Latest / Mini Scroll / The History of Influencer Marketing: How TikTok Redirected our Attention

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The History of Influencer Marketing: How TikTok Redirected our Attention · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  This episode is brought to you by Intuit, MailChimp,
• 0:02
  Australia's number one e-mail marketing and automation
• 0:05
  platform. On October 27th, 1994, the
• 0:09
  Internet's first banner ad campaign went live.
• 0:12
  The banner ads were placed on a website calledhotwired.com, an
• 0:16
  online experiment from the founders of Wired magazine.
• 0:19
  Wired's original purpose was to report on the Cultural
• 0:22
  Revolution brought about by technology, though this didn't
• 0:25
  necessarily mean the Internet. By 1994, it was clear that the
• 0:29
  World Wide Web was where this revolution was going down.
• 0:32
  Because of this, Wired Co founders Lewis Rosetto and Jane
• 0:36
  Metcalf knew that they had to launch a website.
• 0:38
  However, their magazine had only just become financially stable
• 0:43
  thanks to a cash injection from Conde Nast, and they weren't
• 0:46
  interested in launching another project that would bleed money.
• 0:49
  So they had to figure out a way to launch their website with a
• 0:53
  revenue stream. Other digital first publishers
• 0:56
  pay well their content or charged a subscription fee.
• 0:58
  But Rosetto and Metcalf didn't think they could get away with
• 1:01
  that. Their online presence was just
• 1:03
  an experiment at best, and they already charged a subscription
• 1:06
  fee for the magazine. So the duo hired a consultant to
• 1:10
  write them a business plan for hotwire.com.
• 1:13
  And the solution he came to was digital advertising, a strategy
• 1:17
  that was almost completely untapped at the time.
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  You see, before the 90s, more guidelines that outlawed
• 1:24
  marketing activities on the early Internet.
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  Though these guidelines didn't really stop people from using
• 1:29
  the web to promote their services and products.
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  The Internet was. Largely free of advertising.
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  This changed in 1993 when a company called Global Network
• 1:38
  Navigator sold a paid advertisement with a clickable
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  link to a Silicon Valley law firm.
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  One year later, in an attempt to monetize their online
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  experiment, Rosetto and Metcalf launchedhotwired.com with 12 to
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  14 clickable banner ads voting AT&T.
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  The ads read Quote Have you ever clicked your mouse?
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  Right here you will. Word quickly got around that
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  Wired had launched a web presence and was offering paid
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  advertising similar to those in a physical magazine.
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  There were many brands excited to get in on the ground floor of
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  the.com boom, and the team had little difficulty selling this
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  idea with no guaranteed reach, clicks or conversions.
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  Hotwire dot coms AT&T banner ads brought digital advertising to
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  the mainstream. This campaign permanently
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  altered the course of marketing and advertising worldwide and
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  shaped the future of the Internet as we know it today
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  from Centennial World. I'm Lauren Meisner and this is
• 2:34
  Infinite Scroll, a podcast about Internet culture, the creator
• 2:38
  economy and how social media is shaping Gen.
• 2:40
  Zed. Welcome back to Infinite Scroll
• 2:43
  everyone. I had such a good time last week
• 2:46
  chatting with Meredith. I know you guys loved that
• 2:48
  episode. So thank you guys for being so
• 2:50
  supportive and being so chill with me.
• 2:53
  You know, having guests from time to time or Co host from
• 2:56
  time to time. It really makes this job easier
• 3:00
  and more fun to be doing it with other people every once in a
• 3:03
  while. So I'm loving it.
• 3:05
  Anyways, as always, Please remember to rate, review, and
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  subscribe. It helps me so much.
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  It helps me grow. It helps me keep going.
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  Please also sign up to our newsletter, which is called
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  Infinite Scroll, where we round up the five biggest thing pieces
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  on the Internet every Friday. Join our Geneva group, also
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  called Infinite Scroll, where you can chat with other people
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  who are obsessed with Internet culture and creator drama.
