A further 61% express a
preference for influencers who create authentic,
engaging content.
However, as influencer marketing has grown and
the space has become more deeply saturated
with individuals being paid sometimes hefty fees
to discuss brands and co-create content with them,
the trust or authenticity factor is in danger of waning
once again. Within the consumer survey, 46% say
that for them to trust and buy into influencer-led
campaigns, it is essential that the content that is
authentic and therefore engaging. Consumers are
savvy and in tune with how commercialised the
influencer space is becoming, which means that
branded influencer content is subject to intense
scrutiny the moment it goes live.
Brands are fully aware of this danger zone and more
than two-thirds (68%) of industry respondents
agree that authenticity and transparency is key
to influencer marketing success. Furthermore,
90% of industry respondents say that brands
need to take authenticity and transparency
more seriously, for influencer marketing to be
sustainable over the long term (see Fig. 23 below).

Figure 8

To what extent do you agree or disagree with these statements?

Transparency and authenticity

is key to influencer marketing success 68% 26% 4% 1% 1%

Working with influencers who

have a natural brand affinity and
shared ethics with the brand is critical 65% 27% 7% 1% 0%

Generating engagement is more important

than reach for an influencer-led campaign 37% 43% 13% 5% 2%

Proving ROI on influencer marketing

is essential to our strategy 34% 41% 19% 5% 1%

Influencer content offers better exposure

to real life examples of how products look
through user generated content 29% 45% 18% 6% 2%

Influencer marketing is enabling the business

to truly interact with consumers directly 15% 43% 28% 11% 3%

Influencer marketing provides a better way to

build brands at a global scale 14% 34% 31% 16% 5%

Influencer marketing helps

to directly drive sales 10% 34% 34% 18% 4%

Influencers are becoming more

involved product development 7% 28% 31% 1823% 11%

Strongly Somewhat Neither Agree Somewhat Strongly

Agree Agree or Disagree Disagree Disagree

19
 The rise of a new
pool of ‘talent’ in the
shape of customers
and employees
The experts interviewed for this report stressed
the need for due diligence in the selection
process, to ensure each influencer collaboration
is a credible match for the brand. “If brands are
seeing that an influencer is deleting content two
weeks after the collaboration, then it really proves
that they are choosing the wrong influencers,
and the authenticity piece is missing,” says Bexy
Cameron, Head of Insight at Amplify. “But if they
have got the right person on board they will be
proud of that post.”
Sarah Evans, Head of Digital at Bottle PR,
believes the pressure to demonstrate authenticity
will drive brands to make better use of genuine
advocates such as employees and customers – a
tried and tested strategy that dates back to the
mid-20th century, which a raft of brands within
the fashion and beauty brands particularly are
now reigniting. “People need to be able to see
themselves in the content and be able to relate
to the influencer,” Evans explains. “With the next
wave of influencer marketing we will see more
substance and it will be more thoughtful, adding
value for the customer.”

ModCloth

Vintage fashion retailer ModCloth is a good

example of a brand who has cast employees
in its digital ad campaigns and Instagram feed
for several years. It frequently shares photos
of its staff modelling its products, so that
customers can get a genuine and authentic
feel for what the garment will look like ‘in real
life’. Alongside this it has its #modclothsquad
of brand ambassadors, who represent ‘real’
people of all shapes and sizes.

“It’s an authentic way to connect with our

customer,” says Nicole Haase, ModCloth’s VP
of Merchandising, in an interview with Glamour
magazine. “As merchants, if we don’t believe
in the product that we are assorting, then why
would we think anyone would buy it?”04

Photo credit: Modcloth

20
American department store chain Macys.com
also took a new direction with its influencer
marketing strategy this year by recruiting its
own store employees and personal stylists
as brand ambassadors, within Macy’s Style
Crew program. Staff across the US can apply
to take part and share promotional posts and
short videos on their own social media feeds
featuring Macy’s products and services. The
programme currently includes more than 300
Macy’s employees, and participants receive
commission on the sales their segments produce.
According to Tongal, the company powering the
Macy’s initiative through its platform and creative
community, one participant produced a total of
$15,000 of handbag sales in a week.05
The desire for authenticity is having a knock-
on effect on influencer engagement models.
As Fig. 9 below illustrates, contract terms
are changing to reflect the gradual rise in
longer-term, organic and more meaningful
partnerships that are being forged between
brands and influencers. While currently just
23% of respondents say they are engaging
influencers in long-term partnerships, this is a
step in the right direction. A year ago, one-off
posts were rife within influencer marketing, but a
mere 8% of survey respondents claim that they
are now engaging influencers on this basis.

“The big rub on outside influencer marketing

is they don’t ‘get’ the brand. It’s like renting an
audience when you can own one,” said Tongal
president James DeJulio. “[With Macy’s], you’re
taking your own people, and it’s good for them to
build their own footprint. But you are also taking
people who have Macy’s authority and Macy’s
voice. You’re starting to own the asset that you
can grow and get behind.”06

