Author Topic: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"  (Read 3718 times)

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cloudy

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"Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« on: September 06, 2018, 02:31:24 PM »
https://theoutline.com/post/6067/brands-are-paying-influencers-75k-to-trash-their-competitors?zd=2&zi=g54f6br4

ok, so apologies right off the bat for posting an article that's about "the beauty influencer industry," but when i came across this article today, i couldn't help but think of the parallels to the skateboarding industry. the article starts off like this:

"over the last three years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cracked down on Instagram influencers, forcing users to disclose sponcon and brand partnerships with a simple hashtag (#ad or #paid are preferred) or built-in branded partner ID tools."

isn't a pro skater's general livelihood based on sponcon and brand partnerships? what makes a pro skater different from an "Instagram influencer"? when andrew reynolds posts a fit featuring new era, he tags @neweracap, but he doesn't include any sort of #ad or #paid hashtags despite him getting some sort of incentive for such posts (i assume?). or how about nora rocking some new wristwear and tagging @swatchandsports? again, no #ad or #paid hashtags. brandon biebel comes to mind in that his recent instagram posts featuring budweiser make use of the #ad hashtag. is that different because budweiser isn't related to skateboarding? if he has an instagram post featuring girl skateboards, isn't he still getting paid for that? why no #ad there? does the FTC not crack down on pro skaters because most people understand that these types of sponsorships are how pro skaters earn their income, whereas in the beauty industry people don't often realize how these influencers make their money, thus requiring more transparency?

later in the article, the author breaks down some advertisement options, as follows:

"A brand I consulted with asked me to inquire about working with a top-level beauty influencer. The influencer's management offered me these options:

1) $25K - product mention in a multi-branded product review.
2) $50K-$60K - dedicated product review (price determined by length of video).
3) $75K-$85K - dedicated negative review of a competitor's product (price determined by length of video).
4) A minimum 10% affiliate link or code to use on IG and YT."


these days, the skateboarding industry seems pretty congenial, and people (aside from those on slap, or maybe some pros on the rapid fire segment of the bunt podcast) seem hesitant to call out other brands. however, with the advent of all these skateboard vlogs, i'm wondering if option #3 isn't too far away from becoming a reality. for example, after having recently read that thread about how kookish john hill can be, it doesn't seem too farfetched that revive would give him a little money to pimp their boards at the expense of some other brand's. as the article states, "brands offer higher rates for influencers who agree to “compare” the company’s product to a specific competitor, with higher paychecks available for those who emphasize the particular company’s superiority." i feel like if rocco were still around he would be all over option #3.

ShredLaw

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2018, 03:18:39 PM »
yeah its skateboarding, so divide all those numbers by 10.

TheLurper

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2018, 03:19:28 PM »
Fuck, I hate social media.

Quote from: ChuckRamone
I love when people bring up world hunger. It makes everything meaningless.
"That guy is double parked."
"Who cares? There are people starving to death! Besides, how does that affect you? Does it lessen the joy of parking?

rapscallion

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2018, 04:30:21 PM »
I'm pretty sure it's like being an independent contractor vs a hired worker. It has to do with being specifically paid for instagram posts, maybe Reynolds isn't getting paid to make a post but does it anyways because he's paid by the company. For New Era, he's on their page as a brand ambassador. Nora is on the "swatch proteam" as well.

If a skateboarder was approached by a company to make an instagram post about their product, they would have to tag #ad if they aren't associated with the company already.

pinkbananastatus

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2018, 04:40:16 PM »
I've never thought of this comparison before, but nowadays pretty much every pro skater would qualify as an "Instagram influencer." They're giving you a glimpse into their lives and how they use certain products and shouting out companies they use so the viewer can try to live like them.

I think the difference between Biebel's Budweiser #ads and a video of him skating a Girl board is based on how he gets paid. For Budweiser, there is probably a direct connection between the size of his paycheck, and the number of #ads he posts every month. Whereas, since he's (probably) out skating every day, Girl pays him to be out in the public on one of their boards, and to film tricks and get coverage as appropriate. While obviously every brand out there wants their pros to post on social media to stay relevant, I think that's closer to 'being out in the streets' and in the public's eye than it is to having an ad in a magazine that really qualifies as "coverage."

That being said, that line between a #lifestyle post and an #ad is becoming more and more fine. With social media posts becoming more important to skate companies every day, would they ever go that route of paying a rider for IG #ads instead of for magazine coverage? One could argue it would have more of an impact than a trick in a magazine since print is unfortunately not the beast it used to be.

