June 2021 | Volume02 Issue02

Case in Point

Instagram Influencer
Marketing: Creating A
Winning Strategy
The onset of new age digital marketing strategies has created
a plethora of new trends, one of them being ‘Influencer
Marketing’, which has taken the ad world by storm.
This fictionalised case titled ‘INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER
MARKETING: CREATING A WINNING STRATEGY’ showcases a
French fashion and cosmetics giant inclined to move with the
times, but only after a careful analysis of the pros and cons
of adopting this strategy. We invite two experts to share their
views and insights on the popular trend.

This case is an abridged version of the fictionalised case INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER MARKETING: CREATING
A WINNING STRATEGY - ISB241, written by Abhishek Rishabh, Doctoral Student at Indian School of Business
and Professor Philip Zerrillo, Professor of Marketing at Thamsaat University and Board Member at Thammasat
University College of Commerce, Thailand.
 Case in Point

O n August 9, 2020, Sean Jean De Ville, who had recently joined French fashion
and cosmetics giant Satix as digital marketing head of the shampoo products
division, was preparing for his first meeting with the CEO. He had been tasked to
explore the viability of employing influencer marketing on Instagram. This would
be a new promotional vehicle for the company, which had traditionally used
billboard, print and limited digital advertisements. He was also told that a budget
of USD 500,000 would be allocated for influencer marketing and that the boss
was anxious to get his insights and recommendations.

Sean quickly read a number of advertising reports, industry reports and research
studies. He found numerous studies supporting an interesting trend in influence
marketing. Specifically, instead of employing a single big celebrity or macro-
influencer for endorsement, advertisers were suggesting that it might be better to
employ multiple small Instagram influencers or micro-influencers.

Convinced by these detailed studies, Sean started collecting data on local

influencers. He eventually narrowed the field to two options: employing two
influencers, Abby (A) who had one million followers and Billy (B) who also had a
million followers, or one big influencer, Cassie (C) who had 1.5 million followers.
A and B together would cost the company USD 500,000, whereas C wanted USD
450,000 all to herself.

Abby and Billy had appeared in the same local soap opera several years earlier.
Abby was an avid poster, with 1.8 posts per day, while Billy posted less than once
a day. They were both well known in the national media as fashionistas. Cassie
was a relatively new celebrity who had begun her acting career by performing in
arthouse productions but had recently captured a great deal of attention with her
most recent film role. Cassie was posting 1.6 times a day.

The next morning, Sean presented his data to the CEO. The CEO, himself a
veteran of the industry, said, “Sean, it is a very serious step for us to invest in these
influencers. Remember, we have multiple objectives with this project. It is not just
about short-term sales, it is also about reputation. I am not convinced that what
you’ve shared is either sound or comprehensive enough for us to spend 500,000
dollars. I want to see you back in my office in four days, and I want hard data,
insights and recommendations that I can be confident in. Whatever we decide to

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 Case in Point

do may or may not work, but I want to feel that we did the right thing.”

Sean left the meeting wondering if he had a future at the firm. He knew he had to
be better prepared for the next meeting. He would have to better anticipate the
questions his boss would ask.

What
factors should Sean
consider as he plans the
social media strategy
for the next meeting?

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 Expert Opinion

Medhee Jarumaneeroj
Co-founder and Managing Partner,
BrandAholics Co. Ltd.

Medhee Jarumaneeroj comes with over 20 years

of experience in strategic brand and corporate
communications. He is the Co-founder and
Managing Partner of BrandAholics Co. Ltd.,
a boutique brand and marketing company
providing consulting services on strategic brand,
marketing communications and capability
building for many local and international
organisations in Thailand for over seven years.

Prior to starting his consulting business, Medhee

has worked with Procter & Gamble (P&G) for over
a decade leading the global communications
for Olay in the P&G Headquarters, Gillette
male grooming in Asia, where he took care
of brand communications and influencer
marketing for beauty care of ASEAN region. He
also loves teaching as a guest lecturer on brand
management, communications and crisis
management for many universities in Thailand.

