Agency giant Publicis Groupe has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire influencer marketing company Influential. What’s most notable about the deal however is its price tag. Publicis will drop $500 million on the deal, which signals confidence in the influencer economy.
As for Influential’s vitals, it runs a network of 3.5 million+ creators and influencers, 90 percent of which have more than 1 million followers. Like its new parent, it runs an agency model, with 300 brands on its client list. It connects these brands with its influencer network to deliver them socially-fueled exposure.
Publicis meanwhile plans to integrate Influential’s platform with its own Epsilon Unit. The latter is a martech engine that connects its clients with the best avenues to reach target audiences. In that light, Influential’s platform, along with all those influencers, is hoped to amplify Publicis’ network effect.
Confidence Signal
Panning back from the deal’s particulars, the macro takeaway is the confidence it signals in the influencer economy, as noted. In fact, Publicis reports that about half of all consumers make purchases based on influencer marketing, while social media spending will reach $186 billion in 2025.
Tracing this back to Localogy’s bread and butter – local commerce – the influencer economy lives there as well. Hummingbirds is one company that has tapped into this convergence of local relevance and influencer marketing, with the thought that people in your community are more trustworthy influencers.
Hummingbirds co-founder & CEO Emily Steele broke down this opportunity on stage at our L24 conference and likewise has opinions on this week’s Publicis acquisition. She tells Localogy Insider that the deal validates the efficacy and growing impact of influencer marketing and the creator economy.
“The Influential acquisition is a positive signal to the creator economy and everyone within it,” she said. “It’s undeniable we turn to our favorite people (be it influencers or friends) on social to discover and influence our everyday behavior. The acquisition continues to reinforce the question that once was: “Are you doing influencer marketing” to “How much are you spending on influencer marketing” – a direction all of us in the creator space are seeing and feeling tremendously right now.”
Inherent Trust
Sticking with the concept of local relevance and authority, influencer marketing’s potency grows when a given influencer is someone from your community. In fact, local influencers’ credibility is boosted by their community orientation, as opposed to the relatively impersonal vibes of celebrity-based influencers.
This engenders a key factor in influencer marketing: trust. There’s an inherent trust in the community, tied to the same geographically-oriented loyalties we all have – from the high school football team to camaraderie around shopping at the same grocery store. It’s all about tapping into shared associations.
“As we continue to see brands racing to influencer networks, the biggest risk ahead is overlooking the most important factor: trust,” said Steele. “Acquiring reach is easy; building genuine connections that resonate with consumers on a personal level is where the real challenge lies.”
Back to Publicis, we may be seeing a trend. Its deal comes days after Stagwell announced it will acquire influencer marketing agency Leaders. Meanwhile, Publicis is on a roll, coming off strong Q2 earnings where organic growth increased 5.6 percent year over year and net revenue reached $3.8 billion.
