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We are at “Peak Micro-Influencer” When a Hotel Company Hires a Bad Grandma to Attract New Customers

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An Insta-grandma called “Baddie Winkle” says she has been stealing your man since 1928.

By Nicole Buckler

Hotels.com have got together with a bad-ass granny who calls herself “Baddie Winkle” to encourage people to go travelling (staying in their hotels, of course). Using the hashtag #BadAssBucketList you can follow her adventures and even contribute yourself to the hashtag should you be a granny looking to feel up some prime young beef. I’m only in my 40s and I’m ready to join the squad.

Don’t touch, Weinstein

Baddie is promoting Hotels.com Rewards program, which gives players a one-night freebee in a hotel for every 10 stayed. She says, “I have always wanted to party in London, go to the Moulin Rouge in Paris and watch cheeky volleyball players do their thing on a beach in Brazil!” Now as a micro-influencer, she can unlock the “Perve Level: Brazilian” and other treasures on hotel.com’s dime. Which is nice work if you can get it. All the Insta-grandma has to do is to flit around a number of hotels, staying there and showing fans what she gets up to inside them. Baddie wrote on her Instagram page last week; “I’m international baby!”

International indeed. The 89-year-old microinfluencer even has her own celebrity fans, including Miley Cyrus, Khloe Kardashian and Nicole Richie. Perhaps they will be watching with glee as she mixes rooftop cocktails in NYC, rubs shoulders with NFL players, and helicopters over The Grand Canyon. It’s a tough life, but someone’s Nana has to do it.

Hmmm… slutty but hot.

It’s not just the rather wealthy grandparent market hotel.com are going for. According to the astonishing results of a recent survey, one in five people under 30 have confessed that their travel plans are inspired by their favourite oldies. Who knew that oldies could be travel inspirators? The marketing people at Hotels.com knew. Oh hell yes, they knew.

Damn she’s bad.

Baddie is bringing her granddaughter along on the trip, and this seems to fit in with accusations that millennials are a bunch of home-loving family-stalking squares. The previously-mentioned survey shows that 40 percent of millennials would prefer to complete their bucket lists with their parents or grandparents – that’s more than celebs (11 percent), siblings (28 percent) or on their own (25 percent).

What the….?

One in eight confessed that their gran (or nana) was cooler than them and travelled more than them. I am ashamed of millennials. Stop protesting over stupid crap and go and see the world you wasters!

Squad goals: Polyamory

And for those of us in marketing? Let’s remember that the best micro-influencers might be someone you haven’t considered before. Like grannies in leather dresses. Who are on their way to steal your man. Now would be a good time to panic.

 

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Now There is an Awards Ceremony for Micro-Influencers

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New awards ceremony honours influencers based on engagement, authenticity and creativity.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Okay so we here in Ireland are not yet at the stage where we are awarding micro-influencers. But in the U.S., they certainly are, and we could learn a lot from our fellow marketers across the Atlantic.

Marketing company #HASHOFF, which helps marketers connect their products with micro-influencers, have held a competition for the most impressive micro-influencers.

The winners and the work they do can be found on the #HASHOFF’s website.

According to a recent #HASHOFF study, the majority of influencers (52%) on the platform spend up to 3 hours creating posts. Said Joel Wright, President of #HASHOFF, “Micro-influencer marketing is a powerful medium for consumer engagement, and we wanted to honour the incredible creators we’ve partnered with to help brands spread their message authentically on these platforms. Influencers spend hours carefully crafting each post to ensure that brand integration is as authentic as possible. These are highly talented individuals and it is important for us to highlight their content and give them the recognition they deserve.”

The #HASHOFFS Award Winners:

Overall Category, the winner is Chase McNary for his post for Bud Light.

