Report - Creative Industry Project
The impact of negative press on the consumerism of influencers
Can you market a damaged reputation?
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This report will discuss the digital marketing and PR industry, academically defining key terms, identifying current trends and comparing research to my dissertation.
To begin, the first section of this report will examine and define the current trends shown within this industry; social media campaigns, influencer marketing and user generated content.
The second section draws upon a case study of the marketing organisation M&C Saatchi and their work within this industry, discussing their divisions, audience and how they have used current digital marketing trends throughout their previous campaigns.
The third section of this report will explore the conceptual overlap between the academic research found within my dissertation literature review, in order to examine the relationship between celebrity gossip journalism and one key current trend - influencer marketing.
Lastly, my final section will analyse the findings and analysis chapter of my dissertation to conclusively discuss the information I found within my own research, identifying audience opinions, current developments within the journalism industry and how this benefit the marketing industry.
Industry
This section will academically define and discuss the concept of digital marketing and explore current trends within the industry, including social media, influencer marketing and UGC (User Generated Content).
Defined by David Chaffey as ‘achieving marketing objectives through applying digital media, data and technology’ (Chaffey, 2019:9), the digital marketing industry is a growing business. For advertisers, digital marketing ‘serves to cluster a range of types of media and strategies, including web, mobile, tablet social, locative, wearable and other networked devices capable of contributing to advertising experiences’ (Andrew McStay, 2016: 3)
Ryan Damien et al of 'Understanding Digital Marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation' states a list of components that will form a successful digital marketing strategy. These involve; 'knowing your business, knowing the competition, knowing your customers, knowing what you want to achieve and knowing how you’re doing.' (Ryan Damien et al, 2012: 23)
Current trends
A current strategic trend within the digital marketing industry is the use of social media for advertisement campaigns and audience connectivity. In 2021, research found that there were ‘forty five million social media users in the UK’ and the average number of social media accounts per user ‘averaged to 6.9’ (Avocado Social, 2021). Using this information, Chaffey informs us that ‘given the popularity of these social networks, many companies will seek to develop an overall social media strategy.’ (Chaffey, 2019: 172)
In order to develop a social media strategy, it is important for businesses to consider how their target audience engages with online media, identifying their most used social platforms and the content they interact with.
These networks in particular often include Facebook, Instagram, and also TikTok, as they currently drive the most online traffic, 'Facebook remains the most used platform by marketers worldwide [at] ninety three percent.' (Brent Barnhart, 2022)
Correspondingly, the popularity of social media has also caused the development of social media Influencers. Influencers are categorised as individuals who post regularly on their online personal profiles and attract audiences who follow similar interests. Influencers effectively use their personality to influence their following.
Due to this, another current trend used by marketing companies is using these influencer profiles throughout their campaigns.
Daniel Belanche of 'Understanding influencer marketing: The role of congruence between influencers, products and consumers' defined influencer marketing as 'marketing communications in which influencers promote a brand's offerings on their own social media pages.' (Daniel Belanche et al, 2021: 186)
Influencer marketing can be in the form of brand ambassadors or product advertisers and is strategically used in an aim to attract the businesses target audience. ‘Brands love social media influencers because they can create trends and encourage their followers to buy products they promote.' (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2021). Belanche goes on to note that ‘followers evaluate information more favourably if they perceive their own fit with the influencer but also if the influencer seems to fit well with the product, brand (or) outfit that he/ she is promoting.' (Belanche et al, 2021: 187) Therefore, suggesting that, in order to be successful, it is important that companies connect with influencers who are an appropriate fit for their brand.
It is also considerable to recognise the key demographic for social media influencer marketing campaigns. Research has found that '70% of teens trust influencers more than traditional celebrities' (Digital Marketing Institute, 2021). From this statistic, we can learn that currently, teenagers are much more likely to trust and consume a product advertised and endorsed by a social media influencer, making them a key demographic for influencer marketing strategies and campaigns.
Lastly, another current trend within the digital marketing industry is the use of UGC (User generated content). UGC is described as ‘content related to [a] brand that is created by someone who is not an official representative of [the] business’. (Ted Vrountas, 2021). Brands are beginning to encourage the use of user generated content as it ‘creates authenticity and credibility’ because ‘it is made by the people who already use [the] products and services’. (McMartin, 2021) In addition, user generated content is also encouraged for its ability to ‘make customers feel like they are part of the community’ (McMartin, 2021) as individuals can actively share their interests, using creativity, with likeminded individuals.
Examples of user generated content include images, videos, podcasts - such as Apple’s ‘#ShotoniPhone’ campaign, aimed at encouraging users to share images and videos that they have personally taken using an iPhone.
Organisation
Throughout this report, I will be focusing on the marketing and advertising organisation M&C Saatchi Group, particularly their sport and entertainment division.
Founded in 1995, M&C Saatchi’s operations span twenty three countries, with major hubs in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia and Australia (M&C Saatchi, 2022) and includes six divisions; Connected Creativity; Passion Marketing; Global and Social Issues; Brand, Experience and Innovation; Performance Media and Talent Management.
