- Influencer marketing platforms may generate impressions without delivering lasting brand value or measurable customer growth.
- Successful brand endorsements depend on credibility, authenticity and a meaningful connection between the endorser and the brand.
- Paying large numbers of small influencers to promote products raises questions about loyalty, authenticity and long-term brand-building.
- Influencer campaigns face risks around regulatory compliance, truth in advertising and the growing possibility of bot-driven activity.
- Brands and marketers should assess influencer marketing by its contribution to customer growth and brand equity, rather than relying on impressions and engagement metrics alone.
I think most influencer platforms today are yet another impression-generating machine — likely not more effective or durable than a bubble machine at a neighbourhood kid’s birthday party.
It’s fun to watch in the moment, but the bubbles all burst in seconds, and there’s nothing left over once you stop feeding the machine soapy water.
I know, it’s blasphemous to publicly call into question a hot trend in the ad industry, particularly one that so many of the ‘top’ CMOs across the land are throwing accolades at in trade and business press articles or on industry event stages, desperate to be perceived as all-in on the latest hot trend.
And it’s doubly blasphemous to surface this criticism in a piece written in New York City during our venerable Advertising Week.
Double blasphemer
Let it be known: I am a double blasphemer. I believe folks selling influencers by the tens of thousands are actually best at separating brands and agencies from their dollars. They really don’t care about driving customer growth.
I do believe strong, credible endorsers can make a big difference for brands. Just look at what Michael Jordan did for Nike, and what Cindy Crawford did for Pepsi. I also believe that made-up characters ‘endorsing’ or talking about your brand can be very powerful.
Just look at Mikey for Life cereal, Mr. Whipple for Charmin or the actress Clara Peller for Wendy’s in “Where’s the beef?” And I certainly understand the extraordinary power we have seen more recently with the Kardashians and Mr. Beast.
But is taking lots of small creators/influencers, paying them money to promote your products or services, anything akin to real brand-building or real promotion?
Army of influencers
My sense is that the vast majority of a multihundred-thousand army of influencers are only saying what they say for money, not passion, preference or principle. They will be hard to control, and will switch to competitors at the drop of a hat.
The chances that they will fully comply with government regulations, truth in advertising, or state and local laws will be low.
And, in this area of agentic AI, the fact that they are increasingly likely to be bots, not people, is super-high. Which is why I ask: Aren’t these just impression machines, not unlike all the automated websites that gamed search advertising for impression arbitration until they got shut down?
What do you think? Are you all in on a creator/influencer economy as real brand-building, or just the latest impression factories?
This story was first published by MediaPost.com and is republished with the permission of the author.
Dave Morgan, a lawyer by training, is the CEO and founder of Simulmedia. He previously founded and ran both TACODA, Inc, an online advertising company that pioneered behavioural online marketing and was acquired by AOL in 2007 for $275 million, and Real Media, Inc, one of the world’s first ad serving and online ad network companies and a predecessor to 24/7 Real Media (TFSM), which was later sold to WPP for $649 million. Follow him on Twitter @davemorgannyc
