AdSole

“Trust is the currency.”
Terry O’Reilly

In the age of social media that we live in today, influencer marketing is one of the most important areas of marketing that brands invest in. According to Terry O’Reilly’s Under the Influence podcast, an influencer is described as a regular person, (aka someone who is not a famous actor, athlete, etc.) who has garnered a sizable following on social media from the content they create and post online. The size of this audience can vary from a few thousand to the millions. Companies then pay these influencers to market their product to their audiences. The payment depends on the size of the audience and and the level of engagement between the content creator and their followers. The most prominent online influencers are often social media stars such as YouTubers, TikTiokers and Instagrammers.

Before social media existed, it was very evident who was and was not an influencer. If you weren’t a movie star, superstar athlete, or a prominent public figure in “the mainstream”, you were not an influencer. Companies were easily able to identify famous individuals they would want to market their product (O’Reilly 2017) and work with those celebrities. But today in the world of social media, it is the prominent online personalities that will give companies the engagement they need for their product. The question then becomes, “How do companies identify which influencers are the best fit for their brand?” and the answer is through conducting research on their customer base. Companies gather and analyze research data about their customers in order to learn what their customers base likes and dislikes, a significant part of which is based on social media activity (O’Reilly 2017). This valuable information allows companies to narrow down what influencers they should pursue for a sponsorship deal. The influencer whose personal brand and audience best matches the research conducted by the company aka the influencer that is the best fit ishte one that the company will look to work with.

In the footwear industry, the two brands that utilize influencer marketing the best are Nike and Adidas (WWD). Decades before the first sponsored Instagram post was uploaded, Nike and Adidas worked with celebrities both inside and outside of the sports world. Over the years, Nike has worked with various musical artists such as JAY Z and more recently Drake (Complex), whereas Adidas has worked with Pharrell and Beyonce (FOX Business). Both brands have signed a number of professional athletes across a variety of sports as brand ambassadors. For example, NBA player Kevin Durant and US Soccer player Megan Rapinoe are signed to Nike (Nike) whereas Adidas has NBA player Damian Lillard and Argentinian Soccer player Lionel Messi (Adidas).

One may wonder why massive companies like Nike and Adidas would work with smaller influencers when they have athletes with massive fan bases as ambassadors. The reason for this is that smaller creators have built a level of trust with their audience and their audience believes the creator to be authentic and genuine. As a result, Creators are more likely to positively affect the purchasing decisions of their audience when they make sponsored posts. While it may be true that Ronaldo is the most followed person on Instagram with 265+ million followers (Sportycious 2021), it is impossible for him to have the same level of trust and genuine connection with even 1% of his followers, as a creator with 10,000 followers. Although Ronaldo may have the most followers, it is very unlikely that his engagement rates on sponsored posts are a true representation of the size of his audience. That being said, if even 0.1% of Ronaldo’s IG followers were to click on a link that he posts on his sponsored post, it would garner a over 200,000 clicks and the company that sponsored the post may even consider that as a win depending on how much they spent and made back. But in most sponsorships, a 0.1% engagement rate is not seen as a high enough return on a company’s investment. All this is to say that no matter the target market, paying the most followed influencer in a certain market does not guarantee a high return on your investment and that the engagement rate on regular posts is a key indicator of how effective the sponsored post will likely be.

…paying the most followed influencer in a certain market does not guarantee a high return on your investment…

Influencer marketing goes beyond just sponsorship posts on social media. Many companies go on to work on joint collaborations with influencers. Coming back to the example of Drake collaborating with Nike, the company collaborated with the superstar musician on a design of limited edition run of the Air Jordan 12s, calling it the Air Jordan 12 OVO, named after Drake’s clothing line “October’s Very Own” (Sneaker News). Collaborations of this kinds are often limited and the fact that it is a limited run only adds to the excitement and hype around the product. Sneaker collaborations with hip-hop artists specifically occur quite often because sneaker culture has a long and storied history of overlapping with the hip hop genre on numerous occasions and as result, there is a high demand for the shoes that come from these collaborations.

Given that traditional celebrities/influencers like actors, musicians and athletes have embraced social media and become social media influencers themselves, I would argue that at least for traditional celebrities, the definition of being a mainstream celebrity has evolved to include being an influencer online but with a much larger fanbase than the average social media star. In certain instances, the reverse may take place, meaning a social media influencer may skyrocket in popularity and become just as famous and influential as an A-list actor.

