What Does Influence for Brands Even Mean?

HUR TABLE GUESTS

May 31

What Does Influence for Brands Even Mean?

With Leila Fataar, Rachel Muscat and Anna Meacham

By HURS Team

What actually drives influence?

Brands might know a lot about you. Your age, location, past purchases or whether you’re into the new Lizzo song or not. But the nuances around how, and by whom, you’re influenced is harder to quantify.

The self-proclaimed ‘influencer’ has been on the top of the food chain of the influencer economy. In the $16.4 billion global influencer marketing industry, unsurprisingly it’s the traditional influencers who continue to take the biggest slice of the pie. With little to no barriers to entry, the landscape has become oversaturated and democratized. Raising the question of how many of these individuals truly hold the power to shape people’s opinions and ultimately purchase decisions.

So what’s next? For a while we’ve been moving from the era of the influencer to the era of the tastemaker and change maker. The two are more mysterious, and most importantly not defined by a ‘K’ behind their follower count. They could be anything or anyone. A mood board account, a brand, a celebrity, your best friend, or a complete stranger. Rather than pushing products, they push a mindset that is defined by curation, associated and introduction. But how can brands connect with these tastemakers and change makers, when their own values aren’t always as crystal clear? And how do you communicate the message to consumers who are maybe not familiar with the tastemaker you collaborate with?

LEILA FATAAR
Leila Fataar is the founder of Platform13, an independent new gen business, creating and maintaining relevance for big brands by curating bespoke teams from their global network of influential (not influencer) people and voices who truly shape, create and represent culture. Prior to Platform13 Fataar held positions at Spin, Edeleman and Adidas

RACHEL MUSCAT
Rachel Muscat is the President and co-founder at Humanrace with Pharrell Williams. Past roles included 12 years at Adidas across different roles with her last position managing and setting up the Yeezy business as Global Director Product Marketing and Concept to Consumer.

ANNA MEACHAM
Anna Meacham is the founder and director of Huxley, a globally connected partner to talent, brands and organisations. The company represents a range of talents including Paloma Elsesser, Bjork, Megan Thee Stallion and Frank Ocean to name a few.

We spoke with three industry insiders operating at the forefront of influence to hear their take on whether influence has been democratized, how brands’ approach to talent and influence has changed and most importantly what’s next.