The power of influencers to captivate audiences and shape trends is undeniable. With 92% of consumers trusting influencer recommendations over traditional ads, influencer marketing has seen remarkable growth. This has grown from $1.7 billion in 2016 to an impressive $16.4 billion in 2022.
Let's take a look at the numbers
In 2021, the influencer marketing market reached $13.8 billion. In 2022, it passed an impressive milestone reaching $16.4 billion . These spectacular figures highlight the immense potential and success of influencer marketing as an invaluable strategy for businesses.
As a brand, it is essential to understand successful examples of influencer marketing campaigns. You can use it to design innovative strategies that drive engagement, brand awareness, and success .
What is an influencer marketing campaign?
An influencer marketing campaign is when brands partner with popular figures on social media, called influencers. These influencers have a loyal follower base who trust their opinions . They use their authenticity, expertise, and content to promote products or services to their audience.
By collaborating with influencers, brands can reach more people , raise awareness of their brand, and inspire people to take action. It's a bit like having a trusted friend suggest something cool to try , making it more accessible and exciting for customers.
1 – Google and DIY
Google collaborated with two DIY (Do It Yourself) micro-influencers known as @thesorrygirls. Concretely, the Sorry Girls organized a competition on Instagram to promote the brand's latest Pixelbook laptop.
They invited users to react to their posts and comment on how they would use the Pixelbook . Participants thus had the opportunity to gain something through this interaction. This type of contest is common in influencer marketing because it encourages follower engagement and increases brand visibility.
Despite the fact that Sorry Girls have less than 100,000 followers on Instagram , their engagement rate on the competition post was exceptionally high, reaching 59.4% . This suggests that even micro-influencers with smaller numbers of followers can generate significant engagement. This challenges the preconceived notion that micro-influencers are only suitable for brands with limited budgets .
2 – Audible and Jesse Driftwood
Jesse Driftwood, an influential photographer on Instagram with less than 100,000 followers , shared on his platform how he uses Audible to enhance his business management and productivity knowledge.
The content included engaging visuals highlighting the Audible app, as well as a caption in which Jesse Driftwood shares his personal , positive experience with the service, encouraging his followers to discover Audible for themselves.
This strategy focused on the authenticity of the recommendation, showing how using Audible is an integral part of the influencer's daily life and could benefit their followers as well.
NB: It is important to note that the success of such collaborations often depends on the relevance between the brand and the influencer , as well as how authentically the message is presented to the targeted audience.
3 – Daniel Wellington and Jasper and Louie
Daniel Wellington, the watch brand, maintains partnerships with fashion and travel influencers. She collaborated with CanadianBros, an Instagram account dedicated to two dogs named Jasper and Louie . Although dog lovers may seem like an unlikely audience for a watch brand, the collaboration with CanadianBros was successful.
In one of the CanadianBros posts, Louie, one of the dogs, looks adoringly at his owner, who is wearing a Daniel Wellington watch. The post's caption is written from the dog's perspective, which is consistent with the style of the account's other posts.
The key to this collaboration lies in the fact that Daniel Wellington chose to work with an unexpected partner , in this case an account dedicated to dogs. By embracing the playful caption style and collaborating with an account with a more serious aesthetic than most other animal influencers, the brand was able to reach a new audience .
Sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone and exploring partnerships with unusual influencers may be necessary to reach a new market niche.
4 – FIJI Water and athletes
Danielle Bernstein shared her own fitness experience with the Bodyworewhat app. And in these publications she included photos with FIJI water bottles . These posts highlighted the importance of staying hydrated during workouts and also included discount codes for home delivery of FIJI water .
This collaboration involved sponsored posts on the influencers' Instagram accounts, highlighting the role of FIJI water in a healthy and active lifestyle.
Influencer marketing campaigns in the brand with this type of lifestyle . In this context, influencers play a key role in conveying this message by sharing their own positive experiences with the brand's products.
5 – Gymshark’s 66 Days: Change Your Life Challenge
Gymshark launched the 66 Days: Change Your Life Challenge , an initiative encouraging people to adopt positive habits to transform their lives in 66 days . The campaign involved collaboration with fitness influencers and used the hashtag #Gymshark66.
Gymshark created a video series called “Stories of the 66 ,” in which fitness influencers shared their own transformation journeys during the 66 days. This approach gave a visual and narrative dimension to the campaign , which can be particularly engaging for the audience.
The campaign promoted the Gymshark Training app, providing participants with tips and training plans to help them achieve their goals. In total, it generated more than 240 million video views and more than 750,000 posts using the hashtag .
READ ALSO: Why is Influencer Marketing an essential strategy in 2024?
6 – Moncler’s #MonclerBubbleUp Campaign
Italian fashion brand Moncler has captivated Generation Z with its #MonclerBubbleUp campaign on TikTok . The campaign reached 7.6 billion views by collaborating with TikTok stars such as Charli D'Amelio and Bella Porch.
The campaign encouraged participants to create TikTok videos featuring creatively wearing Moncler items to the song “Bubble” by 24 Hours and Ty Dolla $ign. This created a fun and engaging challenge for TikTok users.
By encouraging users to participate in the challenge, Moncler benefited from creating user-generated content (UGC) featuring its brand. The influencers involved, such as Charli D'Amelio and Bella Porch , not only participated in the challenge, but also played a major role in promoting the campaign to their vast audiences, thus driving more participants .
