As brand trust erodes, the influencers rise
We've trained ourselves to not trust what advertisers tell us, according to David A. Yovanno, global CEO of partnership platform impact.com. And that's why partnerships with influencers and content creators have evolved: to deliver third-party validation of a brand's message.
When it comes to brand partnerships, Yovanno wrote the book. Quite literally. As author of The Partnership Economy: How Modern Businesses Find New Customers, Grow Revenue, and Deliver Exceptional Experiences, Yovanno believes the use of savvy partnerships between companies and online influencers can build brand awareness, customer loyalty, and competitive advantage.
Speaking to Mumbrella while in Sydney recently, Yovanno claims the days of brands simply touting their own benefits to the customer are over. The modern, more-wary buyer requires third-party validation before committing to a brand. Fake news abounds, and trust in corporations is at a nadir.
Plus, the rise of social media makes it easy to do your own research on a product or service before committing.
“You think back ten years ago, people didn’t really think to search around for what other people had to say about something,” Yovanno tells Mumbrella.
“Now, if they hear about something, the very first thing that people are doing is they’re checking to see what other people have to say about that product, that trend.”
This dovetails with the declining levels of trust in corporations. The disconnect between what we are sold and what we receive took roots close to a century ago, with the rise of radio and the birth of television.
“Advertisers kind of took control of perfect imagery, a perfect message, slotted it into a 30-second slot, and created this perfect world image that simply is not true. And I think we’ve trained ourselves to not trust what advertisers tell us.
“I remember when I was young standing in line at a McDonald’s, seeing a beautiful picture of a Big Mac. And when you open up your box, it looks like it’s been run over by a car.
“But we’ve just kind of, you know, accepted that as consumers, as a society all these years. And so by default, I don’t think we trust what’s handed to us by a brand. And, so I think our inclination is to go see what other people. They want the straight scoop from someone that seems trustworthy, that is authentic in their review or recommendation about something.”
As Yovanno points out, this distrust has existed throughout living memory. So, what’s driving the influencer trend, aside from wariness of corporate messaging?
“In terms of what’s driving it, I would say it’s access to that information,” he says.
“Like years and years ago, decades ago, we had access to consumer reports, very gated, but very in-depth reviews about new cars and technology and things.
But, like I said, it was very gated access to that in-depth reviews of products. Now it’s ubiquitous, right?
“That content is being published by major publishers. I think of Meredith brands, Conde Nast brands, CNN’s got underscored, New York Times acquired Wirecutter. There’s in-depth large editorial teams doing deep reviews on products.
“But, really, what started that trend are the creators, the influencers. Initially it wasn’t to get paid money, it was about social currency, it was passion over the products, unboxing the latest gaming laptop, putting it on the bench, comparing it side by side with the latest and running deep stats.
“This is a new experience for consumers. And that’s the real deal that they’re after. They want to understand what is the real truth behind what might be claimed in an ad that they might see.”
Yovanno said this moved from an organic trend to its own industry “roughly seven years ago”, and while this adds a commercial factor to such influencer claims, the main driver is still trust.
“Trust is the primary driver here. It’s the primary concern. And why have consumers lost trust in brands?
“I started with the TV ads and the radio ads from 100 years ago, the kind of the interruptive, perfect image that they created back then, but you switch to online and what happened kind of in the late 1990s, you had the whole abuse of spam, email lists in the beginning, you know, these like really annoying ads, pop-ups, like brands have done a lot to really undermine trust with the consumer, just trying to be very disruptive and interruptive.
“People come online for three things. They are looking for information, they’re looking for entertainment, they’re looking for connections with people. One of the great things about the rise of the creator economy is that they’re actually finding all three of those things in the commercial information that’s being published by creators.
“They’re entertained by this content, they’re learning about these products that they’re interested in, and they’re connecting with people.
But part of that connection with people comes into the commenting structure with content that’s posted now. Like, you look at YouTube, for example, if a creator is being a cheesy salesperson, it’s called out in the comments.
People are going to unsubscribe from their channel, which no creator wants. It’s going to get called out in the comments, and they’re gonna lose their relevance with their audience. And so the creators that I’ve talked to are very sensitive about that.
“I think today’s consumer has a very high BS filter. They know when they’re being sold to. And so it really is on that creator. Like creators who aren’t fully embracing their audience – and the authenticity and the trust that they have with their audience – are gonna have a short lived career as a creator.”
This self-governance is the beauty of the system.
“I think the way the system is designed today, it will sort itself out.
“I don’t think this is something that we need to overly manage. There’s a kind of self-guiding system that’s already in place.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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