  • Engagement: In this post, Chase created an original song for Bud Light and the Broncos, which drove 121K views and engagement rates nearly 4X industry norms.
  • Authenticity: Pulling off a home-brewed jingle for a product is something worth commending.  The best creators invest a great amount of effort into creating content for their audiences.
  • Creativity: Chase is someone who truly loves the beer.  Great influencers are not actors but rather share their lives and the things they love on a daily basis.  What they like matters to their followers.

Video Category, the winner is Priscilla Gonzalez for her post for Estrella Jalisco.

  • Engagement: Averaging about 90K engagements per post, Priscilla’s boomerang for Estrella Jalisco absolutely crushed her average, with over 275K engagements, because it resonated so authentically with her audience.
  • Authenticity: Priscilla has a large Hispanic following in Los Angeles, so posting about a Mexican beer and event in Los Angeles was the perfect fit.
  • Creativity: Priscilla’s excitement to be attending the event comes through in this boomerang for Estrella Jalisco.

Food & Beverage Category, the winners are Lily & Chloe Clem for their post for Pizza Hut.

  • Engagement: Averaging 30K engagements per post is no small feat. Lily and Chloe have built an authentic and engaged fan base with content revolving around their everyday lives.
  • Authenticity: What kid doesn’t like pizza and video games? While looking for influencers with a family friendly fan base, it was obvious Lily and Chloe’s account was perfect for Pizza Hut and XBOX.
  • Creativity: Showing true excitement about a product is a large part of the creative process. Lily and Chloe’s enthusiasm shines through in every post.

Sports Category, the winner is Dale Brisby for his post for Busch.

  • Engagement: Dale received some of the highest engagements for this Busch campaign. This post received 10% higher than the normal average for video posts at the time of this campaign.
  • Authenticity: His audience is the exact audience that Busch was looking for this campaign – working class, and small town.
  • Creativity: This campaign was perfect in terms of timing.  Dale had just finished a remodel of his basement so a video about that opening for his friends was perfect.

Event Category, the winner is Michele Gonzalez for her post for Poland Springs.

  • Engagement: Showing support and enthusiasm for the activities and products you love can do wonders for engagement metrics. Michele’s followers responded positively to her post about the Brooklyn Half Marathon where she and her friend set a personal best time.
  • Authenticity: Tapping into a specific interest, like running, helps build an authentic, genuine audience. Michele’s followers are interested in running and athletics which was key in securing the right influencer for the Brooklyn Half Marathon collaboration with Poland Springs.
  • Creativity: Being creative while engaging in an event or activity can be a challenge. Michele thought hard about the type of pictures she would capture at the event as well as the copy needed to support this campaign ahead of time. The product was both creative and well planned.

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Category, the winner is Nick Coolridge for his post for PowerBar.

  • Engagement: Nick has a dedicated following across multiple social channels, making him the go-to influencer for those with an interest in movement artistry.
  • Authenticity: Nick is conscious about the products he consumes as his career and ambitions are predicated on his ability to perform. Nick was a natural fit for PowerBar as he personifies the major marketing pillars: active, works out in the outdoors, cares about quality supplements and snacks.
  • Creativity: Nick takes his creativity to a new level each time for brands. Most often he will be upside down in one way or another-a common theme throughout his posts.

Entertainment Category, the winner is Gabby David for her post for LiveNation.

  • Engagement: Gabby’s custom video created for Live Nation received nearly twice as many engagements as an average daily post received the following week on her account.
  • Authenticity: Gabby has a gift for inserting branded content in a highly authentic manner. For the Live Nation campaign, she created content that both appeared organic to her followers while, at the same time, conveying the brand’s messaging.
  • Creativity: Gabby was able to incorporate the premise of the show she was promoting by creating her own version of the show. This allowed her community specific insight into what they can expect when attending the show.