T he traditional and more familiar approach of billboard marketing, print or

TV, has always been tied to the expectation of getting a return for every penny
invested. However, as the old timers are now looking to transition to digital media
and leverage technology, they ought to acknowledge one basic change. And that
change is to understand that though the conventional methods had a relatively
scant reach, they elicited a far deeper connect. With new media strategies and
abundance of platforms, it is getting harder to get that attention, despite a widened
reach. The key remains in defining the right package for the right audience that
would strike a chord within that short time frame. Reach alone is not enough, it is
the quality reach that makes the winning strategy.

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 Expert Opinion

Apple-to-Apple
What Sean needs to do is to ‘seek to understand’ before ‘seeking to be understood’.
While the CEO has been clear in stating that he does not understand the digital
world, Sean needs to analyse the data about the three influencers and make
an apple-to-apple comparison, as he contemplates between the three options.
He ought to give a background to his CEO about how consumer behaviour and
preferences across segments, geographies and categories have been changing,
especially emphasising how the present day target audience for the company’s
hair care products would be shifted to the new target consumers in the future.
This cannot be an abrupt change but clearly defined phases of change.

Sean needs to take a step back to analyse whether the ongoing and popular
methods of the past like print or digital media are still effective, all the while being
cognizant of the big picture. It would be a good idea to show the CEO what he
discovered in terms of what worked and what did not in the traditional methods,
before concluding that influencer marketing would be the best strategy. This way,
he sees the evolution of newer methods in a clearer light and understands the
benefits of employing this strategy before investing the big bucks.

Vision of Success and Clear Objectives

It is imperative to understand whether your vision of success is aligned with
that of the CEO’s vision. If Sean were to understand what the CEO is truly aiming
for—increased market share, building brand awareness, increased sales etc., it
would lead to a greatly effective execution of the campaign. The set of predefined
objectives bring Sean one step closer to the firm’s goal. The CEO needs to be
convinced about the fact that some of their current investments are perhaps not
yielding the desired results, possibly because of changing consumer behaviour.
Consumers who are clearly going beyond the celebrity tag and are increasingly
taken in by someone with more convincing and inferential power.

Laying your Cards on the Table

Once the CEO is in on Sean’s findings, Sean needs to share his carefully assessed
and informed list of recommendations that will help them achieve the milestones
they have defined. These recommendations are nothing but the ‘How to Win’

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 Expert Opinion

choices that his CEO may pick from a long list of proposed options. The CEO
may or may not agree to all recommendations, but it will help them align on key
business priorities and expectations. Sean needs to get inputs based on the parities
defined by the CEO. The percentages across various options may vary based on the
management goals, but going by how organisations usually allocate budgets, they
could be split as follows:

1. Low risk, not overly time consuming to make a move; yet pays the bills (70%)

2. Investment in amassing new consumers. For example: Instagram strategy (20%)

3. High risk, high reward (10%)

This upfront discussion on the three-tiered budgetary allocation and learnings

from the new experiments also help in inching one step closer towards the goal. As
I talk of learnings, I would also recommend Sean to study competition and watch
out for what the other key players are doing while engaging in this conversation
with the CEO.

Moving Beyond the Metrics

As the excitement for measurement tools
is mounting, data and dashboarding
alone may not suffice. Sean needs to
balance it with five other considerations:

1. A Good Fit- Influencer target profile matches with his target audience profile.

2. Brand Equity and Relevancy- Influencer profile matches with what the brand
delivers and upholds.

3. Believability- Meaningful engagements that demonstrate the convincing

power of the influencer. Posting for the sake of posting is not the goal.

4. Leveraging Data to Up the Reach- Optimising the campaign to achieve a wider

target customer base over time.

5. Being Cognizant of Customer Journey- Not a linear progression anymore.

Important to be aware of the critical role your influencer will play in your
consumer’s journey.

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 Expert Opinion

Dr. Philip Zerrillo

Professor of Marketing, Thammasat University;
Member- Board of Directors, Thammasat
University College of Commerce, Thailand

While holding faculty positions in multiple

universities across the globe, Dr. Zerrillo has
written and taught extensively in areas of
distribution channels, brand management,
strategy, counterfeiting and its effects on
brands and brand valuation. He has authored
and published several cases, also conducting
numerous workshops on case writing and
teaching at business schools across Southeast
Asia. Dr. Zerrillo currently holds the honorary
“Dr. Benvenido Tontoco Chair in Retailing” at Jose
Rizal University (Manila) and sits on the board of
directors for Thammasat University College of
Commerce (Thailand).

