The promise platforms like TikTok and YouTube make: “Spend hundreds of hours creating content for us for free, and there’s a one-in-a-million chance you’ll become famous.” These odds aren’t in your favour, and I think that it’s a game best avoided. Sure, someone may become famous, but it’s unlikely to be you, after all, we already have the Beckhams and the Kardashians. The real winners are the companies hosting your content; your unpaid labour is making them extremely wealthy. “Too good to be true” strategies rarely pay off in the long run, and I, for one, am not signing up for that game.
An influencer
Influencers play a significant role in the fashion industry by promoting and endorsing brands and products to their large and engaged social media followers. I think real influencers move the needle, unfortunately there are far too many people who are being paid as an influencer and do not influence consumer behaviour and purchasing decisions. Kayne “Ye” West is an influencer, and his Yeezy collaboration with Adidas was terminated due to his alleged inappropriate behaviour. Adidas have admitted that they are experiencing a serious economic downturn. Read more here
Fighting for attention
Digital marketing is an excellent way to reach a large audience. Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that involves endorsements and product placement. An influencer is someone who has a large following on social media and can influence what people buy or where they go. When a brand partners with an influencer, they usually receive payment, free products, or services from the brand in return for posting favourably about their experiences. Linking up with influencers that align with your brand is a relatively simple way of boosting your social media marketing strategy. And this is a wonderful way to gain exposure on platforms you may not have a huge following on.
The right competencies
I recently advised one of my clients that digital marketing is an excellent way to reach a large audience. And I also told them that using Google Ads - especially if they can use specific keywords - will help reach the right people and it’s easy to budget because you only pay for results.
What about influencers?
An influencer is someone who has a large following on social media and can influence what people buy or where they go. When a brand partners with an influencer, they usually get free products and services from the brand in return for posting about their experiences favourably. I think that linking up with influencers that align with your brand is a relatively simple way of boosting your social media marketing strategy, and it’s a great way to gain exposure on platforms you may not have a huge following on.
Challenging The Status Quo With Lasse Have
Tell me a little about your education
I am an autodidact and have 30 years of visual drawing experience beginning with T-shirt designs, posters and flyers in High School and that has evolved into what it is today, which spans from basic illustration, over animation, to complex presentation. At the beginning when faced with the question – “Do you know how to do this?” – My answer was always “Yes”, - even though sometimes I had not tried it before. But I quickly learned the necessary skills and I always delivered a solid and trustworthy product. So, learning by doing, was the basis of my commercial success.
What excites you right now?
Vector graphics has been hot for years now, fortunately for me, I was presented to Vector tools very early, and working with vector graphics is still my favourite. My role is to notice new trends and utilize my experience to identify who is capable of buying these solutions, and able to benefit from them. As the majority of my clients are conservative companies, I am very aware that I have to ensure that my solutions fit into my clients existing framework and style.
What are you looking forward to in 2018?
This is a difficult one! (Pause)
Personally, it’s a rebuilding project in my home – the renovation of our loft room.
What’s the best thing that happened to you in 2017?
In our world we are always looking at the next thing, but sometimes it’s nice to reflect on what has happened. Moving into Republikken in January 2017 gave me a new creative push as I was in downtown Vesterbro on a daily basis. Meeting lots of new people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds with drive and ambition, provided me with a new energy that comes with shared office spaces.
Tell me a little about you and your childhood?
I was born and bred in Nyborg in Fyn. My siblings and I were brought up with conservative parents and raised to be self-sufficient and to follow our dreams, which was kind of natural as both of my parents were self-employed themselves. As a young man, I was in a hurry to get out and explore new things. Right after High School I chose to go into the Navy as part of my National Service, where I worked in the Operations Room and was in charge of the ship computers and radars.
When my National Service ended, I went to Paris and lived there for a memorable year before moving to Bordeaux. I lived there for 5 years where I had a lot of crazy experiences and a variety of jobs, and I quickly learnt the language and embraced the French culture. After a few years in France I was able to live full time from my drawings and freelance jobs.
Who was your favourite superhero?
My very own Mr. Pigsel who is the virtual front figure for the company. He has a split personality as he is also Professor Pigsel, Inspector Pigsel, Doctor Pigsel as well as the superhero Captain Pigsel.
The whole world is talking about CSR, do you support any charitable causes?
One of my biggest wishes is that we find an alternative to plastic. I recently heard that Lego have announced that its first brick pieces made from plant-based plastic sourced from sugar cane will go on sale later this year. Production has started on the sustainable pieces, which include “botanical elements” like leaves, bushes, and trees. Let’s hope that this is the future for plastic!
What’s the most important thing I should know about you?
I don’t know :).
I enjoy being self-employed and having control of my own destiny, knowing that I have to pay the same insurance as my neighbours’, but being free of the restrictions of employment makes me feel very privileged!
I hate to think of myself as a consumer, even though I know that I am one. I try to avoid shopping centers at all cost. The thought of being a human battery, where “they” drain us of energy and in this case, energy is our attention and money. I guess the worst thing you could say to me is that I am normal.
What would your professional like look like if it was easy?
It is easy, I am living my own dream – yes, I know that sometimes it can be tough, but I guess we all need obstacles to challenge us and to push us into new areas of growth.
I draw, I’m doing what children love to do and sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure that this is not a dream and I am really living.
Many thanks Lasse. You have been blessed with a natural talent and you have had the courage to make your living from your talent, RESPECT.
If you would you like help with your animations, illustrations or your presentations, please contact Lasse via Pigsel ApS.
Luxury Brands Ignoring Influencers is a Risky Business?
Magazines are losing their power as the exclusive gatekeepers in fashion, as they used to be the brands’ best way to broadcast its message to an audience of potential customers. Now the internet and social media have changed that, and brands have to target small communities online in ways that speak to them.
Tribe Dynamics is a company that identifies influencers and estimates the “earned media value” of their activity around brands, eg. LVMH, as brands move more and more of their advertising spending online. Conor Begley (co-founder and president at Tribe Dynamics), gives an example below about the way influencers are shaping the images of luxury brands.
“I’m showing them a bunch of data on Chanel. The number one influencer for Chanel is a guy named Jeffree Star. For those of you that don’t know Jeffree Star, he has pink hair, he’s tattooed from like head to toe—and his neck too—he will routinely smoke weed in his videos […] We show them this data, and somebody from this luxury brand says, ‘Hey, we know this is really important, but we wouldn’t want Jeffree to be our number-one influencer.’ I talk about inclusivity versus exclusivity and not really controlling the conversation, etc. We go home, we look at the data; he was the number-one influencer for that brand as well, they just didn’t know it.”
Star is a make-up artist and social-media personality with a large following. Shortly after that meeting, Begley said, Star caused a stir by posting a YouTube video in which he cut up a $5,000 Chanel bag with a glowing-hot knife. Chanel doesn’t need to make Star the face of its brand, Begley pointed out, but it would probably be good for the label to create a relationship with him since he’s having an impact on how his many fans perceive Chanel. Gucci, in fact, has done just that and made custom products just for him.
Please note that magazine editors are now often influencer's themselves with their own personal followings separate from the companies they work for 😉.
Read the full Quartzy article here