Current Events

Current Events I

In 2018 American Express launched a #AmexAmbassador campaign, in which they had a complicated task to perform. As they couldn’t have social media influencers and other authorities promote credit cards, they made them promote the lifestyle that the company implicates. The success of the campaign was reached by the well-structured approach to it. The brand evaluated their own aim and came up with various approaches to it. One of the smartest things they did was analyzing their potential audience detecting best influencers who could attract their supporters to follow their example in leading luxury lifestyle. The goal of each #AmexAmbassador post was to make people think “I want that too”. One of the examples was successfully made by Chiara Ferragni – one of the Forbes most powerful fashion influencers. Ferragni made two posts in September 2018 with each receiving over 320 000 likes, in one of those she mentioned the London Fashion Week access that she got with the help of her American Express Platinum card, and the other promotion depicted Ferragni at the Amex Platinum House where she claimed to be with the other Card Members. Each promotion was marked as paid partnerships to avoid Instagram violation rules, and mentioned various hashtags to reach more audience, which included #AmexPlatinum, #AmexAmbassador, #AmexLife and #sponsored, which indicated the true intentions of the influencer, by mentioning sponsorship she clearly showed her followers that she was financially granted for this post and thus remained genuine for her supporters. Still, the content of the campaign was so provocative, as if the “ambassadors” were teasing their followers with the luxurious lifestyles. This is one of the main problems, when we see an ad on Tv we just know that the company want to sell their services or products but on social media we see people like us who get promotions with huge commissions and life upgrades just because they are interesting to us, seems unfair, doesn’t it? 

Tools used in the campaign were targeted at catching attention and causing desire for emulation. Major tools that the marketing campaign used were FOMO – emotional tension or stress caused by mission out something usually seen on social media. We see these campaigns and unintentionally envy those people thinking that they don’t deserve it more than we do.   Another tool used is scarcity marketing – a technique based on the idea of making goods or services more desirable due to the difficulty to obtain them. Both worked brilliantly providing American Express with 3.7 million engagements per year. Amex Ambassador rewards program is centered to its client procurement and maintenance system, thus influencer advertising is the ideal tactic to showcase it. In the aggressive credit card industry giving premium rewards, selective occasion accesses, rich travel overhauls and many other advantages to favored card holders and is a standout amongst the most ideal approaches to attract high-spending purchasers.

Chiara Ferragni [@chiaraferragni]. (2018, September 15). Back with my @AmericanExpress fam spending the day at the #AmexPlatinum House with the other Card Members, can’t wait for tonight #AmexAmbassador #AmexLife #sponsored. [Instagram photograph]. Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BnvuaM_HwlH/

Chiara Ferragni [@chiaraferragni]. (2018, September 16). 

London fashion week after party at #AmexPlatinum House 🎉How cool to get access with your Platinum Card @americanexpress #AmexAmbassador #AmexLife #sponsored. [Instagram photograph]. Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnw0up0nUln/

Current Events II

Daniel Wellington is a brand that changed the perception of influencer marketing. How? It was the influencer marketing strategy they used leaving no room for traditional advertising. The story behind it is about a Swedish watchmaker Filip Tysander who got inspired by a simple watch strap he saw on a wrist on an English man, who he later named his own watch company after. 

DW has been working with many influencers both through paid partnerships and collaborations with exchange for products. The brand has chosen a complex communication strategy for promoting their name and their products. Daniel Wellington campaigns include collaborations with all kinds of bloggers with contrasting audiences and engagement levels. Some of their promotions differ by being shown by the media monsters such as Kendall and Kylie Jenner or Lily Aldridge and others are seen on the profiles of so-called microinfluencers with much smaller following base. When we see a watch on the wrist of for example Kendall Jenner and we know that we can have the same item as her it drives the demand for the product because people are to tempted to reach the celebrity level that even having the same watch as them seems like an achievement. Hence, selling the items so well not because they are stylish and convenient but just because certain authorities wear it is undoubtfully an effective tactic but how much integrity is in the brand’s philosophy? 

The main emphasis for engagement of the campaigns was Instagram, however DW also has been seen on different social media platforms such as Blogs, Twitter and YouTube. Being launched in so many different countries the campaigns have reached one of the largest international audiences in the history of social media marketing. 

