For FFS (Fast fashion's sake), let's make our influencers & Social Media authentic, ok?

Sorry for the delay on this one, I've been a bit busy the past two weeks launching Jordan Bambridge Consulting which is bloody exciting... for me anyway. But, thanks for the support folks, means a lot.

Anyway enough soppy stuff, let's get into it.

What do Molly Mae and Lewis Capaldi have in common? And no it's not the start of a new Christmas cracker joke…

They are both now representing two major fashion brands as ‘Creative Directors.'

Both are regarded as influencers who are now taking top spots as the Creative Owners of two major fashion brands.

So, what the heck does that mean?

Well in this week’s newsletter - I’ll influence your brain into knowing what it means. Easy this stuff, eh?

Let’s get into it….

What the heck is an influencer?

If you are growing up on Social Media, you probably know what a social media influencer is and you can probably guess what an influencer is.?

“Wait there's more than one type?”

You bet your Creative Director’s jobs there are.?

You can get all sorts of influencers, from those that post fashion and Outfit Of The Day (OOTD) pics all the way through to the new influencers for business and hustle culture you see on Linkedin, yeah I see you and your ads. ??

You can also get different types of influencers in those verticals, yeah that’s right there's a whole industry out there from Micro-influencers to your superstar Kim K levels. There’s a lot of money in it too.?

Apparently, Cristiano Ronaldo can get circa $2.4million per post. For the second year in a row, as he sits at the top of the list with the highest potential earnings for social media.

I mean, I wouldn't kick a ball again tbh, but he's got a $200m deal on the table so what do I know?

Where does Molly-Mae come into it??

Well, Introducing Pretty Little Thing’s 22-year-old Creative Director, Molly-Mae from May 2021, that's a mouthful.

If you don’t know Molly-Mae she was on Love Island at some point and did some other stuff. Not really sure but you can probably look her up and save me time in explaining in all honesty.?

Does Molly-Mae actually direct the creative? Who knows, but what we do know is that she received more backlash quicker than your fast fashion returns and it didn’t go down well.?

Heat World actually did a piece on this (I know stay with me) about what her new role actually was:?

"From the last two years, I've definitely already had a massive creative input, like when we're in meetings, talking about things where influencers may not normally have an input, I've always given my suggestions and put them forward."

Molly Mae - exclusively for Heat World.?

I’m poking fun but in all honesty, I’m sure she is making an impact with her ways of understanding the demographic and what people would want. It’s probably about time Influencers at whatever level actually had more ‘creative input.’

Introducing Lewis Capaldi.

Introducing the newest talking point, Lewis Capaldi who was introduced as the new Creative Director of an Asos.com photoshoot last week.?The supermarket chain Aldi missed a trick in my opinion but I'm not in charge of their creative budget...sadly.

What is happening in the influencer industry??

Apparently, influencers are influencing at the highest rate currently.

62% of social media users trust influencers more than celebrities.

YouGov report

I guess you can see that. But a big change happened when Molly Mae was announced, her loyal fans stuck by her side but it was bigger than just another influencer deal, she was actually making decisions. Which made people think hmm, how much do I believe in this??

Influencer culture has also changed quite dramatically. Instead of photoshopped bodies and airbrushing we are instead opting for authentic images, warts and all.?

What does Lewis bring? Warts (can’t confirm).?

He brings this level of authenticity to it, I’d also say from my perspective, and I’m not that close to ASOS, they don’t have the best brand personality so who better to breathe some authenticity into the brand than someone who is doing exactly that??

1. He also has a rather large following of around 5.7 million followers on Instagram, which helps...
2. And he’s also pretty raw, he has changed the way celebrities are perceived with some very interesting stories from his social media channels - you can google that one at your own risk.
3. He also has a brilliant sense of humour which humanises himself but also the brands he works with.

So, what happens next and what does this mean for me??

Influencers are here to stay so I don’t think they will be going away anytime soon. What I do think you need to be thinking about is the different types of influencers in your space moving into 2023...

As I mentioned at the start - my view is that audiences are more aware of influencers now, yes trust is still high but people make their own decision still.?Use them as leverage, and credibility only if the values align. That's why Asos have made a good choice.

But if i’m a smaller brand or even a B2B brand and thinking, how do I leverage influencers? It looks like a new movement is starting, especially on LinkedIn of some of the top names now posting ‘ads’ with different B2B softwares.?

If I’m in the B2B Software game - that’s one marketing tactic I’d be looking at for 2023…But this could be open to any brand, Linkedin is so untapped currently it's waiting to be unlocked for sure.

Another is employee brands are becoming really interesting. You see this on Tiktok with a stand out employee star on a brands social media channels that is personable and relatable to everyday work. It's gaining a lot of traction because its relatable, and plays into work culture, which we all crave.

One of the best examples i've seen is from the Attention Seeker .

People crave authenticity and personas/influencers allow that to happen. So if you're not thinking about the different ways you can engage with influencers or your employees, why not?

So will we see more Creative Directors? Probably, will the current lot be out of jobs, more unlikely but you won’t get me committing to a no. ??

What do you think?