Endorsement deals & influencers: cons & pros. Part 2

By Gonzalo López Martí    Creative director, etc      /   LMMIAMI.COM

• We live in the age of brutal attention deficit and hyper fragmented media consumption.
• In this context, celeb influencers have dramatically regained traction and currency as brand endorsers.
• The barrage of celebs that populated this year’s Super Bowl commercials is proof enough of this reality.
• Their unique ability to obtain permission and engage with audiences is, now more than ever, of the utmost value for marketers.
• In 2016, an influencer with a loyal fan base on various social feeds is virtually a one-man (or one-woman) media conglomerate.
• Beyoncé, for instance.
• Now, if you have been in this godforsaken business long enough you also know that dealing with celebs, their handlers, their agents, their managers, their lawyers, publicists, stylists, nutritionists, hairs and makeup artists, crews, posses, entourages, extended family, personal trainers, personal healers, masseuses, lifestyle coaches, tea leaf readers et al is a royal pain in the sphincter.
• Cutting an endorsement deal can easily become a protracted, annoying string of misunderstandings, stupid bargaining tricks, inexplicable whim, power plays and ego trips.
• Contracts and riders can read like the Xmas list of a deranged child.
• How come there isn’t a company employing marketing, advertising and legal experts to streamline this process and mediate in these deals?
• Here’s a business idea: a one-stop shop devoted to conveniently centralizing, brokering, slicing and dicing social media talent for marketing purposes.
• The concept is simple.
• Well, it sounds simple.
• It’d require a team of pros with the know-how to package influencers and put them to work for brands, with carefully curated marketing logic behind it.
• Reducing the client’s headaches, the guess work, the paper work and the leg work to its minimum expression.
• So you are brand manager for a shampoo in need of some love from brunettes 16 to 45?
• How about an organically and tastefully executed social media endorsement by, say, Eva Longoria & America Ferrera in just one shot?
• The A list should include a robust roster of opinion leaders with at least three millions followers across various social platforms
• And that’s not all.
• There’s should be bonus track of supporting influencers to add density & value: a tier 2 network of lesser known influencers with inferior yet substantial firepower to contribute with robust critical mass to the equation, through a well-thought out targeting algorithm.
• We’re talking about twitstars, instagrammers, snappers, youtubers, viners and snappers that are not wildly famous yet still enjoy good traction in certain niches or demographic realms like, say, baking, bachata or béisbol.
• The logic makes sense: if you add up ten influencers with, say, 100,000 followers each, you can make a lot of noise on various touchpoints and from different angles.
• Like the idea?
• Call me and we’ll make it happen.
• Investors welcome.