#HASHOFF is a pioneer of micro-influencer marketing for brands of all sizes and across all industries, with more than 150,000 influencers opted into the platform worldwide. The company say their algorithms combine keywords, geography, interest and past campaign performance to identify and activate the best micro-influencers for each brand in any given moment. “By sourcing authentic influencers to create and distribute organic content on a brand’s behalf, #HASHOFF helps brands create more meaningful relationships with consumers and drive brand engagement metrics that vastly outperform those of traditional social media marketing.”

 

 

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Travel, the New Currency of Influencer Marketing

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Partnering with influencers is turning out to be a better pay-off than other traditional forms of advertising because of how emotionally invested the community of followers are.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers.

Oh the places you’ll go, and the things you’ll see. Never have Dr. Seuss’ rhymes made more sense to adults today than when you start to examine how influencer marketing has turned the travel industry upside down.

Travel writing was relegated to stuffy travel guides written by yesterday’s travel wordsmiths. Now, influencers …social media stars on all manner of platforms are striking deals with destinations, and with brands, and bringing the places they go and things they see to their dream-filled followers.

Chanel brought Stephanie Liu of Honey & Silk to Grasse, France to experience and share the making of their iconic No. 5 fragrance.

Take Tommy Lei, the Hong Kong born / LA raised photographer behind MYBELONGING for example. In the last six months, Tommy has already travelled to Iceland, Punta Cana, Mexico City, New York, London, and Morocco.

Tommy Lei, cashing in on his trip to Morocco.

Tommy partnered with sandal brand Teva on his last trip through Marrakech to the Sahara, where the goal was a ground-swell of destination specific content – Morocco is an Instagram-worthy destination right now. The program was a smashing success, whereby his branded content generated over 40% engagement from his fans, and he was able to use his talent in photography to deliver a robust package of digital content to the brand. These kinds of collaborations are becoming the new win-win for influence deals, and they will only increase in velocity.

Brands who work with influencers get to be part of aspirational journeys across the globe, capturing audiences in a very visual way. Partnering with influencers is turning out to be a better pay-off than other traditional forms of advertising because of how emotionally invested the community of followers are.

Influencers are using wanderlust apps like Sherpa to share guides with their fans, bringing their trips full circle by establishing themselves as travel experts and brand ambassadors – all rolled into one incredible package.

On the other side of the spectrum, destinations themselves are turning into the clients that want to partner and bring groups of influencers to build the buzz. As David Hoffmann, host for popular YouTube travel channel David’s Been Here, noted, “Influencer marketing has branched out beyond fashion into the travel sphere, giving audiences a taste of what it’s like to quit their jobs, travel the world and create a personal brand doing something that was once considered a far-fetched luxury. Now that millennial influencers have taken Instagram by storm, places like the Maldives and Bali have become some of the hottest destinations, triggering flight deals and affordable hotel packages like never before.”

This is a massive shift in marketing dollars for destinations, and brands are seeing the returns in the form of booked hotels, booked flights and exploding local business. Influencers make travel, that often seems like a far off luxury, real and accessible.

The shift is also changing how other related trades are checking off their own bucket lists. Photographer Champagne Victoria has gone from shooting fashion editorials around Los Angeles to spending a better part of her year across Europe and island chains, because of the global impact of influencer marketing. By bundling trips with several brands projects, Champagne has been able to fully fund these trips, allowing her creativity to expand through different settings, and giving brands – many of which don’t have the big budgets of major labels – the opportunity to be shot in desirable destinations like the islands of Greece, Iceland, St. Lucia and so on.

If you imagine yourself waking up in the south of France, exploring the flower fields of CHANEL No. 5 – well, follow Stephanie of Honey & Silk, and see the dream become a reality. If you wanted to take the best Americana road-trip of your life, say from New Orleans to Boston and back, follow Courtney of Pretty Little Fawn. Influencers + travel are creating an exciting new wave of exploration – and thankfully with so many fashion influencers involved, you’ll finally know what to really wear.

For further reading, you can dig around the content of digital influencer management firm, God & Beauty. They discuss how travel is the new currency of influence and branded content.

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