Figure 9

What engagement model have you seen most

success with this year?
Every influencer campaign is different 24%

A long-term partnership with a group

or squad of influencers 23%

A layered-campaign approach involving

20%
a tiered group of influencers

A campaign-specific contract with one individual 13%

A long-term partnership with one individual 11%

one-off posts with multiple influencers 8%

other 1%

21
 S TUDY
JEWELLERY
CA S E
BRAND ANANYA
FINDS SUCCESS
WITH AUTHENTIC,
UNPAID
INFLUENCER
COLLABORATIONS
CHA
LLENGE
Luxury jewellery brand Ananya launched in India
two years ago, and soft launched in the UK less
than 12 months ago. Dee Mehta, Marketing
Manager at Ananya explains that fine jewellery
sales in India happen quite differently to in the
UK, often privately and behind closed doors, and
for that reason the brand had decided against
working with Indian influencers. However, in the
UK where sales tend to happen more in person,
Ananya was keen to build organic relationships
with key jewellery influencers, alongside the press.
STRA
TEGY
Mehta explains, “we did a lot of research into
influencers within the broad fashion, jewellery
and art sectors, but learnt quickly that jewellery
influencers worked the best for us. People buy
jewellery in a very different way to fashion, and the
influencers we work with are well established within
the jewellery media industry and their followers are
after their knowledge, more than their aesthetics.
They also have a strong network of contacts within
the industry.” What sets Ananya apart from most
influencer campaigns is that it has never paid
for influencer content. “All our collaborations are
based on organic relationship building, where no
money ever exchanges hands,” Mehta explains.
22
EXE
CUTION
Over the past few months approximately 10
carefully curated mid to top-tier jewellery
influencers have been invited by appointment
to Ananya’s showroom in Kensington, London,
where the collections are painstakingly laid out for
them to view. The influencers can pick up items
they like and try them on, and learn how each
item has been made and the precious materials
it contains, such as the gold and gem content.
They are permitted to take as many photos
as they like. Influencers will be briefed on the
collection hashtags, and Ananya will ensure they
have all the accurate facts to hand, which Mehta
says is always done very informally. “Since the
relationships are unpaid, we leave the decision
on hashtags entirely up to the influencer,” Mehta
explains. “If it is just one post, the influencer has
complete creative freedom. If they are writing an
article we will usually request copy approval first.
OUT
COME
The forging of organic influencer relationships has
proved very successful for Ananya, and not only
have these influencers supported the brand’s
soft launch in the UK, but they have also become
deeply engrained in the business.
“Our jewellery influencers are so knowledgeable
and the excitement that builds between them and
our brand is infectious. In this industry, it requires a
lot of passion to be successful. We love to hear their
opinions, see what gemstones they love, hear what
pieces really work for them, and this in turn helps
us to really understand the market,” Mehta shares.
The brand claims it sees more customer interest in
its jewellery pieces that are posted by influencers
and is able to see a clear correlation between the
timing of an influencer’s post and click-throughs
to its website, and new followers to its profile on
Instagram which is a core channel for the brand.
“We decided that we wanted to do everything
organically and at a slow pace, and it is an
approach that requires a lot of patience,” explains
Mehta. “If in the future we decide to enter sponsored
partnerships, it will be off the back of already
existing organic relationships with influencers.”
100% of marketers
agree that ‘relevance’
is the most sought-after
attribute in an influencer

Industry marketers agree unanimously (100%) on

the importance of collaborating with influencers
whose following is relevant to the brand, with
65% citing this as a “critical” requirement (see Fig.
10 below).
More specifically, 76% of industry respondents
say influencers should already be a fan or loyal
supporter of the brand to prove their relevance.
Many of the experts interviewed for the report
championed the concept of brands supporting
influencers who are already embedded with the
brand and have been loyal followers for some
time and have maybe written about the brand
organically already. This, experts claim, will ensure
that the influencer is proud and passionate about
the content that they create on behalf of the brand.
“You can’t throw a brief at someone and expect
them to execute it, just because they have a large
number of followers or celebrity status,” says
Joseph Harper, Social Media Manager, UK &
Ireland, at Kellogg’s. “They need to be passionate
about the brand already and there must be inbuilt
relevance, so that they will really understand the
brief to the point where you can give them the
freedom to put their own personal spin on it.”
It is revealing that just 8% of respondents say
it is critical for an influencer to have global
recognition or celebrity status, showing that
relevance is clearly trumping the desire to be
associated with A-list talent.

Figure 10

Which attributes must a celebrity/influencer you are looking to

work with most have?

An audience/following that
is relevant to my brand 65% 31% 4% 0%

Strong ethics, with a history of

championing good causes 23% 32% 35% 10%

An expert in their field i.e. accomplished

artist, musician, sports person 20% 35% 29% 16%

A track record of delivering

quantifiable ROI for brand 13% 28% 43% 16%

Already a loyal supporter of my brand /

has written about my brand organically 10% 23% 43% 24%

Commoner/business/product
insight and experience 8% 23% 43% 25%

Popularity - global recognition

or celebrity status 8% 24% 40% 28%

Critical Very Quite Not important

important important at all

23
 84% of industry respondents also see ‘expertise
in their field’ as being an important attribute in
an influencer. This is a view supported by 32%
of consumers. ‘Expertise’ has become a fluid
concept within the world of social influence and
today is less about intelligence or genius in a
particular field, and more about having relevance
along with a clear passion and interest, i.e. they
could be a curator of sneakers, but not necessarily
a sneaker maker. As Bexy Cameron, Head of
Insight at Amplify, also explains: “It is important
to consider what the influencer’s audience would
consider as expertise e.g. if they’ve been part of a
pocket of sub culture for five years, their following
would see that as expertise.” The Young Blood 2
report, published by Amplify, found that more than
half of young people are much more likely to do/
buy something if it is endorsed by an expert.

For any brand wishing to capitalise on an

influencer’s ‘expertise’, they must first make sure
that they have a justified right to be there and play
in that space. The past 12 months have seen a
rise in cross-category activity within influencer
marketing, with brands seeking to leverage the
expertise of an influencer to aid their move into a
new space or culture.

For example, as the Young Blood 2 report found,

“brands are becoming more involved with music
as a way to connect with their audiences, and
in a country where 81% of young people think
life without music is uninteresting, it is a good
strategy”. But ensuring relevance at every stage
is critical and the study also found that over half
of respondents felt that brands were guilty of
cultural appropriation. Finding and supporting
cultural movements is a value exchange. “Brands
must be cautious when associating themselves
with any type of cultural movement but can be
more informed by getting a more diverse and
representative mix of people working brand side, to
show real appreciation and understanding,” Bexy
Cameron, Head of Insight at Amplify, advises
within the report.07

24
54% of marketers say
audience insight data
is an essential part of
influencer identification
As Fig. 11 below reveals, just over half of marketers
(54%) say audience insights are the most useful BELLA HADID
TOTAL REACH: 19M
information in identifying relevant influencers CELEBRITY EQUITY SCORE: 52
to work with. Within this, a talent’s social media APPEAL: 56% | AWARENESS: 77%

engagement rate is the most critical metric,

say 53%. Suri Singh, Influencer Expert at ITB
Worldwide, champions the need for data insights
combined with human interaction. He shares:
“we have a finger in every pie and make sure
we are speaking to managers, publicists, agents, SERENA WILLIAMS
Instagram directly and other social platforms. We TOTAL REACH: 25M
CELEBRITY EQUITY SCORE: 70
can be having a meeting with an agent in our APPEAL: 77% | AWARENESS: 68%

