Rick Guttridge is CEO of Smoking Gun, a leading Manchester PR and social media agency which just produced a free influencer marketing download, ‘Out of the Fyre, Into the Future: The New Influencer Marketing Age’. With so many questions around the real influence of the contestants, is it really worth brands engaging them?
Exponential follower growth, lucrative influencer deals and burgeoning celebrity status. For the contestants involved in ITV’s flagship reality show Love Island, taking part is about much more than finding The One. But things may not be quite as they seem, and brands intent on harnessing this ‘talent’ should think twice.
With the series final wrapping up on Monday night – and Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea crowned overall winners – brands are now ready to pounce on the newly famous faces in the hope of getting them flogging wares.
But, friendly Marketing Director, before you begin negotiations, pray think twice and look back on the highs and lows of the last two months. And no aspect of the TV phenomenon warrants investigation more than the social media claims of these heartbroken and infatuated hopefuls.
On the face of it, the statistics are so impressive it’s enough to make you fall head over heels for these newfound public personalities and the potential reach they could offer. Molly-Mae Hague, for example, grew her Instagram followers by 1 million in just 28 days running up to the grand finale, finishing with 2.3 million.
Numbers like that can leverage significant income for those behind the profiles, if they align with relevant brands.
