The Engagement Rate

An industry bulletin for marketing pros.

The other day, I was researching about London’s rental market when I came across a blatant beg for engagement with an article listing “showstopping homes near Taylor Swift’s Eras tour locations”. Albeit this isn’t the only brand that has jumped on the Swiftie bandwagon given anything she touches turns to gold. But it’s pretty clear across the public’s consciousness that we are past the point of oversaturation of Swift’s image in the media. Some brands like Rightmove won’t care about my musings, but the best innovators and thinkers in our industry will know that this now-inauthentic content strategy is best left in 2023…

Influencers and creators sparkle at Cannes 

Dozens of creators, influencer agencies, brands, social media networks and high profile individuals flocked to the south of France this week for what only looks like a highly orchestrated celebration of creators.

Buzz commenced with a well-organized barrage of “GRWM” videos as influencers hit Cannes Lions 2024. Big names turned out, incl. Alix Earle, Harry Jowsey, Jackie Aina and Tefi Pessoa flocking to boat parties, IRL activations, panel presentations and rubbing elbows with execs. All part of an effort to put the creator economy at the forefront of the festival. 

And it truly seems that preconceived hesitancy towards influencer marketing from brands has been set to bed. Influencer marketing agency, Billion Dollar Boy, has seen a boost in outreach from new business at this year’s festival. CMO, Becky Owen, spoke to AdAge ““The number of people that have reached out to us or tracked us down and said, ‘Can we speak? Can we grab half an hour?’ has significantly changed [from] last year to this year,” she said, adding that the agency met with about a dozen potential clients between Monday and Wednesday. “Brands have been pretty forthcoming in saying, ‘[Influencer marketing] is a major focus area for us,’” Gagliese said of his discussions in Cannes. “It’s no longer, ‘Is this something we should do?’ It’s a lot of, ‘We need to expand this channel.’”

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I’m still thinking about her 

Remember when Lana Del Rey designed her single cover on Picsart?

From phone to billboard - the new TikTok campaign

TikTok is working with brands to expand campaign promotion beyond the platform with its new offering that enables brands to use TikTok user-generated content across the likes of billboards, in-store displays, cinema promos etc. 

The offering, coined as “Out of Phone: Branded Mission”, comes off the back of its launch in 2022 which enabled brands to post participatory campaigns when creators could then choose to participate in. Film studio, Lionsgate, were among the first to leverage this IRL activation campaign during the release of last year’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The Hunger Games fandoms saw their videos take the iconic screens of Times Square. 

We’re looking forward to seeing how this style of campaign develops over the next year…