The world of marketing has drastically changed with the integration of social media. With virtually anybody being able to become a content creator and therefore an influencer, it provides brands the opportunity to gain customers from the dedicated and trusting fanbases of influencers both large and small. Influential marketing will likely continue to evolve in the coming years, further blurring the line between traditional celebrity and social media star. However, the level of engagement will likely always be a factor no matter how big any one influencer is. As the world of social media changes and grows, both brands and influencers will have to adjust accordingly in order to have continued success.

When was the last time and influencer convinced you to buy a product or service? Was it someone with a large or niche following? Let me know in the comments!

Ashar

References

Adidas spotlights Damian Lillard on & Off Court with dame 6. adidas News Site . (2019, November 14). Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://news.adidas.com/basketball.

Chamo. (2021, March 2). List of 13 most-followed athletes on Instagram [2021]. Sportycious. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://sportycious.com/most-followed-athletes-on-instagram-959397.

Espinoza, J. (2021, April 5). Here’s a look at Drake and Nike’s NOCTA capsule dropping next month. Complex. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.complex.com/style/drake-nike-nocta-apparel-collaboration/.

Neate, A. (2021, November 18). A comprehensive guide to #AD, #GIFT & #SPON, from the experts. Influencer Matchmaker. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://influencermatchmaker.co.uk/blog/comprehensive-guide-ad-gift-spon-experts.

NIke. (n.d.). Athletes: North America. Nike. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.nike.com/athletes/north-america.

O’Reilly, T. (2019, November 17). Under the influence with Terry O’Reilly: S6e13 (archive) – The wizarding world of influencer marketing on Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/under-the-influence-with-terry-oreilly/id493536367?i=1000457164575.

Shiff, B. (2019, August 1). Beastie Boys and other celebrities who collaborated with Adidas. Fox Business. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.foxbusiness.com/luxury/celebrities-who-collabd-with-adidas.

Tagged – air jordan XII Ovo. Sneaker News. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://sneakernews.com/tag/air-jordan-xii-ovo.

Tfl. (2020, March 27). The (legal) history of Nike vs. Adidas. The Fashion Law. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.thefashionlaw.com/nike-vs-adidas-a-legal-history/.

Tietjen, A. (2020, March 11). Nike and Adidas Reign Supreme at Influencer marketing. WWD. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/nike-adidas-fashion-influencer-marketing-1203534739/.

“You’re either one in a million or one of the millions.”- Terry O’Reilly
(O’Reilly 2019)

In order for any brand to be successful, it must be able to differentiate itself from its competitors in a unique way. But not only that, the brand must also convince potential customers of their uniqueness in way that the brand stays in the mind of their audience when they are looking for that certain product or service. Not being able to strongly differentiate from competitors results in low brand awareness and the customer fails to even consider the brand as an option. Big brands like Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Toyota and Chipotle all have differentiated themselves from their competitors to the the point that they are one of, if not the first names that a customer thinks about when deciding to make a purchase in that market. Ideally, whenever a customer thinks of a certain brand, if that brand has differentiated itself enough, just thinking about that brand should invoke not just images of what the brand is like and what it offers but at times, it can also invoke an emotional response.

In season 6, episode 4 of his Under The Influence podcast, Terry O’Reilly discusses the importance of differentiation and brand positioning by giving various historic examples of companies differentiating themselves from their peers. These companies used various methods such as colours, shapes, sounds, voices and language (O’Reilly 2019) to separate themselves from “the herd” (O’Reilly 2019) by being different and offering a unique experience to the customer. It should be noted that differentiation is not limited to just offering a different product or a even just a higher quality product. A good example of this is Starbucks, Starbucks provides coffee and various coffee-related products to customers. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Starbucks is also not the first or only company to sell coffee. So if coffee is readily available and not unique to one company, what makes Starbucks different from the rest? The answer is their customer experience. Starbucks is unique in the way they cater to their customers. From customizable drinks, writing customer’s names on cups of their orders and having essentially “their own language” (O’Reilly 2019) when it comes to making an order. Of course, providing a high quality product is and should still be a priority, but brand differentiation and positioning is crucial for potential customers to notice and care about the products that the brand has to offer.