offices discussing new, emerging, off the radar

Influencers and then the very same day, receive a
brief for which the talent we had been discussing
fits perfectly, and therefore before anyone brand
has engaged with individual we have the prime
opportunity to put them on the radar. Alongside
this, databases and specialist tools are important
as they can provide a deeper layer of insight and
information, to help with our decision making. At
ITB, we have designed and created a proprietary
Influencer reporting suite and dashboard, enabling
our clients the option of real-time analytics and
reporting to best measure the success and impact
of each Influencer campaign we are running.” KENDRICK LAMAR
TOTAL REACH: 30M
CELEBRITY EQUITY SCORE: 43
Additionally, agents from Hollywood, London, APPEAL: 60% | AWARENESS: 88%

and through to Bollywood are all recognising the CHIARA FERRAGNI

need to represent digital talent, nowadays. Many TOTAL REACH: 15M
INFLUENCER EQUITY SCORE: 62 An example of the data, insights and social metrics
have a team of people who are constantly looking available on the Influencer Intelligence platform
and searching for newly emerging influencers.
Lucy Lendrem, Head of Talent UK at Gleam
Futures, also adds that this year she has observed
more brands invest in building influencer teams
internally. “We are seeing more and more brands Figure 11
take this in house and away from an agency,” she
When you are identifying talent to work
explains. “The amount of influencer marketing jobs
on the market now versus 12 months ago is huge.” with, what information has proved most
useful in finding the right fit?
Audience insights (demographic
However, whatever the size of the influencer team,
and psychographic information 54%
or the tools and data available, the sheer scale of on talent’s audience)
the influencer landscape means it is important for
brands to be filtering and narrowing down their Talent’s social media
engagement 53%
search at an early point in their research journey.
International model agency, IMG Models, takes an
Content themes and
interesting approach with its “We Love Your Genes” 40%
areas of expertise
campaign, which helps it scout for upcoming talent
on Instagram. Aspiring models can post a photo Talent’s skills and interests 33%
with the #WLYG hashtag, which will put it in front
of the agency’s scouting and development team. Value and attributes (such as
29%
“Instagram allows us to see potential models’ activist, creative, brave)
natural beauty in their everyday lives. They no
Previous endorsement history 22%
longer have to spend lots of money on photo shoots
or portfolios,” says Jeni Rose, the VP of scouting Rates 17%
for IMG, in an interview with Fashionista. The
#WLYG campaign helps IMG to refine its search Social media handles
16%
and removes the need for scouts to be in the and followers
right place at the right time. “We’ve been scouting
via social for a while now and have developed Gifting policy 2%
proprietary methods to help us identify the best
Other 2%
possible talent,” Rose adds. “Those methods are
now informing special tools we’re building in-house
that will help us move quickly and decisively while
tracking thousands of accounts.”08 25
CHALL
ENGES

More than half of

brands are searching for
influencers manually
Brands have come to realise that the success
of any influencer marketing campaign depends
on a brand’s ability to identify the right talent
to partner with to deliver its message. Yet
despite this, ‘identifying relevant talent’ is cited
by marketers as one of the biggest challenges in
influencer marketing, currently (see Fig. 12 below).
Researching and selecting talent has been an
ongoing challenge for marketers for quite some
time, and the influencer marketing landscape is
expanding at such a phenomenal rate that it is
only likely to get harder to navigate.

Figure 12

What has been the biggest challenge in working with

influencers, over the past 12 months?

Proving ROI of individual influencers 22%

Identifying talent who are relevant to our

goals and target market 22%

Finding a happy balance between setting

15%
a brief, and granting creative freedom

Understanding the impact of

influencers collaborations on sales, 13%
to a granular product level

Getting their attention and being able to

engage them 12%

Seeking out influencers who share the

same ethics and values 7%

Understanding the growth of dark social

(content shared on private channels) 3%
and how we track it

Ensuring sponsorship disclosure

laws are adhered to across platforms 3%
and specific to countries

Knowing their previous

endorsement history 2%

Other 3%

26
One of the main reasons for the difficulty brands are
having in identifying relevant talent is that 54% of
respondents say they are continuing to search for
influencers manually, via social media platforms
and forums (see Fig. 13 below). A further 38% are
also continuing to rely on recommendations from
friends and contacts within the industry, indicating
that there remains a very ‘human’ element to the
influencer selection process. The fact that 86% of
the industry is failing to make use of specialist talent
engagement tools available is a missed opportunity.

Experts interviewed for the report stressed the

need for the influencer identification process to
include a 360-degree analysis of individuals.
This should include going far beyond follower
numbers, benchmarking them against other
relevant influencers, reviewing their audience
demographics, their personality architype, their
previous endorsement history, ethical causes that
they champion, etc.

Sarah Evans, Head of Digital at Bottle PR, shares:

“Audience following is only one piece of the puzzle;
we look at engagement rate which is the total
engagement (likes, comments and shares) divided
by following or reach, multiplied by 100. We then
benchmark this figure against other influencers in
the running and that helps us to decide. In addition,
we can manually screen them by looking through
comments, analysing the sentiment and making
sure they seem like comments from real people, Figure 13
and from that we can see how much influence
this individual has with their following. Are people Which tools or methods do you currently
asking them for their opinions, for example, or use to identify talent (influencers and/or
requesting information on where they bought celebrities) when using them as part of
specific items of clothing from, and how readily your marketing strategy?
does that influencer respond to those queries?
Are they regularly getting engaged in two-way Manually searching social
media platforms and forums 54%
conversation with their audience? These are all
important questions that we ask.” Recommendations from
friends, colleagues or peers 38%
However, Lucy Lendrem, Head of Talent UK at in the industry
Gleam Futures, is confident that brands are doing
a much better job of keeping themselves up-to-date We use a specialist talent
on relevant and emerging talent within their sector,
or social media agency to 36%
identify influencers for us
than they were a couple of years ago. “Quite a lot
of the time, brands know already who they want Free social media
32%
to work with,” she shares. “This is a reflection of monitoring tools
how savvy brands are now and how much they are
Paid for social media
investing in knowing who all of the key influencers monitoring tools 29%
in their sector are,” she explains. “We used to have
to do a lot more educating on who the roster was, Physically attending
but now they know everyone already.” specialist events and 20%
conferences

