Tag: Influencer Marketing

Singapore – On 8 November, marketing leaders from APAC gathered in an industry discussion to share expert insights into the continuously evolving channel of influencer marketing, and the creator economy that’s sprung from it. 

Influencers – whether macro, micro, or nano – have long been used by brands alongside other more traditional forms of advertising, as a means to build authentic and relatable engagement between audiences on social. As the industry continues to develop, the important question on everyone’s mind is, ‘what can we expect next from influencer marketing?’. 

In a recent event hosted by MARKETECH APAC in partnership with influencer marketing platform Vamp, the What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC webinar brought together leaders representing the brand, tech, and agency side. Our experts imparted their top tips for influencer marketing, highlighting what trends we can expect to see moving into 2023. 

The webinar began with a presentation from Aaron Brooks, co-founder and president of Vamp, who later joined a panel discussion that included Ruben Ahmed, director of marketing for HP Australia & New Zealand; Isabel Falco, chief digital & marketing officer of L’Oréal Philippines, and Jonathan Gerard, the head of production of VaynerMedia Asia Pacific. 

In his presentation, Brooks gave an overview of the influencer marketing landscape. He discussed the forecasted growth and investment expected into the channel, the key factors powering the creator economy, and how creator content is being activated to drive outcomes at each stage of the marketing funnel. In addition, the presentation touched on the different elements critical to deploying a successful influencer marketing strategy such as the essentiality of video, recruiting creators with a ‘squad’ mentality, and the importance of representation and advocacy. 

The panel discussion—moderated by Shaina Teope, regional editor of MARKETECH APAC, gave the industry experts an opportunity to share how influencer marketing is being leveraged from the perspective of their brands, and how they’ve been involved to date in the creator economy. 

Ahmed, Brooks, Falco, and Gerard discussed how the demand for key opinion leaders (KOLs) is moving brand engagement into co-creation and collaborating on social strategies. The panel explored ideas around how brands can stand out in their content direction amidst the growing saturation of ‘me too’ content. 

Important takeaways for marketers emerged such as the best approach to managing and maintaining brand-creator collaborations, moving away from creating inauthentic ‘ads’, using influencer marketing for advocacy-driven initiatives, as well as understanding the purpose of each social platform in delivering creator content. Our experts rounded up the discussion with examples of how influencer marketing has become a vital part of an always-on performance marketing channel strategy for their brand. 

Overall, the webinar drew 168 attendees out of 598 registrations. Those who participated came from a variety of industries, including retail, e-commerce, travel & hospitality, consumer products, financial services, F&B, and media & entertainment. 

The top markets represented were Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, as well as the US. More specifically, those who took part were from brands and companies Danone, Electrolux; Love, Bonito; Netflix, Ninja Van, OPPO, Philippine Seven Corporation, Pomelo Fashion, RedDoorz, and Summit Media.

Teope commented, “We may think we’ve exhausted the best out of influencer marketing, but with the emergence of popular content formats such as short-form video, we’re attracting new audiences towards creator content. With this industry discussion, we had a diverse and well-represented panel who gave us actionable insights into how the influencer marketing landscape will continue to evolve. The webinar is an essential guide to helping us all prepare for what’s to come next in this exciting space.” 

“In a challenging economic climate, brands should approach influencers as a scaling mechanism to help you reach every consumer type and every sub-niche audience,” says Brooks. “Find those creators who are advocates of your brand already. Don’t be afraid to be bold and go outside of the confines of conventional advertising as you start building out your influencer marketing strategies for 2023 and beyond.”

If you missed out on the live session, there’s still time to dive into the content presented by our industry experts. As we enter a brand new year, don’t miss out on this insight-filled industry discussion. Register HERE to access and watch the on-demand version. 

Manila, Philippines – Following Filipino actress Yassi Pressman‘s launch of a play-to-earn (P2E) platform, ‘Players Elite Guild’ (PEG), the actress has jumped next to influencer marketing, unveiling a platform in the space called BrandNation.io. The latest venture of Pressman is said to be backed by a ‘dream team’ of top investors and technologists.