One of the best examples of brand differentiation is Nike. Nike is not just the biggest athletic brand, but one of the biggest brands in the world period. The Nike Swoosh is one of the most recognized logos in the world to the point that at times, the company leaves out the Nike name altogether on certain products and advertisements (Logomyway).

(Logomyway)

This level of recognizability by customers can only be achieved by high level of brand differentiation. Much like the Starbucks example, Nike also prioritizes quality in all of its products in footwear, athletic apparel, equipment etc. Another point of differentiation for Nike are the company’s marketing, and specifically advertising practices. Nike advertisements rarely talk about the product itself. The focus is on whoever is using the product aka the future consumer. Nike’s core philosophy can be found in their mission statement which says that “if you have a body, you are an athlete” (Nike). This philosophy allows Nike to be a brand not only represents the top athletes in the world, but also an inspirational brand that appeals to everyday individuals who live an active lifestyle. For example, Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign which was incredibly successful, showcased regular people doing athletic feats. The idea being that we all have greatness within us and that pro athletes are not the only ones with opportunity and ability to achieve individual greatness. The advertising focus being on the consumer instead of the product not only results in another point of differentiation for Nike, but by being inspirational and invoking emotional responses from the audience, also establishes a deeper connection between the brand and the consumer and strengthens brand loyalty.

(YouTube)

Although Nike prioritizes the everyday athlete, the company is well-aware of the influence that professional athletes have on consumers. As a result, Nike has sponsorship deals with some of the biggest names in sports including Cristiano Ronaldo and Lebron James (SportyTell). The differentiation here is a little more obvious, being that no other athletic brand is partnered with Ronaldo and James, both of whom are considered to be two of the greatest players in their respective sports. As an athletic brand that aims to be inspirational to its consumers, it makes perfect sense for Nike to pursue and sign professional athletes to these deals. The life of a pro athlete is often seen as inspirational and even idolized to certain extent. So when Nike releases a billboard with Lebron James, it’s a match made in heaven.

Having said all this I believe that Nike’s advertising is at its most impactful when featuring everyday athletes rather than professional ones. Of course that is not to say that pro athletes are unnecessary or ineffective in advertising, but I think that showing everyday individuals using Nike products instead of pro athletes, makes the brand more relatable to the average consumer. No reasonable person watches a clip of Lebron James dunking in a pair of new Nikes and thinks they can dunk like Lebron if they buy those shoes. It is no doubt inspiring, flat out amazing to see each time and can even translate to people buying the shoes. But personally, I find it more compelling and arguably more inspiring when people who look like regular consumers that are likely to use the product are shown in commercials because it feels more relatable. I can never be Lebron James. But much like the people in the commercials, if I work hard consistently, I can improve as a basketball player and “find my greatness” so to speak.

“…Nike’s advertising is at its most impactful when featuring everyday athletes rather than professional ones.“

In summary, strong brand differentiation is crucial in the success of any brand and can be achieved in a multitude of ways not limited to product quality. A lack of brand awareness among the target market is a direct result of a lack of brand differentiation. In order for consumers to even see you as an option, they have to know a) you exist and b) what makes your brand different from your competitors. Brands like Nike keep these factors in mind when strategizing for their new product launch or advertisement. Simply put, a high level of brand differentiation can be a huge factor in the success of a brand.

What other some other examples of companies that have successfully achieved strong brand differentiation/positioning? Let me know in the comments!

Ashar

References

Campbell, I. C. (2020, October 30). Starbucks says nearly a quarter of all US retail orders are placed from a phone. The Verge. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/30/21540908/starbucks-app-q4-earnings-mobile-payments.

Editors, S. T. (2021, March 22). Top-10 most influential Nike-sponsored athletes. SportyTell. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://sportytell.com/sports/influential-nike-sponsored-athletes/.

Nike Logo and Its History. LogoMyWay. (2021, January 31). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://blog.logomyway.com/nike-logo/.

Nike. (n.d.). About Nike. Nike. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://about.nike.com/.

Nike. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYP9AGtLvRg.

O’Reilly, T. (2019, November 3). Under the influence with Terry O’Reilly: S6e04 (archive) – what a difference a difference makes: Standing out in the marketplace on Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/under-the-influence-with-terry-oreilly/id493536367?i=1000455924255.

Steer, J. (2014, September 19). Lebron James Banner latest proposal for Sherwin-Williams Building. Cleveland. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2014/09/lebron_james_banner_latest_pro.html.