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  NT and you can chat with me. OK, I have two amazing reviews
• 3:30
  to read you guys. The first review is from Ruby
• 3:33
  and she says everyone needs to listen to this podcast.
• 3:36
  I've been listening since summer 2023 and love it.
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  Lauren is so hard working and awesome.
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  The episodes are professional and relatable.
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  I'm loving the daily episodes. Forever listener.
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  Thank you Ruby, honestly the sweetest and I love hearing you
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  guys that have stuck around through this transition.
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  It means the world. I totally get it.
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  Like we have course. Lost some listeners when?
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  Everything changed at the beginning of this year, but like
• 3:56
  I'm finding my groove and people are starting to come back and
• 3:59
  new people are finding us and it's just it's like a different
• 4:02
  vibe. So I love hearing that some of
• 4:03
  you guys or well, a lot of you guys, but you know, a portion of
• 4:06
  you guys have stuck around. It means a lot.
• 4:08
  And the next review that I have is from Elise and she says love,
• 4:11
  love, love. I'm an OG listener and I've
• 4:13
  written a review before, but I can confidently say I've never
• 4:16
  loved the pod more than I do now.
• 4:17
  I can tell it's a ton of work to do Mini scroll episode every
• 4:21
  week, but mini scroll is an amazing format.
• 4:23
  Thank you. It's well researched and
• 4:25
  interesting and just the right amount of information Every day.
• 4:28
  Lauren, I see you and see the hard work you're putting in.
• 4:31
  You are incredibly thoughtful in your research and I can't
• 4:34
  imagine how long it takes to prep these episodes.
• 4:36
  My favorite episode recently was the mini scroll app on Bumbles
• 4:39
  anti celibacy ads. What I loved about this episode
• 4:42
  specifically was that it showcased your special knowledge
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  and expertise so well. No one else can talk
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  intelligently about why this was such a bust for Bumble like you
• 4:50
  can. Watching you put in the work to
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  make this podcast happen genuinely inspires me to pursue
• 4:55
  my passions with more care and attention.
• 4:57
  I wish you all the success and happiness.
• 4:59
  Lots of love and respect. Elise USA.
• 5:01
  Oh my God that is literally so sweet.
• 5:06
  Thank you so much Elise, and I recognized your username.
• 5:09
  I know you have definitely left us a review before you've been
• 5:12
  an OG listener. Thank you.
• 5:14
  That is actually so. Sweet.
• 5:20
  All right, so last week we explored some of the ways that
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  influencers use social media to scam their followers, whether
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  they realize they're doing it or not.
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  From undisclosed ads to the promotion of schemes like crypto
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  pump and dumps and master resale rights, influencer marketing has
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  been through quite the evolution in the past 10 years.
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  As consumers have become increasingly savvy, brands have
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  had to find unique ways to approach influencer marketing
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  that resonates with audiences, especially with the rise of
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  TikTok. This week I'll be looking at
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  influencer marketing from the other side, the brand
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  perspective, while covering 3 case studies of accounts or
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  campaigns that have, in my opinion, succeeded in achieving
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  that cut through in a space that is so over saturated with
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  branded content. And for the second-half of this
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  episode, I'll be joined by Jeremy Jones, the global
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  creative director at MailChimp, and he will talk me through the
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  brand's recent marketing campaign that integrated outdoor
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  advertising, branded content and influencer marketing.
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  So if you're interested to hear about how marketing campaigns
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  like this come to life, from the ideation stage to choosing
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  influencers and media partners to activating the campaign,
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  stick around for that. At the end, influencer marketing
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  is considered a fairly new concept, but in reality, brands
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  have been doing this for literal decades.
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  The concept of influencer marketing is essentially just
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  tapping an influential personality who is recognized or
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  well known and using their likeness to promote a product or
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  service. While celebrity endorsements are
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  usually considered the original, for example of this, the term
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  influencer marketing has become synonymous with digital
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  influencers in recent years. In researching this episode,
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  however, I discovered that one of the earliest examples that
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  the industry considers quote UN quote influencer marketing is
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  actually When Coca-Cola used a joyful image of Santa Claus back
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  in 1931 to promote its brand. This campaign reimagined Santa
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  Claus, making him much happier and jollier than previous
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  depictions. As we know, this true became the
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  modern image of Santa Claus that we know today.