In conclusion,
Fuck, I hate social media.
I don't really understand what's going on and I haven't read this thread yet, but I can tell I'm angry.

nopes

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2018, 05:08:37 PM »
i cant imagine a skate company having 75k to pay someone just to trash another company.

GAY

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2018, 05:11:06 PM »
Marc Johnson should have named his company Beauty Influencer.

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2018, 05:21:10 PM »
i cant imagine a skate company having 75k to pay someone just to trash another company.

I think Pizza is the only company that could afford moves like that.

cloudy

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2018, 06:30:17 PM »

That being said, that line between a #lifestyle post and an #ad is becoming more and more fine. With social media posts becoming more important to skate companies every day, would they ever go that route of paying a rider for IG #ads instead of for magazine coverage? One could argue it would have more of an impact than a trick in a magazine since print is unfortunately not the beast it used to be.


i'm now reminded of a segment from tj rogers' interview on the bunt podcast (28:29): https://soundcloud.com/thebuntlive/bunt-ep-9-ft-tj-rogers-they-were-paying-me-like-50-per-clip-off-instagram

cephas: speaking of getting them checks, your instagram is pretty skate heavy, and i know some people got insta in their contracts and stuff. you can make some money posting clips and whatnot. how’s the business side of instagram working for you these days?

tj: i mean, it was good for awhile. let me tell you, you know. i was making some pretty good money off instagram at one point, you know. uh, one of my sponsors, I don’t want to say which one, they were paying me like $50 per clip off instagram if I got 1,000 likes, when they were doing likes. now they do views, so it’s different. but at the time, yeah, like I would post a clip once a day and I’d get 1,000 likes. i get 50 bucks. so, do the math – 30 days, that’s 1,500 bucks extra on my paycheck each month. so I was living pretty good for, for a little bit, you know. I was pretty stoked. couldn’t complain.

cephas: now I know why you were posting so many trash clips – just to try to get a quick 1,000 likes, eh?

tj: eh, somebody’s gotta do it, you know. they gotta make that money though, still!


so here we have a company (my guess is red bull) paying one of its riders for instagram posts, essentially turning them into ads. i'd have to go and do some research on his instagram feed, but my guess is that tj doesn't have 30 days worth of posts that feature #ad or #paid in the caption. it seems that all those instagram models donning a sports bra and yoga pants have to use #ad when they're holding up their bag of @fittea, and i'm wondering how different that really is from pro skaters hawking mountain dew, red bull, monster, etc. on their instagram. at the end of the day, they're all "ambassadors," right? and as far as paying these guys to "trash their competitors," i certainly wouldn't put it past any of these energy drink companies to pay a little extra for one of their riders to post an instagram story where they casually take a swig of (insert energy drink here) and pronounce, "man, this tastes so much better than (insert competitor's energy drink here)!"

thisisnotepic

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2018, 06:40:44 PM »
Not sure why an influencer would even do option 3. They could milk more money over time sticking with the 1s and 2s without burning bridges and limiting the number of brands to make deals with. Sponsorship in skating is different in that skaters can only rep one brand on a long term basis for each type of product anyway. So I guess it's possible that the skate industry could head towards option 3, but I'd like to think skaters in general have more integrity than that. As mentioned before, a lot of skaters refrain from shit talking despite having every right to do so.

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2018, 12:07:20 AM »


Cool man more sponsored content for me.

Maybe the dodge is that by having a skate team, these brands actually employ skaters in some capacity? I could see how that would be legally different than one off payments made to influencers. Also, it could just be that the FTC is  run by people who are appointed by the President and the current leadership gives 0 fucks about this internet hooey when there's good money to be grafted. 
them cats are out getting mashed up to jungle, he's out mashing up jungle cats. it's just not gonna work.

behavioralguide

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2018, 01:34:23 AM »
Not sure why an influencer would even do option 3. They could milk more money over time sticking with the 1s and 2s without burning bridges and limiting the number of brands to make deals with. Sponsorship in skating is different in that skaters can only rep one brand on a long term basis for each type of product anyway. So I guess it's possible that the skate industry could head towards option 3, but I'd like to think skaters in general have more integrity than that. As mentioned before, a lot of skaters refrain from shit talking despite having every right to do so.
opotion 5 is not mentioned but
90K for comeback review,

everyone loves a comeback

"I know last review I wasn't too positive but with their new product they really changed my mind, drop a like and comment what you think, oh and don't foget hit that subscribe button!"