Specialist talent
engagement tools e.g. 14%
Influencer Intelligence

Other 4%

27
 Confusion continues
to plague disclosure
guidelines
When it comes to the transparency of influencer
collaborations, 65% of marketers admit there is a
blurry line between advertisements and genuine,
organic recommendations (see Fig. 14). This lack of
transparency is creating audience scepticism, with
66% of consumers claiming paid-for influencer
content is no different to advertising.
Brands are fully aware that consumer trust in
sponsored influencer content is eroding, and
64% of marketers feel that drastic action to
prove transparency is critical (see Fig. 23 below).
As Lucy Lendrem, Head of Talent UK at Gleam
Futures, asserts: “There is so much content, it is
quite ungoverned, and the wider the landscape
gets the harder it is to navigate”. A third of
marketer respondents, for example, admit they
regularly avoid disclosers where they can.
Currently guidelines set by the Advertising
Standards Authority in the UK (ASA) and Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) in the US are just that:
guidelines. Historically they have taken a reactive
approach, tightening up guidelines as and when
needed, and dealing with reported breaches on
a case by case basis. Experts interviewed for this
report agreed that the guidelines are too open to
interpretation, and particularly where influencers
are involved as they don’t necessarily have a legal
team advising and supporting them.
Recently, however, the regulatory bodies have
begun to take a harder line on individuals who
are not properly disclosing their commercial
brand relationships. In August, the Competition
and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a major
investigation into some of Britain’s biggest
celebrities and influencers who it thought
may be endorsing goods or services without
declaring their commercial interests properly,
28
and potentially misleading members of the public.
This came after the FTC sent out 90 letters in
the US to well-known celebrities and digital
talent including supermodel Naomi Campbell
and actress Lindsay Lohan, asking if they had
been paid to endorse brands and products on
Instagram. Some of the letters addressed some
disclosures that are not sufficiently clear, pointing
out that many consumers will not understand a
disclosure like “#sp,” “Thanks [Brand],” or “#partner”
in an Instagram post to mean that the post is
sponsored.09 Lucy Lendrem, Head of Talent
UK at Gleam Futures, argues: “Anyone creating
content with a brand they love should be proud to
make it clear that they are working with that brand
and being compensated. If anyone is ashamed of
using #ad at this point, given how many people are
doing it, then they probably shouldn’t be working
with that brand.”
Indeed, within the consumer survey, 54% say
sponsorship disclosure such as #spon and #ad
does not take away from the credibility of a post
providing the partnership is genuine. However,
to balance this, Emma Usher, Company Director
of RunRagged Media, a talent booking agency,
warns that “for brands who have failed to profile
their influencer carefully, #ad can be extremely
damaging, so it is really important to profile and
then find out who is a genuine fan of your brand
and then #ad will not dilute the impact of what your
brand is trying to do.”
Industry experts interviewed say there is a strong
case for more clearly defined rules that are not
so open to interpretation. For example, under
the ASA’s rules, for an influencer’s post to be
classified as an advert they must have been
paid in some form and the brand must also
have had some sort of ‘control’ over the content.
Sponsorship arrangements, where there hasn’t
been any sort of ‘control’ by the brand, isn’t
covered by the ASA’s code of practice. This in
itself, experts claim, is a grey area which some
influencers are failing to understand properly.10
“People are very confused and out of this confusion
new hashtags are appearing, having been created
by influencers, but these are not recognised by
the ASA,” says Emma Usher, Company Director of
RunRagged Media. “There are so many grey areas
now and brands and influencers alike are unsure of
best practice and this uncertainty around disclosure
guidelines needs clearer boundaries setting.”
 Figure 14

How would you rate your organisation’s efforts to be transparent in

paid-for influencer endorsements, regarding the statements below?

We would refuse to work with an

influencer who was not dearly
complying with ASA/FTC guidance 34% 35% 24% 5% 2%

We are fully aware, and up-to-date with

the advertising codes relevance to our
country 34% 43% 18% 4% 1%

We insist our influencers use the

hashtag relevant to the location for
sponsored content i.e. #ad or #spoon 30% 35% 25% 7% 3%

We only work with influencers who are

careful to disclose their relationship
with brands 25% 42% 25% 6% 2%

There is a blurry line between

advertisement and genuine, organic
recommendations 17% 48% 23% 10% 2%

We avoid disclosures where we can as

they diminish consumers trust, and we
instead find creative alternatives 7% 26% 30% 23% 14%