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  Coca Cola's use of Santa Claus was certainly not the first
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  instance of influencer marketing.
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  There were several actors and socialites used to promote
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  soaps, foods, and cigarettes throughout the late 1800s to the
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  early 1900s, but this has remained the most successful
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  early example by far. And fun fact, there actually are
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  also reports that famous Roman gladiators from 100 BCE to 400
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  CE occasionally used to promote products like oils or wine,
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  technically making these the actual first influencer
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  marketing campaigns. Celebrity endorsements took over
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  as the primary way that a brand engaged with influencer
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  marketing in the 1980s, right up until the 2000s when brands
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  started working with digital influencers, namely mommy
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  bloggers. Mommy bloggers grew in
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  popularity in 2002 after a freelance writer named Melinda
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  Roberts founded A blog called The Mommy Blog, where she wrote
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  about parenting. Melinda later appeared on The
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  Oprah Winfrey Show, which really popularized the concept.
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  Early mommy blogging was characterized by authenticity.
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  It was personal essays that shared messy experiences about
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  raising children and managing a home.
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  In a piece for AD Week, Danielle Wiley, another 2000 mommy
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  Blogger, explained how these women became the first paid
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  digital influencers. Quote.
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  Ever since the beginning of blog monetization, women have been
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  the content creators, creative directors, and media vehicles.
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  We realized we could pick and choose what brand messaging we
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  wanted to share and how to share it.
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  Over time, our own preferences and voices helped transform
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  ineffective advertising or problematically sexist,
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  objectifying, or stereotypical portrayals into powerful
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  personal stories that other women could connect with.
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  This seemingly humble mommy blog became a force when brands and
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  advertisers recognized the value of these women who had built
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  such strong, loyal audiences. Banner ad driven blogs written
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  by women paved the way for today's thriving influencer
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  marketing industry, which has grown to encompass a seemingly
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  infinite number of verticals. Instead of showcasing static
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  ads, influencers now execute complex content marketing
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  campaigns, seamlessly weaving brand messaging into their own
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  relatable voices. In 2003, Facebook launched,
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  followed by LinkedIn, YouTube and in 2010, Instagram.
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  With the rise of these platforms came influencer marketing on
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  social media. Interestingly, according to some
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  reports, Amazon actually helped lay the groundwork for
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  influencer marketing because of how it revolutionized product
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  marketing. Around the time of Facebook's
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  rise, Amazon came up with the concept of connecting Facebook
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  to Amazon so that consumers could see what their friends and
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  families were buying. Amazon also started suggesting
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  gifts for friends and family based on their interests.
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  This opens the door for brands to seek a similar type of social
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  proof from the content creators they paid for influencer
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  marketing campaigns. The first influencers to really
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  make bank on social media were reality stars.
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  The first season of Jersey Shore, for example, aired one
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  year before Instagram launched. Because reality TV personalities
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  were used to sharing their lives with the public, they continue
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  to do so through social media, and as a result, the cast of
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  shows like Jersey Shore, The Bachelor, and Keeping Up the
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  Kardashians grew very fast. Followings.
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  Of course, the other cohort of creators who grew fast
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  followings were the bloggers, mommy bloggers, fashion
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  bloggers, tech bloggers and beauty bloggers who already had
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  online followings when these social media platforms launched.
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  By the mid twenty 10s, social media influencing was very
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  lucrative and had turned many regular people who were simply
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  creating content about their everyday lives into multi
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  millionaires. As influencers started earning
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  more money, their lifestyles inevitably changed and this
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  contributed to a shift from an interest in creators who were
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  authentic and real to an interest in influencers who led
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  an aspirational and highly curated life.
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  Blogs where creators wrote about the messy parts of their lives
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  had phased out by this point, and social media had become
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  synonymous with a highlight reel.