I nfluencer marketing is a rapidly emerging tool in the arsenal of the marketer, be

they consumer or business market focused. The ability to reach large audiences
via influence marketing has been gaining steady precedence over traditional
methods of advertising. Much of this has been based on the ability to insert the
product placement in the middle of a conversation between the influencer and
their followers. This personalised endorsement or recommendation is more akin
to a peer-to-peer interaction. Unlike the historic corporate advertisement or
“celebrity/expert endorsement” the influencer is speaking to their audience, in
the course of their normal and regular conversation. The placement or influence
attempt is not a complete interruption of the audience’s primary reason for paying
attention. The emerging technologies have enabled the influencer to reach their
virtually unlimited number of followers in a timely, conversational and informal
manner. Aside from the broader factors like the budget and which influencer to
go with, there are several other metrics that could help Sean take an informed
decision as he digs deeper seeking the positives of deploying this strategy.

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 Expert Opinion

Identifying the Influencer-Product Fit

The first step would be to ensure that the product and influencer are well aligned.
While choosing the influencer, it becomes important to understand what kind of
influencer will resonate with their target audience. When people see a person they
trust and admire endorsing a product they may or may not need, they are more
likely to be curious about it or even buy it. David Beckham endorsing a pair of
Adidas sneakers and Rihanna creating makeup for women of every shade through
her inclusive makeup line Fenty are perfect examples of the synergy between a
product and the influencer. Alternatively, one needs to avoid product influencer
mismatches. The early research in this area indicates that influencers that are seen
to have little knowledge, experience or passion for a product are not as effective.
An influencer’s personal values, reputation, storytelling, and authenticity go a
long way in endearing them to their followers. Therefore, the act of finalising the
influencer itself demands a close attention to detail.

In Sean’s case too, he should not just assess the number of followers associated
with the influencer, the frequency and quality of these interactions between the
influencer and followers, but rather dig into the influencers’ track record, their
association with any competitive brands and success with other such campaigns
to determine if they are truly a domain expert. While the size of the audience is
an important dimension to consider, especially for creating awareness, attitude
change, intention or even repurchase are driven by factors such as authenticity,
relevance, category knowledge and trust. Additionally, quality engagements that
signal the viewers’ pleasure or displeasure via comments act as quick metrics
to further fine-tune the campaigns, making them more effective if monitored
correctly. Sean needs to watch out for these as he zeroes in on his influencers.

Micro Vs Macro Influencer

Employing a single or dual influencer strategy may depend on some basic
calculations at first, related to the number of followers, click through rate (CTR),
impressions, and cost per lead (CPL).

In Sean’s case, the cost of employing a single influencer is USD 50,000 less than
employing two, so it does appear more cost-effective at the first instance. However,

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 Expert Opinion

Sean needs to consider the overlap in followers. Two stars from the same show
have identical viewers for the most part and thus may have largely overlapping
followers. Alternatively, when consumers witness consensus among influencers,
it may instill greater confidence and help with their decision-making in the
recommended product or service.

Strategic Roll-Out
As the protagonist in this case
prepares to make an expenditure
decision, a host of other execution
factors need to be considered.
Having a predefined strategy can
further enhance the efficiency of
the campaign and maximise the
advantages of having an influencer
onboard. For instance: a) design a contract stating the number of posts the
influencer would do, b) define by whom and how will the ad creatives be
developed, c) timing of the ad posted by the influencer, d) how the influencer will
be compensated, such as by post, or by results (and if results, what type of results-
Click throughs? Impressions? Purchases? Likes?).

Lastly, for firms contemplating a digital influencer strategy, it is a good idea to

incorporate web technologies that can link sales or interest to the source and
monitor the impact on broader measures such as attitudes, awareness and
intentions. Marketing, in this new medium, is always an iterative process. We
make our best predictions, take action, measure and adjust.

The influencer approach is emerging quickly, and it has become a new route to the
customers opinions and decision-making processes. Largely able to sidestep the
credibility issues that corporate advertisements and claims perform poorly on,
influencer strategies have provided an opportunity for the firm to become a part
of customer conversations and take advantage of word-of-mouth benefits. The
opportunities and technologies are gaining traction, but like any other activation
strategy, it is important that the marketer understands their audience, their goals
for a campaign, and how they will measure impact and adjust in the future.

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