Under the influence
The #FuturePRoof influencer project has achieved its goal of starting a conversation among practitioners about governance.
It’s been great to listen to the conversations about the tension between paid and earned influencer marketing following the publication of the latest #FuturePRoof project. It’s been viewed by more than 1,000 practitioners.
We’re All Influencers Now provides guidance for agencies, brands and influencers on governance. It’s an area where the PR industry has lacked leadership and been slow to provide guidance.
In the UK influencer campaigns are governed by existing Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) laws and regulations.
The international influencer marketing market is expected to grow from £4.5 billion in 2019 to £18.4 billion by 2024, according to a report by Markets and Markets. That’s a growth rate of more than 30% a year.
Influencers at Frank’s Café, Peckham
The project started life as a conversation in the summer between Scott Guthrie and me over a beer at Frank’s Café at the top of a 10-storey carpark in Peckham.
Frank’s is an chic urban space in South London. It was designed Paloma Gormley and Lettice Drake. It’s incredibly popular thanks in part to people recording their visit on Instagram.
The bar has panoramic views over London and a series of installations that attract the attention of influencers. Check out the #FranksCafePeckham hashtag for yourself.
This is an example of an earned influencer campaign. No money exchanges hands between the bar and people posting on Instagram.
Our visit to Franks coincided with the ASA ruling against an Instagram ad posted by former Love Island contestant Olivia Buckland.
The post promoted a product from instant tan brand Cocoa Brown. Buckland was paid to post an image of her holding the product.
The ASA ruled against Buckland and Cocoa Brown. It took issue with Buckland’s disclosure efforts on two fronts.
First, disclosure wasn’t clear enough - the hashtag #BrandAmbassador was used rather than the explicit #Ad.
And second, disclosure wasn’t timely enough – the disclosure hashtag came right at the end of the caption.
There were more than 16,000 complaints made about 14,000 online ads and social media posts last year according to the ASA and the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) Annual Report 2018.
Last year insurance provider Hiscox created influencer and public figure protection as an insurance solution for individuals who live their lives in the public eye. Beazley recently announced an influencer-only policy.
Kickstarting a conversation about influencer marketing governance
Scott and I decided to create a best practice guide for practitioners on influencer marketing.
We pitched the idea to my wife, Sarah Waddington, to publish as a #FuturePRoof project. It was a tough sell.
We invited Vuelio to get involved. Vuelio is a media intelligence company that champions influencers through analysis, tools and events. Senior marketing manager Jake O’Neill contributed an overview of the UK market for influencers.
Jake also involved Vuelio’s head of marketing Natalie Orringe who invited Andrew Terry, Partner and Head of Intellectual Property & Media, Eversheds Sutherland to contribute on media law.
Everyone involved in a campaign has a responsibility to adhere to relevant advertising and media law.
Scott then invited Rupa Shah, Founder and Director of Hashtag Ad Consulting, to check our work. Rupa spent a decade working for the ASA and CAP prior to starting her own firm.
Summary of guidance
I recommend that you read the 4,400 word guidance for yourself. It’ll take you ten minutes. Here’s a summary.
Everyone involved in a campaign has a responsibility to adhere to relevant advertising and media law. This includes agencies, brands and influencers.
Influence is often confused with popularity. Influence is the ability to shape or change a person’s opinion or behaviour.
Marketing approaches influencer marketing from the perspective of high control and low trust. PR deals in low control and high trust. Marketing is often marked by short term and tactical campaigns. This is set against PR’s bedrock skill of building long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) set out how to abide by media laws and regulations.
If you are an organisation pitching a story and an influencer creates organic content based on that pitch but there is no exchange of payment or value, then there is no need for disclosure on either side.
Disclosure of a paid influencer marketing relationship should be obvious. It should be easy to understand, unambiguous, timely and prominent. Use hashtags such as #ad, #advertisement or #advertising
Support from the PR industry
PRWeek has welcomed the #FuturePRoof project.
The CIPR shared it with members and has included it within its continuous personal development (CPD) library.
The CIPR has also announced plans for an influencer panel. My hope is that it attracts the agencies and brands that are making significant investments in influencer campaigns.
The PRCA also shared the #FuturePRoof guidance with its members via social media and its website.
Sarah, Evershed’s Andrew Terry and I review the #FuturePRoof report on a webinar hosted by Vuelio. Please follow this link to register.