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  Aspirational influencers reigned supreme for the better part of
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  the 20 tens. But at the turn of the decade, a
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  new platform would take over and completely change social media
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  as we knew it. In early 2020, the world went
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  into lockdown and TikTok, a new short form video platform born
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  out of Musically, took over. We have talked a lot about how
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  TikTok changed the social media landscape on this podcast, and
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  most of us lived through it. This episode would be 100 hours
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  long if we explored all the ways that TikTok disrupted the
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  industry. But when it comes to influencer
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  marketing specifically, there were two really big shifts.
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  One, the rise of TikTok brought us back to the authenticity of
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  early social media. And two, TikTok gave more
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  opportunity for niche creators to be discovered and thus to
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  build culty followings. This means that brands have also
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  had more opportunity to tap into creative strategy and develop a
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  social media presence outside of a curated Instagram feed.
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  That's not to say that aspirational creators or curated
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  content doesn't do well on TikTok.
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  We have seen many trends like that girl, Clean girl, Quiet
• 12:25
  Luxury that proved the opposite. It's just that TikTok has made
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  all types of content and all types of creators more
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  accessible to the masses. It's no longer A1 size fits all
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  when it comes to what an influencer might look like or
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  how a brand should be showing up on social media.
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  Though TikTok might still feel overwhelming four years on, I
• 12:44
  wanted to explore 3 case studies today of recent campaigns from
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  brands that have adapted really well to the changes that TikTok
• 12:52
  has created in the industry. The first example that we need
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  to talk talk about is Marc Jacobs.
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  I have wanted to talk about the Marc Jacobs TikTok account for a
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  few months now because it embodies everything that TikTok
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  marketing is about. Marc Jacobs is consistently
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  going viral on TikTok for two reasons.
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  One, they have tapped into some of the most niche creators on
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  the platform who have very culty followings.
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  Most of these creators would never come up on any type of
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  TikTok influencer listicle or anything like that.
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  They create niche and unique content for an audience that is
• 13:25
  obsessed with them. And this shows me that whoever
• 13:28
  is doing Marc Jacobs social media strategy is chronically
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  online. Number two, they get these
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  creators to make user generated content to post on the Marc
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  Jacobs account. So instead of asking creators to
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  do a sponsored post on their own TikTok account promoting the
• 13:43
  brand, Marc Jacobs pays these creators to make content that
• 13:47
  feels organic to their page while wearing Marc Jacobs for
• 13:50
  example. And then Marc Jacobs post that
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  content to their own account. So this brings that creator's
• 13:56
  audience to Marc Jacobs instead of bringing Marc Jacobs to that
• 14:00
  creator's audience. If you look at Marc Jacobs tick
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  Tock account, it is flooded with comments of people being
• 14:06
  absolutely obsessed with seeing their favorite niche creator
• 14:09
  being posted on an account for a brand like Marc Jacobs.
• 14:12
  And these fans are saying things like the social media manager
• 14:15
  deserves a raise because it's so clear that the brand just gets
• 14:19
  it. If we have to see sponsored
• 14:21
  content, like this is the type of sponsored content that people
• 14:24
  want to see. Because The thing is that niche
• 14:26
  creators can help with brand affinity so much.
• 14:29
  Early followers of a niche creator are so excited to see
• 14:32
  them get paid because as an OG fan, they feel like they got in
• 14:36
  before this creator really blew up.
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  So they feel like every brand deal this creator gets is
• 14:41
  something that they helped them get because they're on this
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  journey with them and by building their account with user
• 14:48
  generated content from these nation, very creative creators.
• 14:52
  The Marc Jacobs TikTok account is also just like a fun account
• 14:55
  to scroll because it's almost like a portfolio of videos of
• 14:58
  some of the most unique creators on the app right now.
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  The next brand that is doing it really well is Poppy, especially
• 15:05
  their Alex Earl Coachella collab.
• 15:07
  So I did discuss this campaign on a mini scroll episode a
• 15:10
  couple of months ago, but there's been another really
• 15:12
  interesting development that has since happened.