We are aware that we regularly

circumvent the rules 3% 11% 22% 27% 37%

Strongly Agree Neither agree Disagree Strongly

agree nor disagree disagree

“I think it would be great if there were some clear

laws,” says Lucy Lendrem, Head of Talent UK at
Gleam Futures. “The ASA guidelines are formed as
things go wrong, and open to interpretation in some
part, and it’s hard for everyone to keep up with the
ever-evolving space. I think we will soon see more
stringent rules which will help bring some clarity to
influencer marketing.”
Lendrem cites Instagram paid partnership feature
as a good example, claiming the industry has
limited guidance on what the ASA thinks of it.
“This is where a lot of confusion is coming from
at present, and everyone seems to be doing
something different,” she explains. “Additionally, not
everyone can use Instagram paid partnerships, so
how is there supposed to be parity if influencers
don’t have access to the same tools?”
29
 ‘Fake followers’ ranks
as number one concern
within influencer
marketing
Earlier this year, Keith Weed, Unilever’s CMO, took
the stage at Cannes to expose the current state of
influencer marketing, which he argued is plagued
with transparency and authenticity issues. He
claimed the industry should take a stand against
fake or bought followers and refuse to work with
influencers adopting such practices. “We need to
take urgent action now to rebuild trust before it’s
gone forever,” he said.
It is therefore unsurprising that a few months
on, 42% of industry respondents rank ‘fake
followers and bots’ as their number one concern
with influencer marketing. Experts interviewed for
this confirmed that since Weeds’ statement, they
have seen sharp spike in industry concern around
influencer fraud, and this is particularly noticeable
brand-side.
Figure 15
What are your greatest concerns relating to influencer
marketing, at present?
The question of fake followers/bots and ensuring
followers have not been bought:
42%
How to differentiate in an increasingly saturated market:
17%
Knowing if an influencer has real “influence” i.e. the
ability to change behaviour, an attitude or an action: 14%
Trusting influencers with our brand reputation:
14%
The dilemma of promoting authenticity when content has
been paid for: 12%
Justifying the cost of influencer engagement:
12%
Understanding true viewability figures on influencer
content: 11%
Protecting our social responsibility towards our younger
audience: 1%
Ranked 1st
30
“It has been a problem for years, but we are being
asked more and more what safeguards we are
putting in place, to make sure that our talent don’t
have fake followers,” shares Lucy Lendrem, Head
of Talent UK at Gleam Futures. “It surprises me
so much that brands aren’t spending just minutes
– that is all the time it takes – to look at who they
are paying to work with and endorse their brand, to
check for erratic behaviour, and levels of genuine
engagement. It doesn’t need to be complicated
and no special tools or expertise are required – it is
really simple, providing there is some due diligence.”
Suri Singh, Influencer Expert at ITB Worldwide
agrees, saying: “If you simply hover over likes
and comments it is easy to see when there is a
discrepancy. When we are casting we are happy
to request screenshots from the influencer/agent
showing a deeper level of analytics for their social
profiles, before we agree to work together. If
a person is reluctant to do so that is one way to
answer our question. Well before the Keith Weed
Unilever statement, we had included language
within our agreements that referred to fake
followers, stipulating that our clients would have
the option to terminate their agreement should that
situation ever arise.”
9% 7%
15% 15%
25% 26%
17% 12%
20% 14%
16% 19%
15% 17%
6% 4%
Ranked 2nd Ranked 3rd
It is notable that just 1% of respondents rank
protecting their social responsibility towards a
younger audience as their greatest concern. The
impact social media can have upon mental health
has been well documented over the past couple
of years, and it is critical that brands understand
their responsibility in this area, and particularly
with the younger generation. “Young people are
creating their own content now on social media
which is gritty and unedited, and that is the stuff
that is really resonating with them,” explains Bexy
Cameron, Head of Insight at Amplify. “It doesn’t
take a lot to start to win with young people; they
just want realistic stuff.”
Investment in
In the fashion and beauty sector, where brand and
influencer content very often present a flawless
influencer marketing
version of reality, this can be far from what the remains cautious
average teenager looks like or is experiencing.
“Brands are very aware of what they are doing, Despite the soaring costs of influencers, 53% of
but they still want to sell the dream,” says Marianne marketers have less than 10% of their marketing
Fakinos, Senior Influencer and Partnership budget to spend on influencers (see Fig. 16
Manager at TMW Unlimited. “In the beauty sector below), indicating an ongoing lack of confidence
especially, there is little interest in diversity currently. or buy-in from the c-suite.
This is slowly beginning to change, but it is our job Some of the experts interviewed for this report
to push it forward, and it will take time.” claimed that brands are often restricted by
campaign-specific budgets, which makes it difficult
Many of the experts interviewed for the report for them to secure longer-term budget allocation.
claim that we are slowly seeing a new wave of “Brands are often looking at campaigns in isolation
influencers, who for want of a better phrase, are and have budgets signed off for just that particular
focused on ‘keeping it real’. Lucy Lendrem, Head activation, and budgets can also fluctuate greatly
of Talent UK at Gleam Futures, says: “Instagram from campaign to campaign,” shares Natasha
Stories has meant that even if you are producing Mensah Benjamin, managing partner at Beyond
overly aspirational content on your grid, you are Talent. A talent and influencer procurement
able to show a little bit of the behind the scenes agency. “It is still difficult for brands to commit
reality there. Brands and influencers have a upfront to 12-month budget, for example, and they
responsibility to do that more and more. People also want to see how well the first piece of activity
want real, or they will disengage.” is received. This means that they are missing out
on opportunities for economies of scale, currently.”
For example, US discount retailer Target’s most
recent swimwear campaign avoids any airbrushing Figure 16
or reshaping of the models, and the pool of talent
used is incredibly diverse, focused on portraying How much of your marketing
women’s bodies as they really are. Designers communication budget is currently
Rebecca Minkoff and Diane von Furstenburg are spent on influencer marketing?
also eliminating professional models altogether in
favour of “real” women, according to Glamour.11 53%

27%

13%

5%
1%
1%

Less
than 10% 20% 30% 50% 75%
10% 20% 30% 50% 75% 100%

31
 S TUDY
KELLOGG’S:
CA S E
JUSTIFYING
INVESTMENT
WHEN THERE
IS NO DIRECT
LINK TO
PURCHASE
CHA
LLENGE
Breakfast cereal brand Kellogg’s had been
experimenting on a small scale with influencer
marketing for its Special K brand, but the brand
faced a critical challenge.
Joseph Harper, Social Media Manager, UK
& Ireland, Kellogg’s explains: “in the online
environment, we have no direct link to purchase
available. Most of our sales are still done through
bricks and mortar stores and we therefore
don’t have a quantitative way to measure the
effectiveness of our influencer collaborations.” in
relation to ROI and sales. “All we can rely on are
vanity metrics, and this makes it difficult for me to
secure further investment for influencer marketing
particularly.”
Beyond this, Kellogg’s faced a further issue.
Historically, Special K had been positioned
as a ‘diet’ brand targeted at women for shape
management and weight loss. It was one of the
most successful FMCG brands of its era, running
popular advertising campaigns such as ‘Drop
a jean size’ and ‘The Special K diet’, which had
helped to drive sales and awareness around the
world. But as times had changed, the story had
become out-dated, but the legacy of the campaign
had stayed with the consumer. The challenge was
to create new narratives for the Special K brand
which were more aligned with positive nutrition, its
vitamin and minerals contents, and the nutrients
women can get from our products on a daily basis,”
Harper explains.
Kellogg’s had struggled to shift the dial on
sentiment through its own content and so it
was optimistic that influencer content might
have greater impact. “We wanted to leverage the
credibility of influencers, tap into their advocacy
and generate assets and content that we could
then use as our own,” says Harper.
32
SOLU
TION
For its #PoweringYou campaign, Kellogg’s
partnered with influencer marketing platform
Takumi to help it select relevant female lifestyle
influencers to partner with. “We knew its talent
demographic fitted well with our brand and target
consumer, that being females aged 18-30,” says
Harper. Six mid-tier influencers were chosen,
supported by 135 micro-influencers, focusing
on a wide range of interests including fashion,
art, beauty, travel, food, sports & fitness and
parenting. The content needed to speak about the
food, since an important objective of the campaign
was to drive some purchase intent. But Kellogg’s
wanted to give its influencers as much creative
freedom as possible: a tall order for such a large
FMCG brand, with stringent nutritional guidelines
to comply with. “We know the less prescriptive
our briefs are the more likely we are to get great
content from our influencers but letting go of
creative control is still the biggest sticking point for
us,” admits Harper.
It was agreed that the #PoweringYou campaign
would focus on communicating the wide variety
of nutrients and benefits that make up Special
K, and influencers would have the freedom to
choose those that were most relevant to them. For
example, one influencer was heavily into kickboxing
and focused on the nutritional benefits of Special
K that would fuel their hobby. “We allowed the
influencers to remove any visual reference to our
product as we understand their hobbies and what
feeds their motivation doesn’t necessarily revolve
around the breakfast table,” Harper shares.
The influencer content compliance and approval
process proved a massive piece of work for Harper.
“It is the thing we discuss the most and which
causes the most inertia, workload and workflow
issues internally,” he admits. Kellogg’s has a strict
and rigorous internal approval process: content
must first be checked by its nutrition team who
ensure all nutritional claims are substantiated and
the correct language used, for example, the brand
can’t show an image of a bowl of cereal unless it is
of the portion size indicated on the side of the pack.
“It has been a long piece of work for me to bring the
approvals team to a point where they are happy
with how much visibility they have on an influencer’s
work before it goes live. With the #PoweringYou
campaign, the second images went live, there
was a live checking process to ensure the assets
were complaint, so that if there was a major red
flag it could be taken straight down,” says Harper.
“There is a huge focus on FMCG companies to be
compliant with industry guidelines and if we make
a mistake we will get caught out.”
RES
ULTS
The influencer campaigns proved highly successful,
promoting the nutritional benefits of Special K
while reminding people that it is still a delicious
food. In total, 171 pieces of content reached a total
of over 4.7m users, with an average engagement
rate of 2.6% - much higher than the brand would
usually achieve on its own channels. Net positivity
for the period also reached 44% on Instagram, in
part due to the nature of Instagram and the fact
that the channel drives significantly more positive
conversation than other social networks.
MEASURING
SUCCESS