The campaign incorporated a popular song and highlighted Moncler's style, creating a consistent aesthetic across TikTok videos. This approach helped strengthen the association between the brand and a fun fashion experience .
7 – NordVPN and YouTubers
NordVPN, the virtual private network (VPN), has relied heavily on influencer marketing on YouTube, with 85.3% of their social traffic coming from this platform .
Mayuko Inoue naturally integrated NordVPN into her YouTube content. She shared a typical day, showing how she uses NordVPN in her personal life, which created an authentic and compelling narrative.
The company notably ran campaigns with limited-time offers , encouraging viewers to take advantage of exclusive offers. This strategy aims to create a sense of urgency and motivate users to act quickly.
Influencers were encouraged to create engaging narratives around the product , often in the form of dilemmas or situations that users could relate to. This helped make the content more interesting and entertaining.
Influencers included direct purchase links to NordVPN in the description of their videos , making the process easier for interested viewers to take action.
NordVPN gave influencers some creative freedom, allowing them to talk about the product in a natural and spontaneous way. This approach aims to prevent the content from sounding like a scripted advertisement .
In total, NordVPN garnered 5.7 million likes, 91.5 million views and a total audience of 2.2 billion thanks to the sponsorship of 598 videos .
8 – Häagen-Dazs and the influencers of New York
Häagen-Dazs implemented an influencer marketing campaign in partnership with local influencers in New York.
The brand chose to collaborate with local influencers in New York to reinforce the relevance of the campaign. The latter was centered around BOGO (Buy One Get One) promotions for Häagen-Dazs products, as well as sampling events at Duane Reade and Walgreens stores. These events aimed to increase brand awareness and drive sales .
The campaign city's open container laws "Häagen-Dazs Open Container . Influencers participated by hosting rooftop parties , creating a connection between the Häagen-Dazs experience and the city's summer social life.
Influencers, such as Kendall Kremer, participated in a challenge on Instagram, sharing content related to events and promotions. Social media challenges often encourage users to create their own content related to the campaign theme .
Some influencers, like Katelyn Calautti, collaborated by sharing sponsored content on how to create summer parties with Häagen-Dazs . This approach made it possible to create engaging collaborative content.
9 – PlayStation and gamer influencers
PlayStation collaborated with gaming influencers to promote its new virtual reality headsets in Canada.
The brand aimed to reach a wide range of audiences, from dedicated fans to new gamers.
Influencers created and shared photos, videos, reviews, and other types of content showing the products in action.
They used specific hashtags, such as the @PlayStationCA , to promote the headsets. This helps aggregate influencer-generated content and track campaign reach.
They have also incorporated direct links to the official PlayStation virtual reality headsets page to facilitate the purchasing process.
10 – Calvin Klein and celebrities
Calvin Klein launched the #MyCalvins in collaboration with influencers including Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Shawn Mendes, and other celebrities.
The brand chose personalities for their massive reach on social media and the fact that they have a large following among a diverse audience.
Concretely, the campaign was launched via a YouTube video, in which influencers wore Calvin Klein products and encouraged their followers to participate using the hashtag #MyCalvins . The video created a strong visual impact and generated a large number of views.
At the same time, Calvin Klein created a dedicated microsite to collect and highlight user-generated content with the hashtag #MyCalvins . This made it possible to give increased visibility to the contributions of influencers and their followers.
Also, influencers had the opportunity to be featured on official Calvin Klein platforms.
The campaign used various platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube , to reach different audience segments. This helped engage a diverse audience and strengthen the brand’s presence across multiple channels.
11 – Brawl Stars and the 10 YouTubers
Supercell relied on influencer marketing for the launch of Brawl Stars. By collaborating with 10 mobile influencers on YouTube , the campaign generated 5 million signups in 8 hours , propelling the app to the top of the top-grossing apps in 32 countries.
Selecting a diverse group of influencers aimed to reach a wide range of audiences and create buzz around the game.
Concretely, Brawl Stars created buzz before its launch by sharing a mysterious image , thus generating excitement on social networks. Using the hashtag #DontKillBrawlStars helped generate user curiosity and engagement.
The game's worldwide release was announced via a video on YouTube which reached 4 million views . Influencers likely played a central role in spreading this announcement, reaching a large audience of potential players .
Influencers, who were already fans of Supercell's games, likely did live streams of preview games of Brawl Stars. This strategy allowed players to see gameplay before the official launch , thus building anticipation.
During the official launch, more than 100 user-generated content creators participated in the event, amplifying the reach of the campaign. The massive participation of content creators contributed to the virality of the game.
12 – Airbnb and London influencers
Airbnb sought to provide a local experience for visitors to London. They created a townhouse where visitors could have an authentic experience of local culture. This approach aimed to show that Airbnb not only offers accommodations, but also unique experiences .
Thus, the brand collaborated with 25 local influencers in London . These influencers were responsible for promoting the event on social media and sharing their personal experience of the Airbnb townhouse.
The company incorporated a user-generated content strategy share their experiences with the hashtag #LiveThere . This allowed Airbnb to collect authentic user-created content, while increasing the campaign's visibility on social media.
The campaign used various platforms . This allowed for broad reach by reaching different audience segments across varied channels. In fact, influencers played a key role in amplifying the campaign. Their ability to reach an engaged audience helped raise awareness of the event and encourage participation.
Results: the event attracted 1,400 guests in four days !
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