• 15:15
  Poppy is a soda brand founded by a husband and wife duo and is a
• 15:18
  healthier alternative to other drinks.
• 15:20
  After getting investment through the TV show Shark Tank, Poppy
• 15:23
  has become a favorite online. Like many brands, Poppy planned
• 15:27
  an influencer trip to Coachella. But unlike other brands, the
• 15:30
  soda company invited with just one single influencer, Tik Toks
• 15:34
  Get ready with me queen Alex Earl.
• 15:36
  Alex hosted her friends and family on her own private brand
• 15:40
  trip sponsored by Poppy. The brand even called it Coach
• 15:43
  Orla, a spin on her last name. This activation went over really
• 15:48
  well with TikTok users because it proved that the brand is
• 15:51
  paying attention. Brand trips have been highly
• 15:53
  criticized by social media users, especially on TikTok in
• 15:56
  recent years. But understandably, Poppy wanted
• 15:59
  to activate with influencers at Coachella, so choosing 1
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  influencer and letting them treat their friends and family
• 16:05
  to this VIP experience. It felt almost like a more
• 16:08
  ethical way for a brand to plan an influencer trip like this.
• 16:11
  And we were excited to watch these quote UN quote, regular
• 16:14
  people get this VIP experience. And Poppy also proved that they
• 16:18
  are paying attention to the online zeitgeist by choosing
• 16:21
  Alex specifically as the influencer to bring her friends
• 16:24
  and family on this trip. Obviously, Alex is so famous
• 16:27
  right now, so she would probably be on the top of the list for a
• 16:30
  lot of brands. But the concept of the Poppy
• 16:33
  Coachella house would not have worked as well if it was an
• 16:35
  influencer who did not post with their friends and family
• 16:38
  frequently. Because Alex shares the people
• 16:40
  in her life on her account. Her audience was already
• 16:43
  familiar with this cast of quote UN quote characters per SE and
• 16:47
  how they interact with each other.
• 16:48
  We felt like we were watching almost like a real world ask
• 16:51
  reality show of this cast of characters that we are used to
• 16:55
  seeing, partying and having fun together.
• 16:57
  And just last week, it was announced that Poppy and Alex
• 17:00
  are taking their collaboration a step further with Alex becoming
• 17:03
  a public investor in Poppy. So now her audience knows that
• 17:06
  if they buy Poppy, they are directly supporting her as well.
• 17:10
  The final case study that I wanted to explore today is a new
• 17:13
  global marketing campaign by MailChimp.
• 17:15
  This campaign that launched MailChimp officially into
• 17:18
  Australia just went live in May, where the brand had outdoor
• 17:21
  advertising around Sydney and Melbourne, and they worked with
• 17:24
  different influencers and media partners to amplify this
• 17:26
  advertising. So instead of just relying on a
• 17:29
  billboard campaign to reach consumers, they tapped a bunch
• 17:32
  of creators and media personalities in the major
• 17:35
  cities where these billboards were displayed to create digital
• 17:37
  content featuring the imagery. For example, Centennial World
• 17:41
  was part of this campaign. The brand asked us to create
• 17:44
  really authentic TikTok content that featured their billboards
• 17:46
  in Sydney. So for one of the Tik Toks, I
• 17:49
  was already vlogging every day of Fashion Week anyways.
• 17:51
  So I made like a week in the life of attending Fashion Week
• 17:54
  vlog for Centennial World's TikTok.
• 17:56
  And in the background of some of the clips of me doing, you know,
• 17:58
  a fit check or me on my way to a show, things like that, you
• 18:02
  could see the MailChimp billboards.
• 18:04
  And then of course, this podcast episode is another example of
• 18:07
  how they've taken this really authentic and integrated
• 18:09
  approach. Instead of just buying an ad on
• 18:12
  this podcast, MailChimp said let's do an episode together
• 18:15
  that really aligns with your content.
• 18:17
  So we landed on the history of influencer marketing, so it made
• 18:20
  sense to speak about this campaign.