Engagement is the
number one benchmark
for success
When it comes to measuring the impact of
influencer marketing, 85% of marketers say
engagement data, such as comments and
content shares, is the biggest metric of success
for influencer marketing (see Fig. 17 below). What
was once an industry that measured its success
according to big follower numbers and volume of
‘likes’, has matured significantly to focus on how
audiences are reacting to and interacting with
influencer content.
Suri Singh, Influencer Expert at ITB Worldwide,
shares: “three years ago, measuring engagement
was never part of our remit, but as this space has
evolved and as more and more people have come
to understand that it isn’t all about having a million
followers, it naturally has become part of our remit.
Engagement is now a key metric that everyone is
looking for.”

Figure 17

What data do you use to measure the success of

your influencer marketing programme?

Engagement data e.g. comments and content shares 85%

Social media traffic 59%

Revenue generation 45%

Web analytics data, including floodlight tags 40%

Campaign analytics data, provided by the influencer 33%

Lead referrals 31%

Sentiment data 26%

33
 Brands are also seeing success with engagement,
with 79% of respondents agreeing that influencers
have helped to boost their brand’s engagement
and interaction with consumers (see Fig. 18 below).
Within the consumer survey, 87% of respondents
“strongly agreed” or “somewhat agreed” that
they are happy to engage with influencers whose
interests, passions and skills match their own.
The finding demonstrates further the importance
of brands working with influencers who are a
natural and relevant match for them, and their target
audience.
Above all, it seems influencers are helping brands
to build awareness, around the brand or specific
products; a view that’s supported by 86% of
industry respondents. The consumer view supports
this, with 62% of respondents agreeing that being
introduced to new and/or independent brands is the
primary way in which they are influenced by talent-
led content and collaborations.

Figure 18

How have influencers supported your marketing strategy over the past
12 months?

Influencers have helped build brand

awareness of a product launch/campaign
43% 43% 10% 2% 2%

Influencers have increased consumer

engagement
32% 47% 13% 5% 3%

They’ve made marketing messages more

relatable
28% 52% 12% 5% 3%

Influencers and their audiences provide

valuable feedback to help us improve
product/service 15% 36% 28% 18% 3%

Influencers have helped restore a level of

trust among our customers
13% 47% 30% 7% 3%

They have increased revenue generation

12% 33% 40% 11% 4%

They’ve not yet had an impact on our

marketing strategy 5% 19% 22% 34% 20%

Influencers have had negative impact on

our brand reputation 1% 7% 22% 33% 37%

Strongly Somewhat Neither agree Somewhat Strongly

agree agree or disagree disagree disagree

34
Overall, it seems brands are becoming better
educated in the ways available to them to measure
the success of their influencer collaborations, and
the expert interviews carried out for this report
reveal that many are now having the confidence
to request analytics from the influencer directly.
For example, Suri Singh, Influencer Expert at ITB
Worldwide shares: “within Instagram stories we
look specifically at the post reach and we request
screenshots from our influencers of their profile,
which we can then verify, to give us a depth of
engagement-based analytics for that individual.”
There are a myriad of metrics and tools that brands
can be using to track the impact and performance of
their influencer-led activity, and Fig. 19 below shows
that brands are becoming more sophisticated
in their measurement approaches. Campaign
hashtags, for example, are how extremely prevalent
within digital marketing and 61% of industry
respondents say they are using these to assess
the impact of their influencer investments. Almost
half (46%) say they are using trackable attribution
links, enabling them to see how an individual is
performing for them. Trackable shopping links,
such as those within Instagram, are also being
utilised by 40%.

Above all, it is critical that brands are measuring

what is important, tracking results that relate
directly to the campaign objectives. “The beauty of
influencer marketing is that it is very trackable and
measurable,” says Natasha Mensah Benjamin,
managing partner at Beyond Talent. “As long
as you have access to backend analytics and
engagement rates, you can easily set KPIs and
measurable goals at the outset of a project. It is
then possible to determine if an influencer’s price
tag is justified based on what the brand thinks they
can achieve through them, or maybe the marketing
budget would be better spent elsewhere.”

Figure 19

What tools / methods do you use to track performance

on influencer-led campaigns?