BrandNation.io connects influencers, brands, and their fans all on a single platform that will serve as the hub for promotion, exposure, partnerships, and revenue-generating activities in the space. The features were said to be made robust and advanced for each stakeholder.

For example, brands will be able to automate the campaign creation process for influencer marketing in just a few clicks, gain access to real-time data about each campaign, and achieve mainstream adoption through collaborations with even A-list celebrities, including Pressman herself.

According to Pressman, influencers and celebrities will be drawn to BrandNation.io because it will be a channel to work in a future pillar of the economy, the Web3.

“There’s a lot of noise in the web3 space, so it’s difficult for influencers and celebrities to find legitimate brands to work with. Some in other markets mistakenly endorsed projects that were later proven untrustworthy. BrandNation.io eliminates this problem: We connect with only the best, most trusted brands in the industry,” said Pressman, who added that the core mission of BrandNation.io is to be a bridge into Web3.

BrandNation.io will be offering multiple features that benefit all stakeholders, such as complete integration with all social media platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, as well as real-time rewards and payments via PEG Token, the native token of Players Elite Guild.

This PEG Token is notably backed by BLX, the native token of BLOX, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) registered in Wyoming, United States.

“Every country has its flagship startup. I think BrandNation.io can really represent Filipinos well on the global stage, as it plays to our strengths: Our country, after all, is the social media capital of the world. It’s about time that we show the world how brands, influencers, and consumers can more efficiently perform our influencer marketing,” added Pressman.

BrandNation.io is set to start in the Philippines during its phase one launch this fourth quarter of 2022, and expand into Asia Pacific as part of phase two.

Singapore – Influencer marketing has now reached its maturity, but as we all know, the creator economy is very fluid, and even the tiniest disruption can create ripples to give birth to entirely new innovations in this area. For those that have influencer marketing as a key part of their marketing arsenal, this reality can be intimidating. 

As the digital media for the marketing and advertising industry in APAC, MARKETECH APAC has partnered with influencer marketing platform, Vamp, to lead this very important conversation for brands and marketers. To loosely refer to ‘creator economy’, in itself, hasn’t shaken its novelty off among us; when before, influencer marketing is looked to as a vain strategy or an afterthought, it has now swelled its importance and presence to have its very own ecosystem with players and stakeholders that aim to keep the brand-content creator interactivity alive and flourishing.

The webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC, will be focusing on what more can we expect from influencer marketing in the future – in 2023 and beyond. Aaron Brooks, the co-founder and president of Vamp, will be giving a keynote presentation on how brands can best leverage their position in the new creator economy in 2023. Brooks will be sharing valuable insights on what brands can do to successfully navigate current macroeconomic trends and what marketers can learn from other brands that have successfully used creator content to unify their digital and offline presence. 

Meanwhile, a panel discussion will be touching on the developing and newly-emerging trends in influencer marketing today. Together with Brooks, Jonathan Gerard, the head of production of VaynerMedia APAC, Ruben Ahmed, director of Marketing for HP Australia & New Zealand, and Isabel Falco, chief digital & marketing officer of L’Oréal Philippines will be gracing the virtual discussion to talk about how influencer marketing is evolving to change the imperative for content creation and strategy. Furthermore, the marketing leaders will be sharing their expert views on how influencer marketing is now being leveraged to achieve objectives that go beyond branding. 

What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC webinar will be held this 8 November 2022 from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm SGT. It will be conducted as part of MARKETECH APAC’s multi-platform insights-sharing festival, What’s NEXT 2023.

“As influencer marketing continues to mature as a performance channel, what brands want and expect from creators and vice versa will naturally evolve over time,” commented Aaron Brooks, president and co-founder of Vamp. 

He added, “For the relationship to be effective, it needs to work like a partnership, starting with building an understanding of the motivations of each side, and acknowledging the expertise each party brings to the table”

“Our role as a platform provider is to help facilitate this dialogue between creators and brands, to collectively drive the best outcomes. I look forward to sharing some of our learnings during the webinar,” said Brooks.  