HangtenNoseblunt

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2018, 01:48:41 AM »
fairly obvious theres a handful of posters here who handle damage control for difference companies here
Thank goodness we have HangtenNoseblunt in here as the voice of reason.

thisisnotepic

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2018, 04:19:40 AM »
Expand Quote
Not sure why an influencer would even do option 3. They could milk more money over time sticking with the 1s and 2s without burning bridges and limiting the number of brands to make deals with. Sponsorship in skating is different in that skaters can only rep one brand on a long term basis for each type of product anyway. So I guess it's possible that the skate industry could head towards option 3, but I'd like to think skaters in general have more integrity than that. As mentioned before, a lot of skaters refrain from shit talking despite having every right to do so.
[close]
opotion 5 is not mentioned but
90K for comeback review,

everyone loves a comeback

"I know last review I wasn't too positive but with their new product they really changed my mind, drop a like and comment what you think, oh and don't foget hit that subscribe button!"

Guess I should've seen that coming. This age of e-hustling is insanity.

Chatbot

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #14 on: September 07, 2018, 04:34:33 AM »
The thing is these skateboarders don't have millions of followers except Ninejah or have the status of Prod. A skateboarder with 30K probably ain't getting any of these offers. Let alone at those prices.

Also, skateboarding is really niche. I'd rather give my advertising money to an Instagram "model" which has potential to reach a way bigger audience.

TwisT

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #15 on: September 07, 2018, 04:40:48 AM »
Skate companies use a lot of the same resources, so there’s only so much you can hate on when everyone’s product is almost identical.

Robert Baratheon

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #16 on: September 07, 2018, 05:38:13 AM »
So what you're saying is Adidas paid Gentle Jones to stoke the Jason Jessee contro?


cloudy

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #17 on: September 07, 2018, 06:05:18 AM »
borrowed from the "lame instagram posts by pros" thread:

That recent story from Raven giving spitfire wheels to a scooter kid (i don't get it) and telling him to never ride bones and go grab a skateboard.
regular

i'm not suggesting that dlx is paying raven on some type of guerrilla marketing shit where he goes around town talking smack on bones and giving out free spits, but at one point, dlx did have mickey reyes on payroll for what seemed like the purpose of intimidating other skaters away from competitors. it's just that in this day and age, the power to influence has shifted from beating people up to using social media as a way to "emphasize (a) particular company’s superiority." i've seen some of those revive videos on youtube where they go around fremont park hooking kids up with revive boards if they have a busted setup. at first i thought, oh that's cool, very generous of these guys, but now i'm all cynical thinking it's lowkey a way to "influence" little kids into thinking revive boards are superior. sure, it starts with them talking smack on walmart completes, which is all well and good, but how soon before they start to target some legit woodshops?

So what you're saying is Adidas paid Gentle Jones to stoke the Jason Jessee contro?

no, i'm saying that sole tech hooked it up with a box, thereby "influencing" gentle to serve as the slap mouthpiece for all the dirt that don brown has on jason jessee.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmOT8EElOji/?hl=en&taken-by=gentlejones

SHIREFLIP

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2018, 06:09:16 AM »
So what you're saying is Adidas paid Gentle Jones to stoke the Jason Jessee contro?

Robert Baratheon

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #19 on: September 07, 2018, 06:23:55 AM »
Expand Quote
So what you're saying is Adidas paid Gentle Jones to stoke the Jason Jessee contro?
[close]

no, i'm saying that sole tech hooked it up with a box, thereby "influencing" gentle to serve as the slap mouthpiece for all the dirt that don brown has on jason jessee.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmOT8EElOji/?hl=en&taken-by=gentlejones

I was kidding but...

« Last Edit: September 07, 2018, 06:27:01 AM by Robert Baratheon »

MASTiF

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Re: "Brands are Paying Influencers $75K+ to Trash Their Competitors"
« Reply #20 on: September 07, 2018, 08:48:16 AM »
Quote
With social media posts becoming more important to skate companies every day, would they ever go that route of paying a rider for IG #ads instead of for magazine coverage? One could argue it would have more of an impact than a trick in a magazine since print is unfortunately not the beast it used to be.
We're already there.