Unusual cases with brand ambassadors in Russia and abroad

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Western companies and American manufacturers began using ambassadors about ten years ago. During this time, the approach to the ambassador's personality has changed, and today experiments are popular, including with bloggers.

An unconventional choice of fashion blogger for the role of ambassador

Not long ago, the sports and travel direct moving leads email list clothing brand Academy Sports and Outdoors chose blogger Anna O'Brien, who weighs 150 kg, as its representative. There is no contradiction here: Anna represents clothes for plus size women from the BCG Plus line.

A video was recorded with the girl's participation, in which Anna, unexpectedly for her build, demonstrated the ease and plasticity of her dance movements. And she dances, of course, in Academy Sports and Outdoors clothes. The link to the brand's account is in the description of the video publication with a reach of 345,000 subscribers. Anna is followed by women with non-standard sizes who appreciate the girl's ironic attitude to weight and her relaxedness. Therefore, this method of popularizing the brand turned out to be unusual, but at the same time effective.

The company does not talk about the results of working with Anna, but it is clear that the cooperation was successful. The choice of ambassador was correct, the hit to the target audience is 100%, the advertising method is very natural.

O'Brien herself holds the same point of view as the brand she represents. Their goals coincide, so Anna's behavior looks organic. Everything is presented as if the blogger is promoting her own position and mentioning the brand in connection with it, but in no way advertising it.

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Anna says that she has been waiting for 25 years to be active and will spend the next 25 years helping people of all sizes, demonstrating to them the effectiveness of an active lifestyle and movement. This is her mission, which coincides with the mission of the Academy Sports and Outdoors line of special plus-size clothing, to help larger people become more active.

How to use a blogger's creativity not only in social networks

Brooks Brothers is a men's clothing brand from the USA. The company's representatives approached the promotion of the brand in an unconventional way. They collaborated with the famous Instagram* blogger Mike Mellia. He became famous for his looped videos, which can be called gifs. The video shows one element in motion, on which the gaze is fixed. For example, a book is flipping through, a tennis racket is spinning, etc. Such videos look good on large digital boards, and Brooks Brothers decided to use them to promote the brand.

How to use a blogger's creativity not only in social networks

Source: fizkes / shutterstock.com

A video from Mellia was posted on a board in New York, in which the blogger strokes a sheep dressed in a Brooks Brothers jumper. The sheep acts as a symbol of the brand. Consumers associate it with softness, warmth and comfort. The same emotions should arise in customers from using the brand's wool products. The company deliberately chose a blogger with three thousand subscribers (this is not so many) as its ambassador, most of whom are the target audience of Brooks Brothers, including by geographic location. That is, Mike Mellia's positioning suited the brand perfectly, plus an offline advertising campaign on displays in New York helped expand the reach. The goals of cooperation with the ambassador were achieved: brand recognition increased, the reach of the target audience expanded. Brooks Brothers was more than satisfied with the results.

The campaign's success was largely due to its unusual approach, well-thought-out advertising image and accompanying promotion channels.

Mike Mellia himself expressed the opinion that the positive effect of the advertising campaign lies in surrealism and eccentricity. The director's idea was to mix Mike's unconventional image with the styles of John Kennedy and Steve McQueen.

Virtual Influencers

Today, virtual influencers are gaining momentum - holograms, 3D models, vocaloids (special software), that is, a character with some kind of story, biography, account on social networks.

Miquela Sousa, or Lilmiquela, is the first and most famous virtual influencer.

The persona is entirely virtual, according to legend, she is 19 years old. In her feed, you can see fashionable looks, for example, from Vans, Chanel and other famous brands. Every day she posts new images, many photos with real stars, pictures from various parties. The creator of the account is unknown, as is the person promoting it.

Influencers from the virtual world are used in the fashion industry. For example, the Final Fantasy character Lightning with pink hair was used in an advertising campaign for Louis Vuitton bags in 2016.

The reasons for the demand for a virtual character are the following:

it represents innovation in technology, a new trend - this is how the company shows that it is in line with the latest trends, follows them and uses them;

a virtual personality does not make mistakes - so the brand does not depend on the character, mood and qualities of the human ambassador.

The downside is the impossibility of receiving "live" feedback from real people who make up the brand's audience, especially if they are middle-aged and older. Plus, a whole team works to develop and support the virtual character.

Advertising campaigns with an unconventional and innovative approach are extremely rare in Russia. Apparently, this is still a high level, although unexpected and creative solutions are also found in Russian realities.