Shaina Teope, MARKETECH APAC’s regional editor, commented, “Influencers, and the whole influencer marketing phenomenon for that matter, has been regarded only as secondary, for so long, to the budget-heavy and big-celebrity initiatives by brands. Its significance is changing now, and comes with this is the evolution and growth of how we must realise our strategies in launching and developing influence marketing campaigns today. Let this industry discussion help you step up and sustain your influencer game for 2023 and beyond.”

The said webinar kicks off its parent industry multi-platform series, What’s NEXT 2023. Through its four main content platforms – webinar, conference, interview, and article – we will be gathering the best in the industry to help the marketing community gear up and be ready for the upcoming year’s challenges, opportunities, and trends in marketing.

To join the webinar, What’s NEXT 2023: Influencer Marketing in APAC, register HERE to secure your spot. 

Bengaluru, India – Flipkart has released a new home-centric campaign, which invites its customers to give their homes a makeover through its showcase of home products in store. Flipkart aims to reach customers across the country, offering them the ease of shopping premium brands at an affordable price.

The campaign has brought on board an array of the best possible finds with carefully curated home inspiration to make brick and mortar buildings feel like home. The latest collection features products including bedsheets, curtains, showpieces, plants, cutlery, cookware, home improvement tools, among others. 

In addition, the platform is running the influencer campaign called ‘Home Flipover’ with influencers such as Chef Karishma Sakhrani, Aayushi Bangur, Bahaar Dhawan Rohatgi, Ashwiinii Dongare Banga and Chef Kirti Bhoutika joining.

Speaking on the launch, Kanchan Mishra, senior director of consumables (FMCG), general merchandise and home at Flipkart, said, “The recent hybrid work model has encouraged customers to rethink life at home as it has become the place where they spend most of their time. Eventually, it has made them redecorate and enhance the look and feel of their homes. This trend is here to stay as people are spending more time at home than they were before.” 

She added, “At Flipkart, our prime focus is to drive value for our customers on the best quality products. To diversify our product portfolio and make Flipkart the go-to destination for all things home, we have handpicked products from branded and premium range to homegrown D2C brands. Now, the home makeover can be a spontaneous plan with a wide range of selections available on the platform.” 

The new campaign comes just days after the recent campaign launch for their loyalty program ‘Supercoins’.

Singapore – YoloFoods, a healthy food delivery service in Singapore and Malaysia, has partnered with impact.com, a partnership management platform, to accelerate its affiliate and influencer marketing initiative – ‘YoloFoods Health & Wellness Programme’. 

Targeting healthy food junkies, the programme aims to incentivise and equip community ambassadors with information and resources on leading a healthy lifestyle.

In order to inspire and motivate more consumers to make healthy lifestyle changes across Singapore and Malaysia, the YoloFoods Health & Wellness Programme onboards affiliates and content creators on a commission-based reward system, to share reliable Health & Wellness information and offers with their respective audiences. To roll this out at scale, YoloFoods is leveraging the vast network of affiliates and influencers which impact.com provides.

Yolofoods said that as managing influencers and affiliates at scale requires many manual steps and reconciliation, having a robust platform like impact.com that automates contracting, tracking, payouts to affiliates, and data consolidation will help the platform to make more informed business decisions.

Alex Bauduin, CEO of YoloFoods, noted nutrition and wellness have always been a point of passion for them, and they’re excited to kickstart this strategic partnership with impact.com.

“This launch will not only allow us to make a positive mark on our local community, but is also an opportunity for YoloFoods to further scale our brand growth and customer acquisition in the region and increase our ROAS by tapping into the wider network of consumers while expanding beyond our existing channels,” said Bauduin.

Meanwhile, Antoine Gross, impact.com’s general manager for SEA, commented, “We are thrilled to be partnering with YoloFoods on this initiative. Great collaborations are a result of a common goal and shared values, and we look forward to helping YoloFoods grow their e-commerce business in Singapore and Malaysia and helping improve the wellness of local communities. 