Describing themselves as ‘a creative company’, their vision is to ‘value difference, with an inclusive culture brought to life through equity, enabling us to achieve our goals' (M&C Saatchi, 2022), M&C Saatchi work with both national and international organisations to create digital marketing campaigns, many of which feature celebrities and influencers.
In reference to current digital marketing trends, M&C Saatchi has notably used social media to launch campaigns such as ‘Where Everyone Plays’ with international company Coca Cola. This campaign consisted of a one minute video advertisement, uploaded to video sharing platform YouTube, featuring members of the England football team in an aim to promote Coca Cola’s sponsorship of the 2019/20 Premier League. Alongside this, Coca Cola also implemented a digital takeover of the Premier League’s social channels, in order to increase audience engagement. The advert attracted over fifty thousand views within twenty four hours, and generated a 8.4 million reach of Coca Cola’s digital takeover. (M&C Saatchi Sports and Entertainment, 2019)
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‘We are proud to work with Coca Cola in leading and implementing multi-channel, multi-geography campaigns for sixteen years and counting’ (M&C Saatchi, 2019)
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Furthermore, in regards to current trends of digital marketing, M&C Saatchi have also created advertisement campaigns featuring social media influencers, such as ‘The Footlocker Collective’, which was created as part of the organisation’s partnership with sport retailer Foot Locker. The campaign features a ‘handpicked group of sneakerheads and lifestyle influencers’ (M&C Saatchi, 2022) modelling their products on online platforms such as Instagram. As a result of this campaign M&C Saatchi reported 16.3 million average impressions across owned social channels.
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Footlocker Collective campaign (M&C Saatchi 2017)
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Additionally, this organisation also uses social media marketing and Influencers to build relationships with audiences through awareness campaigns such as 'Kooth Won't Do It Alone'. Together with an online mental wellbeing organisation, Kooth, the campaign focused on normalising the topic of speaking up about mental health among teenagers and young adults, featuring individuals with a high social media following, such as YouTube content creators Amelia Dimoldenberg and Chunkz, as well as dance DJ Jax Jones.
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In reference to their campaigns, M&C Saatchi’s leading demographic is typically young adults and teenagers. This is clear by organisation’s presence within online media platforms and the use of influencers throughout their campaigns.
As mentioned in the industry chapter, young adults are often the most associated demographic with social media influencers, particularly due to the emergence of content creation, and research stating that a large majority of teenagers are more willing to trust influencers than with traditional celebrities.
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Conceptual overlap
In my dissertation, titled 'Read all about it: celebrity gossip, mental health and popular media culture', I discussed the issue concerning the ways in which celebrities are presented within UK tabloid gossip journalism and the negative implications that this has on mental health and society. My literature review chapter explored academic concepts of tabloid journalism, specifically regarding the most frequently chosen topics of discussion within celebrity gossip articles and the breaching of privacy and ethics.
Using De Backer and Fisher’s theory, we learnt that the two most frequent modes of celebrity discourse is using strategy learning gossip and reputation gossip. The term 'strategy learning gossip' is used to describe the instance in which the content of discourse is less direct and ‘the identity of the person, who is the subject of gossip, is less important, and instead, what happened to the person who is the subject of gossip’ (De Backer and Fisher, 2012: 407). Whereas, reputation gossip concerns who somebody is, therefore impacting the reputation of the subject individual.
There is a conceptual overlap between the topics discussed within my literature review and my chosen organisation as, in the event that an individual’s reputation is compromised or damaged by gossip reporting, brands and companies will often make an effort to deter from using them within their campaigns, in order to protect their own reputation.
Gossip journalism therefore has, not only, a negative impact on the damaged reputation of the subject, but also for the brand name and reputation if they are already closely affiliated with the influencer through previous campaigns. 'If a famous person is involved in incidents that change, or even damage his or her reputation,[it] can potentially alter perceptions of the brand-celebrity congruence.' (Des Thwaits & Ben Lowe, 2010: 15)
Furthermore, as mentioned in the industry chapter, Belache's statement that followers evaluate information more favourably 'if the influencer seems to fit well with the product, brand (or) outfit that he/ she is promoting.' (Belanche et al, 2021: 187) was also supported by Thwaits and Lowe who argued that 'the greater the perceived fit between the brand and the celebrity, the more quickly an associative link between the two can be expected to develop.' (Thwaits & Lowe, 2010, 14). In the event of reputation gossip, this association can consequently result in further complications for the campaign and brand overall, as followers recognise an influencer's accurate 'fit' with a specific product or business that they have promoted online. Due to this, 'it is clear that negative publicity is a real concern for such sponsoring companies as it can affect brand image and sales.' (Thwaits & Lowe 2010, 6)
However, the concept of using recognisable faces to lead campaigns is not entirely a current trend, Belanche goes on to say that 'celebrities have long been leveraged for marketing campaigns.' (Belanche, 2021: 187)
In previous years, following the event of reputation gossip, celebrities have been removed from brand endorsements.