Campaign hashtags 61%

Trackable attribution/affiliate links

within content created by the influencer 46%

Platform-specific metrics e.g. trackable

shopping links in instagram 40%

Influencer linked URLs 39%

A branded landing page 34%

Search Engine Optimisation 28%

Use of discount codes 27%

Other 3%

35
 Only 18% are including
influencer marketing
within their overall
digital marketing ROI
calculations
A resounding 84% of marketers agree that
being able to demonstrate the ROI of influencer
marketing will be critical to its future (see Fig.
23 below). Yet despite this, 31% say influencer Figure 20
marketing is peripheral to their digital marketing How does influencer marketing fit
ROI calculations, and a further 21% say it is too within your overall digital marketing
much of a challenge to include influencer marketing
ROI calculations?
within their overall ROI measurements. Only 18%
of respondents claims influencer marketing is
Influencer marketing is
an intrinsic part of their overall digital marketing peripheral to our digital 31%
ROI calculations. This is surprising considering the marketing ROI calculations
array of data marketers say they are collecting, as
shown in Fig. 19 above. As Lucy Lendrem, Head It is too much of a challenge to
of Talent UK at Gleam Futures, asserts: “ROI is include influencer marketing 21%
within our overall ROI
the biggest question facing the influencer industry
right now.” Influencer marketing is an
intrinsic part of our digital 18%
One of the potential reasons for this is that marketing ROI calculations
influencer marketing is often measured by ‘softer Influencer marketing
metrics’ such as engagement and sentiment, metrics are used as more of
and how these relate to conversions and revenue a pulse on how our digital 17%
can sometimes be tricky to quantify. Furthermore, marketing is performing
the impact of influencer marketing isn’t always
We have no immediate
instant and can sometimes prove a lengthy sales
plans to include influencer
cycle. For instance, within the consumer survey, 55% marketing within our digital 12%
of respondents said influencers most commonly marketing ROI calculations
“inspire them with a new look or style”, and 50%
said they encourage them to add a product to
their wish list for potential purchase in the future,
while only 28% say influencers encourage them
to immediately clickthrough and buy something.
One of the pitfalls of marketing ROI is that it is easy
to focus on incremental profits in short-term sales
and underestimate the long-term benefits that
marketing brings to brand equity and customer There is little doubt that influencer marketing
relationships over time. Experts interviewed for the budgets need to rise and become more flexible,
report also cited the lack of industry benchmarks and as Fig. 21 below reveals, 51% of industry
available currently for influencer marketing ROI. respondents say they are regularly reviewing their
investments already and adjusting accordingly.
Natasha Mensah Benjamin, managing partner
at Beyond Talent, says: “It is important to ensure
that every factor of the campaign is optimised, from Figure 21
timing to content and analytics, so that we can
quantify the ROI potential, and continually refine the
How do your influencer marketing
campaign along the way.” It is also critical that there ROI calculations impact your future
are no gaps in data, and increasingly social media strategy and planning, if at all?
platforms themselves are supporting brands with
this. For example, the Instagram paid partnerships We review regularly, and
adjust our investment
feature has the potential to give brands a lot more 25%
in individual influencers
transparency on the effectiveness of individual accordingly
influencers.
We review regularly,
and adjust our investment
in specific social channels 26%
accordingly

Our ROI calculations

are used to decide our
annual budget cycle for 14%
influencer marketing

No action is taken with this

information, currently 35%

36
WHERE
DOES THE
INDUSTRY
NEED TO
BE IN 2020?
Authenticity must
prevail, and we will see
a rise in influencers
who are ‘keeping it real’
A common theme throughout both the industry
and consumer survey findings, is that authenticity
must prevail for the influencer marketing industry to
survive. As Fig. 22 below reveals, 83% of industry
marketers say they need better data and metrics
on influencers to allow for greater transparency and
authenticity, and Fig. 23 confirms that brands and
influencers alike need to be taking authenticity
more serious for it to be sustainable long term.

Bexy Cameron, Head of Insight at Amplify,

argues: “Brands should be the champions of
authenticity. If they are brave and start to portray
people realistically, especially in the UK where we
have a progressive-thinking set of young people,
it will really pay dividends.”

However, influencers must strive for authenticity

too, or their audiences will ‘switch off’, and they will
lose the opportunity for future commercial deals.
“There’s a new wave of influencers that need to
come through, particularly with the links that have
been drawn between social media and mental
health,” argues Sarah Evans, Head of Digital at
Bottle PR. “The next stage of influencer marketing
needs to be responsible, giving consumers more
substance and more thoughtful collaborations,
which truly add value to them.”

Over the next couple of years, we are also likely to

see brands make better use of genuine advocates
such as employees and customers who have
natural credibility and micro influence which can
be broadened with scale.

37
 Figure 22

What are the top 3 trends that will dominate influencer

marketing strategies for you for the next two years?

Better data and metrics to allow for more transparency and authenticity 83%

A more aligned approach to measure distinct to each individual campaign 67%

Influencer marketing campaign using mobile video & AR 44%

AI powered conversation & personalisation campaigns across email, social 27%

Integration of influencers into in-house marketing teams 22%

Utilising dark social for influencer-led communication 13%

Human influence may

be challenged by that
which is digitally created
Earlier this year, digital ‘supermodel’ Shudu
made her Instagram debut, taking the fashion
world by storm. In her first post she posed
nude with a stack of gold chokers around her
neck, and soon after she caught the eye of the
beauty world when Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line
reposted an image of her with striking tangerine
lips. amassing thousands of followers, and
people believed she was real…except she
wasn’t. Instead she was one of the world’s first
computer generated influencers: an art project,
and the work of a young British photographer
named Cameron- James Wilson.

As Fig. 22 above shows, just over a quarter of

respondents believe artificial intelligence will
have found its way into influencer marketing
by 2020. It is a trend that seems inevitable, and
there has been a big debate around whether it
matters that Shudu is computer generated. Sarah
Evans, Head of Digital at Bottle PR, expresses
her concerns: “Shudu is flawless and this is fuelling
the fire, perpetuating this unattainable, digitally
enhanced beauty standard, in a similar way to
Snapchat filters. It makes it even more important
for transparency to prevail. If people are looking
at models like Shudu, regardless of whether they
know she’s real or not, it could still fuel body image
anxiety. Everyone knew Barbie wasn’t real, after all.
We need to tread the line very carefully between
what we could do and what we should do.”

38
The cost of working with
influencers will level out
and budgets will rise
Over the past couple of years, the cost of
influencer marketing has risen exponentially, and
to some extent influencers have been at liberty
to charge whatever they like which brands have
paid on trust and sometimes naivety. But as Figure
23 below shows, 58% of industry marketers
believe that by 2020 influencer marketing will
be entirely data-driven, and with this depth of
analytics and information marketers will be more
easily able to assess what an influencer is worth.
Experts interviewed for the report spoke of the
lack of industry benchmarks currently available,
but greater access to data will make these more
possible to establish.