“Joining a growing group of brands in the region who are finding success through affiliate partnerships, YoloFoods will be able to reach their target audience in an effective way while rewarding the affiliates who help make it happen,” Gross said.

Singapore – Global creator company Jellysmack has announced that current ANZ and SEA country manager Ezechiel Ritchie, has taken on an expanded regional role as general manager for APAC. In his expanded role, he brings rich experience in brand partnerships, advertising, and digital content and leverages his deep expertise with content and creators to establish meaningful partnerships.

Ritchie, who joined Jellysmack last year as ANZ and SEA country manager, previously held executive roles at Google and Taboola, and was at the helm when Jellysmack launched its Creator Program in Australia last October.

Commenting on his new role, Ritchie said: “Creators across Australia, New Zealand and Asia are having incredible success, not just on a local level but with fans and subscribers across the globe. In Australia alone there are 6 million content creators, which has grown by 48% since 2020. There are 18.5 million content creators in Japan and 17.5 million in South Korea.”

He added, “However, there is a big difference between a content creator and a successful content creator who can make a living from doing what they love. This is where Jellysmack can help by growing new audiences and revenue streams for local creators and I’m looking forward to growing our presence in the Asia Pacific region even further.” 

Meanwhile, Youri Hazanov, chief international officer at Jellysmack, commented, “Growing the creator economy across Asia Pacific is a top priority for Jellysmack, and following the success Ritchie has driven across ANZ and Southeast Asia, we are delighted to have him take the reins of the region.”

Jellysmack has partnered with over Australian and New Zealand content creators since the company launched here last October, including some of the biggest YouTubers such as How Ridiculous, JoshDub, Whippy, Vincenzo’s Plate, Indigo Traveller, Living Big in a Tiny House and How to Cook That. 

The company has also expanded its Asia Pacific presence, signing popular creators such as Junya who is Japan’s biggest YouTuber, TikToker, JianHao Tan from Singapore and Food Kingdom in Korea. 

Vietnam – Huggies, the diaper brand of baby and child care company Kimberly-Clark, has partnered with INCA, GroupM’s brand-safe influencer and content marketing arm, to launch a new campaign for its latest diaper product in Vietnam – Huggies Thin & Soft. This campaign aims to get Vietnamese moms to talk about diaper ‘quality’, ‘absorbency’ and ‘thinness’, which are unique attributes not typically associated with children’s diapers.

INCA noted that urban Vietnamese mothers place a high value on imported goods, and are excited by innovations hailing from Japan and Korea. This is also where Huggies turned their focus towards mom communities, whose small but powerful word-of-mouth influence could collectively spark powerful conversations.

Through the new campaign, INCA and Huggies have selected two hundred nano and micro-influencers who had a dominant share of voice and strong influence on more than 20 mom communities to incite conversations endorsing the value of thin and soft attributed diapers, before reviewing ‘the thinnest best-selling diaper brands from Korea’. 

The campaign was hinged on the fact that mothers turned to other mothers within their communities for advice and product recommendations. These influencers would then privately share Huggies sale links with other mothers in the communities.

Uyen Nguyen, Huggies’ senior brand manager for Vietnam, commented partnering with INCA was crucial in helping them build relationships with mothers in Vietnam through word-of-mouth, one of the most reliable and trusted channels mothers rely on.

“The campaign demonstrated the immense potential for soft & thin diapers, something unheard of in the Vietnamese market. This campaign exceeded all expectations, and we look forward to partnering with INCA again in the future,” said Nguyen.

Meanwhile, Loan Menuge, INCA’s lead for Vietnam, shared that through their brand-safe technology, they were able to align with Huggies’ campaign goals and forge deep connections with creators and consumers to drive business outcomes for the clients. 

“We are pleased that Huggies is now the top diaper brand known in Vietnam for its thinness, quality, absorbency as well as other interesting attributes and that we are able to bring comfort and innovation for mothers and their children,” said Menuge.

If there is one facet of marketing that is seeing more growth than ever, it would be influencer marketing. The latest data from Statista notes that the market has reached US$13.8b in market size as of 2021, compared to just US$6.5b in 2019. This is all thanks to the rise of the content creator economy, primarily banking on interactions and purchasing powers from their fanbases.