• 18:22
  Other Aussie creators that they worked with on this campaign
• 18:25
  included Fonzie Gomez, Places in Sydney, Trick Shots, Prodigy and
• 18:29
  Jeanine Alice. This is another great example of
• 18:31
  using niche creators and also a wide range of creators from all
• 18:36
  different corners of the Internet.
• 18:37
  MailChimp didn't just tap entrepreneurial creators or
• 18:41
  creators who make B2B content. They chose creators who have
• 18:44
  called followings and very specific niches.
• 18:47
  But this only works if brands give creators creative freedom
• 18:50
  to create content that feels authentic to their accounts.
• 18:54
  This is something that MailChimp did really well.
• 18:56
  One creator did parkour in front of a billboard.
• 18:59
  I did a fit check in front of another billboard, and then
• 19:01
  vlogged Fashion Week. It doesn't really matter what
• 19:04
  our relation to e-mail marketing software might be, because
• 19:07
  MailChimp put its trust in creators to make content that
• 19:10
  made sense for their own channels.
• 19:12
  And because they gave creators such freedom, the content felt
• 19:15
  fresh and fun, which already aligns with Mailchimp's branding
• 19:18
  as a whole. If you think about the bright
• 19:20
  yellow of Mailchimp's color scheme partner with on this
• 19:23
  campaign. But enough of me rattling on
• 19:25
  about this campaign. As I mentioned at the top of
• 19:27
  this episode, I actually have Mailchimp's global creative
• 19:30
  director, Jeremy Jones here to chat with me about how the brand
• 19:33
  executed this campaign to suit the evolution of influencer
• 19:37
  marketing in recent years. I'm very excited for you guys to
• 19:40
  hear this chat and thank you again to MailChimp for
• 19:42
  sponsoring this episode. All right.
• 19:49
  Well, today I am joined. By Jeremy from MailChimp I'm so
• 19:53
  excited to chat with Jeremy. You guys would have heard in the
• 19:56
  intro a little bit about this campaign and Jeremy's role in
• 19:59
  it, but I would. Love to hear first hand from you
• 20:01
  Jeremy. Can you speak us through, I
• 20:03
  guess what you do at MailChimp and how this campaign came to
• 20:07
  life? Yeah, thanks for having me,
• 20:09
  Lauren. My role at MailChimp is the in
• 20:12
  house head of creative. And so at MailChimp we have an
• 20:16
  in house creative agency that we call Wink, named after the wink
• 20:19
  that you see in our Freddy mascot logo.
• 20:22
  And it's our job to come up with all the amazing ideas you see
• 20:25
  out in the world and the one that we're going to talk about.
• 20:28
  Awesome. So can you tell us what the
• 20:31
  objective of this particular campaign was?
• 20:33
  Yeah. The objective of this campaign
• 20:35
  was really just to announce our presence in Australia and our
• 20:39
  commitment to the marketers, small business owners, mid
• 20:42
  marketers, that MailChimp is here and that we're ready to
• 20:46
  help grow your business like nobody's business.
• 20:48
  Awesome. And can you talk us through how
• 20:51
  the ideation stage? Kind of starts.
• 20:54
  For a campaign like this. Yeah.
• 20:56
  So for us on the MailChimp side, it all started with a brief
• 20:59
  around how do we leverage our MailChimp tone of voice in this
• 21:04
  new market for us? How do we show up in a way that
• 21:07
  is relevant and cheeky like our brand personality?
• 21:11
  You know, that's the biggest thing for us is how we can be
• 21:15
  creative with our ad placements to generate awareness for the
• 21:19
  brand. And we wanted people to really
• 21:21
  get that feel for us and MailChimp, because we're not
• 21:24
  like any other B2B or tech brand, you know, we really want
• 21:27
  to have that authentic connection with our audience
• 21:31
  and, and have kind of A2 way conversation.
• 21:34
  And so you'll see in the ads that they're really kind of
• 21:37
  emails in the form of at a home and there are these mini love
• 21:41
  letters slash emails to the marketers all over the city.