Using the technic of assigning each influencer that participates in the campaign a personalized discount code the brand representatives could track the engagement from the audiences that the participants reached and could also encourage the sales. The discount codes tactic is a smart move from the point of communication strategy as it gives a sense of privilege brought by following a certain influencer. One of the greatest advantages of such diversified campaigns is that there shouldn’t be a particular target audience, as the product is presented by so many people is so many different ways reaching completely different audiences the product becomes universally suitable for everyone. As a result, DW has turned 15,000 AUD into $220 mil in four years and still remains one of the largest influencer-based companies today presenting more and more inspiring campaigns. However, selling the items so well not because they are stylish and convenient but just because certain authorities wear it is undoubtfully an effective tactic but how much integrity is in the brand’s philosophy?

Daniel Wellington [@danielwellington]. (2019, April 27). We are more than ready for iced coffee! (Photo via @lindajuhola) #DanielWellington [Instagram photograph]. Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwwzFMGHzV9/

Mottola, I. (2016, October). Daniel Wellington perfect Instagram marketing strategy. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@ignaziomottola/daniel-wellington-perfect-instagram-marketing-strategy-ce637c19c68c

Wilson, C. (2018, October). How Daniel Wellington Turned $15,000 into $220 Million within 4 Years with Influencers.Retrieved from: https://pmyb.co.uk/daniel-wellington-turned-15000-220-million-within-4-years-influencers/

Current Events III

Here is an example of how influencer marketing can go so wrong that it can cause a complete modification of Instagram terms and conditions and form of new social media laws. Whenever someone hear Fyre Festival they immediately associate it with a fiasco. The ticket prices for the “new Coachella” reached 250 thousand dollars and people paid to have fun and the luxurious time in the Bahamas with models and top artists but instead found themselves in the epicenter of a nightmare. Today it is obvious that The Fyre Festival was a grand scam that resulted in a real catastrophe. The event was advertised as if it was not a music festival but an elite resort with high-class service where you can watch performances by artists like Blink-182, G.O.O.D. Music and Lil Yachty. The guests were promised the company of rich and famous people, delicious food, paradise beaches and beautiful villas. In fact, they were at the epicenter of chaos: on April 27, 2017, the first visitors of the Fyre Festival instead of luxury villas saw tents left after Hurricane Matthew and wet mattresses, luggage was delivered in two huge trucks and many items were lost. The last straw for people who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars were cheese sandwiches, when in fact, they were promised the author’s kitchen from world’s top chefs. Not everyone was able to fly back, some of the guests were stuck at the airport of Big Exuma Island – they were locked in one of the rooms without food and water. 

The largest issue I want to focus on is that how influential Instagram influencing can be – exactly on this social network the organizers of Fyre made focal point at in promoting the festival. In the end, the Fyre Festival itself was a big advertisement for the Fyre App booking app, through which the rich and successful individuals could order artists to parties.

The organizers paid supermodels as Kendall Jenner $ 250,000 for advertising, it was a minimalist post in the form of an orange square with the festival account tag. At the same time, announcements were placed in their accounts by models and influencers of lower rank — they were promised many bonuses, for example free entry and accommodation in villas. When it came to business, it turned out that the attitude on the part of the organizers was not the same for everyone – villas were given to only a few and some did not get any housing at all. 

The marketing moves with the publication of the orange square came up with the company Jerry Media – they were engaged in promoting the festival on the Internet. Soon, Fyre promo videos, in which models Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski and Hayley Baldwin are having fun on the beach appeared in the Instagram of dozens of influencers. In the documentary movie about Fyre festival one of the former employees of Jerry Media, Oren Ax claims that the company knew about the problems of the organizers and tried to hide them carefully: “As soon as any negative surfaced, we had a task to find the source of information and eliminate it”

As a result, all paid promotions on Instagram now have to be identified as “paid partnership with…” in order not to be caught by an unfair recommendation and get “Fyre’d up”. 

A young New York entrepreneur Billy McFarland and a rapper Ja Rule have filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the organizers of the festival. Soon, McFarland was arrested on charges of fraud, and in October 2018 was sentenced to six years in prison. 

Boitnott, J. (2019, February). Be Careful How ‘Fyre’d’ up You Get About Influencer Marketing. Retrieved from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/328873

Colley, J. (2019, February). 5 MARKETING LESSONS FROM THE FYRE FESTIVAL DUMPSTER FIRE. Retrieved from: https://www.grailinsights.com/whatwethink/5-marketing-lessons-from-the-fyre-festival/

Gasparro, M. (Producer), & Furst, L.,Willoughby Nason, J. (Directors). (2019). Fyre Fraud  [Motion Picture]. United States: Hulu.

Leavey, J. (2019, February). Lessons Learned From Fyre Festival’s Mishandling of Influencer Marketing. Retrieved from: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/lessons-learned-from-fyre-festivals-mishandling-of-influencer-marketing/