It is no wonder why various forms of influencer marketing have popped up, ranging from real-life influencers like gamers and beauty gurus to virtual ones such as Rozy and Rae. But there is one facet that is considered the middle ground between human and virtual influencers–these so-called virtual YouTubers or ‘VTubers’.

What started out as a niche industry in Japan, VTubing, in general, gained popularity in 2019 as various agencies and brands ramped up in debuting new VTubers into the scene. It is no wonder why global brands such as Crunchyroll, Netflix, MSI, and Suntory have their own VTubers, primarily used to engage with their online fanbase and create new avenues for brands to engage with.

This is the case for the multinational company airasia, which announced the launch of their VTuber project called ‘Project Kavvaii’ in March 2021. Months later, they debuted their first-ever talent Aozora Kurumi in May 2021. Since then, Kurumi has completed over 150 streams and amassed more than 22,000 subscribers and over 1.2 million views on YouTube.

As she recently celebrated her one-year anniversary, MARKETECH APAC’s The Inner State spoke with Rudy Khaw, group chief brand officer at airasia Super App, to learn more about what they have learned dealing with VTubers and how their existence plays out in the influencer marketing scene.

How airasia has worked with influencers in general

Being a multinational company, airasia believes in the importance of representing diversity across their platforms, more specifically in how they tap into influencers to promote their brand. One of those examples was their latest launch of the ‘Red Radio’ in a bid to promote Asian artists on air, and their record label ‘RedRecords’ which has signed artists such as Jannine Weigel and Airliftz.

Khaw found out that with influencers, there wasn’t anything they could really own. It should be noted that there is a difference between a virtual influencer and a VTuber. While a virtual influencer is a computer-generated ‘persona’ that uses AI to shape its personality, a VTuber has a real person behind a digitally-drawn avatar, rigged by a face-tracking software to move the model.

“We also saw some limitations with virtual influencers as it didn’t feel genuine enough for two-way engagement,” he stated.

Khaw was referring to airasia’s previous venture into virtual influencers with the launch of their virtual influencer called Miss AVA. Said influencer was modelled after their chatbot named AirAsia Virtual Allstar (AVA).

He then noted that with their venture to VTubers, they have seen an opportunity to connect with a new online avenue across their followers online.

“When we explored the VTuber space, what we loved most about it is the genuine interaction and community-building opportunity it offers,” he added.

This reflects Project Kavvaii initial vision for their VTuber endeavour, which aligns airasia’s transition from an airline company to a lifestyle brand with the airasia super app, including a focus on the importance of content creators such as VTubers. In addition, the project aims to fast-track airasia’s growth by leveraging its digital capabilities, such as artificial intelligence and facial recognition.

On Aozora Kurumi’s impact as a VTuber and influencer

With Aozora Kurumi officially celebrating her one year anniversary, Khaw stressed out Kurumi’s importance in the online scene, as it allowed them to tap into a new demographic that could potentially be new customers.

“Kurumi’s following has grown healthily over the past few months and it’s definitely created a new set of audience for us. More recently, Kurumi has been exploring pre-recorded content, which is the beginning of more offline content to come,” he stated.

Aside from the typical type of content Kurumi streams such as gaming and karaoke ones, she is also involved in several brand activations for airasia, including a large giveaway stream, done in celebration of airasia’s 20th anniversary.

When asked how is VTubing just as impactful as normal influencers, Khaw said, “[There is] the ability to engage with a fan base [or] followers through similar interests and also because it is also so driven by personality, which is the core of what attracts a following.”

He also stated that while Project Kavvaii is a fairly new initiative that is unlike any of their previous endeavours, Kurumi’s presence brings value to their airasia Super App.

“Project Kavvaii is a part of airasia Super App; the value that Kurumi or the Vtuber space, in general, brings to the Super App is content. It opens up doors for us to explore more content opportunities in the future and develop our ideas to engage consumers beyond the transactional space.”