• 21:45
  Yeah, that was one. Of the reasons why I feel like
• 21:48
  the campaign was so unique is that you guys partnered with
• 21:52
  such an interesting range of creators and media partners for
• 21:56
  this. And the people that you chose
• 21:59
  really felt authentic to the brand's personality because like
• 22:02
  you said, the brand personality doesn't take itself too
• 22:04
  seriously. You know the colors are bright
• 22:06
  and fun and I thought it was such a good alignment.
• 22:09
  There, how did you? Choose the influencers or media
• 22:12
  partners that you guys did work with.
• 22:15
  Yeah. I mean, like you said, we're
• 22:17
  we're really trying to diversify our reach, right.
• 22:19
  Like we know we had the at home campaign and that's going to hit
• 22:22
  kind of mass market. But if you think about just
• 22:24
  people's feeds or even marketers feeds, they're more than just
• 22:28
  following other marketers, right.
• 22:29
  Like there's lots of other things people are interested in
• 22:32
  out in pop culture. And and for us, it was trying to
• 22:34
  find those wide array of creators that have that
• 22:38
  influence and then work with them to allow them to be their
• 22:42
  authentic selves and really have our at home play and be more
• 22:46
  like a character in their content.
• 22:48
  Right. Almost like a a modern day
• 22:51
  product placement in in social form if you will.
• 22:54
  Yeah, That's one of the most unique parts of this campaign
• 22:58
  and one of the reasons why I think it was so successful.
• 23:00
  I think the dynamic use of various types of marketing
• 23:03
  together, like, you know, having the billboards in the background
• 23:06
  of a TikTok video and things like that was really, really
• 23:09
  cool. And then I think the other
• 23:10
  reason, which we touched on a little bit is that you guys
• 23:13
  tapped really niche creators. And I think niche is often a
• 23:17
  word that is misused in this industry.
• 23:20
  Sometimes it's used interchangeably with micro or
• 23:23
  smaller, but really it means a creator that has a very specific
• 23:27
  focus and has built like a culty audience around that focus,
• 23:30
  right? So did you intentionally go?
• 23:33
  Out to. Find these niche creators.
• 23:35
  What was the strategy behind that?
• 23:37
  Yeah, it is, again, just being kind of a surprise and delight
• 23:41
  for people, right? Like we know there's lots of
• 23:43
  different diverse niches out there in your feet.
• 23:46
  I mean, in my feed, you know, I'm, I'm constantly finding new
• 23:49
  people. I think that's what makes TikTok
• 23:51
  so great as a platform is being able to lose yourself with all
• 23:55
  the different content that's out there.
• 23:57
  And so, yeah, I think, you know, for us, it was finding these
• 24:00
  people and then allowing them to be their authentic selves and
• 24:04
  partnering so we could share our story.
• 24:07
  And kind of a surprising way, you know, if you think about
• 24:11
  just advertising in general, a lot of times it's very
• 24:14
  interruptive. And when you're more aware of
• 24:16
  that, you can you can be more of a delight in people's days.
• 24:21
  And really for us, it's really just having that relationship
• 24:25
  with the viewer through the influencer and, you know,
• 24:29
  showing up in these fun ways of whether it's a parkour video, a
• 24:32
  food blog, you know, or a trick shot.
• 24:35
  It's not something that you would instantly think like, oh,
• 24:38
  MailChimp, B2B marketing, e-mail marketing, you know, and that's
• 24:42
  us as a brand. So it's kind of in our DNA.
• 24:45
  Yeah, I love that you guys didn't just partner with like
• 24:49
  entrepreneurial creators or something like that.
• 24:52
  It was really out-of-the-box and interesting from a broader
• 24:55
  perspective. What are some?
• 24:56
  Key elements that make for a marketing campaign that will
• 24:59
  capture youth attention specifically.
• 25:02
  Yeah, I, I think it's never taking yourself too seriously,
• 25:05
  having a really great tone of voice.