Findings and Analysis
In order to collect my own research for my dissertation, I conducted interviews with ten young adults, aged between twenty to twenty five, in an aim to find out whether they actively consume celebrity gossip journalism and, if so, the impact it has on their perceptions and opinions.
As displayed in my findings and analysis chapter of my dissertation, is it clear to see that young adults are becoming much less engaged with online journalistic gossip content. Interview responses demonstrated that audiences are appearing reluctant to openly admit that they have actively searched for or engaged with celebrity gossip journalism, stating that 'they “are not proud of” their consumption'. (Christina Smith, 2022, 23).
This reluctancy was found to be caused by the belief that gossip journalism is often largely unreliable, exaggerated for reader attention and overall 'nonsense.' (Smith, 2022, 23).
This research therefore has a beneficial impact towards the trending concept of using influencers and celebrities for advertisement purposes within the marketing and PR industry. Due to the lack of trust demonstrated throughout the responses I received, it is to be suggested that audiences are currently more likely to be influenced by an advertisement campaign, than the journalism articles they have read.
This is beneficial as, in the event that reputation gossip is published regarding a recognised influencer, there is still an opportunity to continue to market the subjected individual(s) and protect brand identity, as audiences are less likely to believe the journalistic content they have consumed.
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Additionally, my research also suggested that, when audiences do engage with gossip journalism, they expressed enjoyment for the information they have read concerning the scandal genre.
This enjoyment for scandal could suggest a potential success for advertisers, and academic research found that 'misbehaviour and even criminal activity by celebrities have grabbed the attention of marketing executives who believe that ‘any publicity is good publicity.' (Donaton cited in Thwaites and Lowe, 2010). This concept of good publicity proposes the idea that reputation gossip is not necessarily always detrimental to brand's identity, as audiences enjoyment for scandalous news stories could allure to the belief that it is, situationally, good publicity. My findings further support this concept, as respondents commented that they are “always asking people if they’ve seen what certain celebrities have done now”. (Smith, 2022, 25)
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Overall, my findings demonstrated that young adults are reluctant actively engage in celebrity and influencer gossip journalism as they believe it to be false and exaggerated for public attention. Additionally, my findings found that young adults are also much less likely to allow reputation gossip to impact their perceptions of subjected individuals, due to this distrust. Therefore, this information is vitally beneficial to the digital marketing industry, who use celebrities and influencers throughout their campaigns, as their brand identity is not necessarily comprised.
Furthermore, my findings found that audiences expressed their enjoyment for the scandal genre, which supports the idea that journalistic publicity can be good publicity for marketers.
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Future projects
To build on this research, to formulate my media making artefact, I am planning to create a social media campaign. This social media campaign will consist of information tailored towards businesses to explain how to effectively advertise online using social media content. Using creative tools, such as in the form of Instagram posts, stories and reels, I will aim to draw attention towards the concept of using content creation and influencers for advertisement purposes and demonstrate its effectiveness to businesses.
Word count: 2508
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References
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Belanche, Daniel, et al. 2021, Understanding influencer marketing: The role of congruence between influencers, products and consumers. P.186-193 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.067
Chaffey, David. 2019, Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice, 7th ed. p.1-531
De Backer, Charlotte & Fisher, Maryanne. 2012, Tabloids as a window into our interpersonal relationships: a content analysis of mass media gossip from an evolutionary perspective, Journal of Social, Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology, p.404-424
Damien, Ryan & Jones, Calvin. 2012, Strategic Thinking, Understanding Digital Marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation, p.18-35
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M&C Saatchi, 2022. Available at: https://mcsaatchi.com (Accessed on: 15th March, 2022)
M&C Saatchi. 2019, Coca Cola Premier League Where Everyone Plays, Sports and Entertainment. Available at: https://sportandentertainment.mcsaatchi.com/project/coca-cola-premier-league-where-everyone-plays/ (Accessed on: 15th March 2022)
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McMartin. 2021, The Benefits of User Generated Content. Available at: https://macmartin.co.uk/user-generated-content/ (Accessed on: 22nd March 2022)
McStay, Andrew. 2016, Digital Advertising, 2nd ed. p.1-74
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The UK Social Media statistics for 2021, Avocado Social. 2021, Available at: https://www.avocadosocial.com/the-uk-social-media-statistics-for-2021/ (Accessed on 15th March 2022)
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Smith, Christina. 2022, Read All About It: celebrity gossip, mental health and popular media culture, p.7-35
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Thwaites, Des & Lowe, Ben. 2010, The Impact of Negative Publicity on Celebrity Ad Endorsements, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 29, 1-29
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Twenty surprising Influencer marketing statistics, Digital Marketing Institute. 2021, Available at: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you (Accessed on 22nd March 2022)
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Vrountas, Ted. 2021, User-Generated Content: Why It’s Effective and How to Use It in Your Marketing Campaigns, Instapage, Postclick. Available at: https://instapage.com/blog/what-is-user-generated-content (Accessed on: 20th March 2022)
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