Brand advice to entities tapping into the VTuber space

When asked about what brands should keep in their mind in launching their own VTubers, Khaw said that they always put the talent first, not the brand, in order to create much more genuine traction for both the brand and the talent from their new audience.

“Don’t go into it like you would with influencers or other typical advertising projects. It’s a different space altogether and it’s really about fostering a community. It’s also important to remember that it’s not always about putting your brand out there from the get-go or all the time. The fan base will gather and latch onto your brand organically, don’t force it,” he stated.

Khaw’s advice mirrors his previous statement upon Kurumi’s debut, where he stated that they foresee the project to be a game-changer in the future of streaming content in the ASEAN region. 

“As a digital company, the constant change in the way people consume online content drives us to explore cross-industry innovations with Project Kavvaii to stay relevant and ahead of trends. We hope to see Aozora Kurumi taking the content world by storm very soon,” he said.

In a conversation with Ace Gapuz, the chief executive officer at Blogapalooza, she shares her career journey which began as a blogger and creator and then continued as a brand representative. These roles have helped her shape her career into becoming the chief executive officer she is today. 

Ace is a marketing veteran who boasts more than 20 years of experience in influencer marketing. Of what motivated her to pursue influencer marketing, she shares, “I think I was really able to get experience from handling various areas be it on the creator side, brand side, or agency side.”

“Your female energy is always an advantage. Women need to feel powerful because they are female,” Ace adds.

During the conversation with Ace, we asked about her journey as a brand ambassador and a creator, and she shared that “It’s one thing to tell your story as a brand, but that story becomes much richer when other people tell your story for you.”

Meanwhile, Ace also shared that creators and influencers have a strong role to play in terms of having an effect on how people think, what people believe in, and how people will act or decide.

Listen to the full conversation with Ace Gapuz over on Spotify, where Gapuz shares further on what made her decide to join the academe as well her insights about the role of females in the marketing and advertising industry. You can also view the highlights of the conversation on our Youtube channel. 

If you are a marketing or tech leader who wants to share your industry journey and insights, email us at [email protected]. 

Sydney, Australia – Global influencer marketing and content creation platform Vamp has been added to the TikTok Marketing Partner program, allowing Vamp’s customers to have access to first-party data that will make running campaigns with TikTok easier and more effective.

In addition, brands who work with Vamp can now obtain TikTok creators insights in a more automated and scalable way. They can now identify relevant creators within Vamp’s vetted community and make data-driven decisions based on their audience insights. All of Vamp’s creators are also added to the TikTok Creator Marketplace.

Furthermore, brands will also benefit from clear, verified performance metrics and can monitor views, likes, shares, comments and engagement, to identify high-performing content and accurately measure the campaign’s success. These performance insights also help brands determine which high-performing content pieces should be amplified using TikTok’s Spark Ads – an ad solution that can be utilised via the Vamp platform.

For Aaron Brooks, co-founder at Vamp, TikTok has become a platform impossible for marketers to ignore, but creator discovery and campaign measurement remain two of their biggest opportunities.

“Vamp’s badging as a TikTok Marketing Partner and integrating with the TikTok Creator Marketplace takes the guesswork out. We’re excited to bring our customers who have already seen success on our platform, like Adobe, Estée Lauder and Benefit Cosmetics, new clarity and capabilities. It’ll also allow creators to recognize the power of their insights, prove their influence and save them time taking endless screenshots of analytics,” Brooks said.

Meanwhile, Melissa Yang, head of ecosystem partnerships at TikTok, commented, “Creators are the lifeblood of our platform and we’re constantly thinking of new ways to make it easy for them to connect and collaborate with brands. We’re thrilled to be integrating with an elite group of trusted partners to help brands discover and work with diverse creators who can share their message in an authentic way.”

Vamp has combined this integration with existing tools that help to streamline TikTok campaigns. Vamp’s platform offers brands easy briefing templates and its algorithm competitively prices TikTok creators for maximum opt-ins. In addition, management tools minimise admin and results are collated in a centralised dashboard.