Ollie Thomas, managing partner at Beyond

Talent, argues that “moving forward, influencers
need to caution against escalating their rates too
much, or other marketing channels will become
more cost effective and viable. There desperately
needs to be some sort of industry benchmark so that
costs don’t spiral out of control, and so that it doesn’t
become infeasible for marketing departments to
continue spending their money on it.”

Figure 23

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Brands and influencers need to take authenticity and

transparency more seriously, for it to be sustainable
48% 42% 9% 1% 0%

Being able to demonstrate the ROI of influencer

marketing will be critical to its future
37% 47% 14% 1% 1%

Governing bodies (e.g. ASA/FTC) will take need to take

a zero-tolerance policy to code breaches 20% 39% 34% 6% 1%

Consumer trust in influencer content is already eroding

and drastic action to prove transparency is critical
19% 45% 24% 11% 1%

Micro and authoritative influencers will supersede

A-list and top-tier talent
19% 42% 28% 10% 1%

Influencer marketing will become entirely data driven in

the future
15% 43% 26% 15% 1%

Influencers will gradually move to in-house roles, and be

more involved at a business/product development level 7% 26% 36% 27% 4%

Strongly Agree Neither agree Disagree Strongly

agree or disagree disagree

39
 Brands will invest in
building influencer
marketing skills internally
Several of the experts interviewed for this report
claimed they were seeing a notable rise in brands
bringing influencer expertise in-house and
taking the work away from agencies. As Fig. 23
above illustrates, 33% of industry marketers agree
we will see the integration of influencers into in-
house roles, over the next couple of years, such as
Puma’s collaboration with singer and style icon
Solange, which saw the athletic footwear brand
appoint her as art director.12

According to Joseph Harper, Social Media

Manager, UK & Ireland at Kellogg’s, “agencies
need to do a lot more to showcase the
effectiveness of the work that they are doing
in influencer marketing”. Lucy Lendrem, Head
of Talent UK at Gleam Futures, also claims
influencer marketing lends itself better to working
with an in-house team, as they can be dedicated
to the job without other client distractions, have a
stronger grasp of what will be a great fit for the
brand and with the right investment, are likely to
have more time to put in the manual hours that are
needed for relationship-building with influencers.
“In working with a brand direct it can be a lot easier
in terms of the integration piece,” she concludes.

Governing bodies will

set firmer rules for
influencer marketing
Following Unilever’s Keith Weed’s speech
at Cannes earlier this year, the industry has
recognised that it must take a stronger stance
on the integrity and transparency of influencer
marketing. Firmer rules relating to commercial
disclosures are needed urgently: a view that
was confirmed within all qualitative interviews
undertaken for the report.

Indeed in Fig. 23 above, 59% of industry

respondents agree that governing bodies such
as the FTC and ASA, will need to take a zero-
tolerance approach to code breaches moving
forward. This will extend to issues surrounding
disclosures, fake followers, fraud and dishonest
business practices.

Fraud detection is a key challenge which the entire

industry needs to take a stand against. While
the outcome of Unilever’s pledge is currently
ongoing, as Weed said: “The key to improving the
situation is three-fold: cleaning up the influencer
ecosystem by removing misleading engagement;
making brands and influencers more aware of
the use of dishonest practices; and improving
transparency from social platforms to help brands
measure impact. We need to take urgent action
40 now to rebuild trust before it’s gone forever.”
CON
CLUSION Luis Di Como, executive vice president
for global media, Unilever, recently said:
“I believe we are still in the early stages
[of influencer marketing] and we need to
continue working with influencers to see
what measurement and success look like to
create a mutual benefit partnership rooted
in transparency and trust.”13 The future of
influencer marketing, like anything, needs
to continue evolving and will be subject
to changing trends, rules, technology
advancements and audience preferences;
but the findings of both the industry
and consumer surveys, and qualitative
interviews strongly point towards its
sustainability. Although it is easy to think
that influencer marketing has been around
for some time, by marketing standards it is
still relatively new, and many brands and
sectors are yet to experiment with it for
themselves. However, at the other end of
the spectrum, some verticals such as fashion
and beauty, sport and music, have invested
in it heavily already and the marketing
industry as a whole can benefit from their
learnings. The entire influencer marketing
landscape came about through growing
consumer demand for authenticity, and
while that focus may have lapsed and been
eroded by commercial interests and some
poorly matched relationships, the research
above indicates clearly that the sector is
gradually being pulled back on track. Things
evolve rapidly within the world of digital
marketing, and providing brands take
their due diligence seriously and strive
to be transparent and purposeful in their
collaborations, there is no reason why the
influencer marketing industry won’t be a
thriving one in 2020.

APPE
NDIX
Figure 24

Which of the following best describes

your company?

35%
32%

24%

Figure 25

What best describes your job role?

Board level/business owner 16%
5% 4%
CMO/director/VP 11%

Head of marketing 12%

Agency/ Client-side Stand- Media Charity Marketing manager 30%

vendor/ (part of an alone
consultant in-house brand PR executive 5%
marketing/
PR team) Social Media 7%

Junior executive 6%

Other 13%
41
REF
ERENCES

01
http://mediakix.com/2017/03/instagram-influencer-
marketing-industry-size-how-big/#gs.8Earhxg

02
https://issuu.com/weareamplify/docs/yb2_book_issu

03
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/what-is-an-influencer

08
https://fashionista.com/2015/01/img-we-love-your-genes

04
https://www.glamour.com/story/why-fashion-brands-cast-

09
employees-in-ad-campaigns

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/04/
ftc-staff-reminds-influencers-brands-clearly-disclose

05
https://www.forbes.com/sites/

10
cherylsnappconner/2018/06/08/celebrity-influencer-
marketing-is-dead-report-says-real-employees-and-
customers-are-better/#769ffddb4b0d https://www.asa.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/3af39c72-
76e1-4a59-b2b47e81a034cd1d.pdf

06
https://www.glossy.co/fashion/how-macys-is-using-its-
store-employees-and-stylists-as-instagram-influencers-to- 11
https://www.glamour.com/story/targets-2018-swimwear-
drive-sales ads-photoshop-free

07
https://issuu.com/weareamplify/docs/yb2_book_issu 12
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/solange-
becomes-pumas-art-director-659537

13
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/10/03/unilever-
pushing-long-term-partnerships-with-influencers-fight-
against-fraud

42
The only celebrity and influencer
marketing tool you need
Learn more at

Influencerintelligence.econsultancy.com