• 25:07
  Like I said before, you know, marketing can be very
• 25:10
  interruptive to people's lives. And so if you're smart about it,
• 25:14
  you understand that you can kind of make content and campaigns
• 25:17
  that are enjoyable, designed to entertain, put a smile on your
• 25:20
  face and show people that you care.
• 25:22
  You know, people I feel like engage with what interests them
• 25:26
  or entertains them. And sometimes, if you're lucky,
• 25:29
  that could be an ad. And how has?
• 25:30
  The rise of TikTok from your perspective as like a career.
• 25:33
  Marketer, how has it? Changed your industry?
• 25:36
  Oh, man, TikTok, it's, it's, it's blown up and in in the most
• 25:40
  amazing way. I think.
• 25:41
  I think you know it. It kind of rewards folks and
• 25:45
  their niches. You know, I think that's one of
• 25:47
  the great things about the the platform is it's less about
• 25:50
  paying top dollar for huge names and more about like trying to
• 25:53
  really find folks that have their unique POD and and stance
• 25:58
  kind of on the part about it. Like when these folks are so
• 26:02
  passionate about what they do and you kind of share that
• 26:05
  common interests of how we're so passionate about marketing and
• 26:08
  helping grow people's businesses.
• 26:10
  Usually you can find that connection point between the
• 26:12
  audiences. And so I think with TikTok and
• 26:16
  the way that the platform works, you have a greater chance of
• 26:19
  going viral too, just compared to the other platforms because
• 26:22
  there's such high potential for every partnership when you can
• 26:25
  embrace just like the subculture of the platform, you know?
• 26:29
  Yeah, absolutely. So many of our listeners are at
• 26:32
  university or they're just starting out in their careers.
• 26:35
  What advice would you give to someone hoping to work in the
• 26:38
  influencer marketing industry? It's a great question.
• 26:41
  I'd say find your thing right and have that unique POV and
• 26:45
  then share it with the world. But also experiment.
• 26:48
  I think you'd learn so much from your audience just asking for
• 26:51
  feedback and input. You're not going to get it right
• 26:53
  at first, right? And so just constantly be asking
• 26:56
  for feedback and work on it and then stick to what works.
• 26:59
  You know, I think the most important thing at the end of
• 27:02
  the day is just to be yourself because everyone else is taken.
• 27:05
  Love that. And finally, do you have any?
• 27:08
  Predictions for the future of the influencer marketing
• 27:11
  industry? Yeah.
• 27:12
  I've got a few. I mean, I think the obvious
• 27:14
  thing to say would probably be AI, so I'll skip that one.
• 27:17
  But I feel like more companies and even ourselves are going to
• 27:21
  start to recruit in house content creators and creators to
• 27:26
  just help us, you know, speak and really show up in authentic
• 27:30
  ways on the various channels. I think you're going to see more
• 27:33
  creators becoming founders and starting small businesses, media
• 27:37
  companies and other various things, goods and services.
• 27:41
  And then I think you're going to see more B2B brands like
• 27:44
  MailChimp start to embrace working with creators and show
• 27:47
  up in authentic ways. So those are those are my three
• 27:50
  that I think they're on the verge and and it kind of already
• 27:53
  happening. Yeah, I completely agree,
• 27:55
  especially the first, we're actually starting that process
• 27:58
  to recruit an in house creator as well for our media company.
• 28:02
  Well, thank you so much, Jeremy. This has been such a fabulous.
• 28:05
  Kind of experience to take a look a.
• 28:08
  Closer case study look at Mailchimp's campaign launching
• 28:11
  here in Australia and to chat with you and hear your
• 28:13
  perspective on it. Awesome, thanks for having me.
• 28:17
  Infinite scrolls of podcasts written, produced and presented
• 28:19
  by me, Lauren Meisner for Centennial World.
• 28:21
  Additional research and reporting is by Annabelle Ben
• 28:24
  David and editing is by Danny Fennick.
• 28:26
  Thank you guys so much for listening.
• 28:28
  Thank you again to MailChimp and to Jeremy for chatting with me,
• 28:31
  and I will talk to you guys next week.
• 28:33
  Bye.