Why Brands Need to Allow Influencers to be the Creative Director

If publishers are being briefed like creative agencies, why not act like one? In 2016, The New York Times acquired social influencer agency, HelloSociety, and an experiential design agency, Fake Love, with the vision of expanding its creative capabilities to do groundbreaking work on and off The New York Times properties.

Likes, followers, subscribers, cross-platform, and overall, an entirely different way for brands to get their messages and products into the hands and eyeballs of consumers. Influencer marketing is still relatively new, yet its impact can be incredible for organizations.

At #SMWNYC, Kyla Brennan (Founder of HelloSociety) discussed the future of influencer marketing and brands, how their work fits into the next era of advertising, and why brands need to allow influencers creative control when working on campaigns together.

Further analysis and commentary from this #SMWNYC talk

“Let influencers take charge of the content they’re creating.” – @kyla_brennan #SMWPublishing #SMWNYC

— Risa Xu (@RisaXu) March 1, 2017

'You can't just use influencers for their audience' – @kyla_brennan at #SMWNYC #smwpublishing pic.twitter.com/khyEbhkopg

— Brooke (@brookedevard) March 1, 2017

Influencers were seen as distributors. Now we see them as creators and distribution is secondary. – @kyla_brennan #SMWNYC

— Patrick Kwan (@PatrickKwan) March 1, 2017

.@Hello_Society influencers' preferred platforms incl. Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook – especially "Live." @kyla_brennan #SMWNYC

— SMW New York (@smwnyc) March 1, 2017

Focus point today: "The idea should include #data informed, #creative and #distribution." @SebTomich from @nytimes #SMWNYC #SMWpublishing

— Zoe Kahn (@zoehkahn) March 1, 2017

"The ad business as we knew it is over." – @SebTomich #smwpublishing #smwnyc pic.twitter.com/3bMwiVxMMh

— Risa Xu (@RisaXu) March 1, 2017

@SebTomich > News business quickly becoming relationship business. Journos connect w/readers now more than ever #SMWNYC #smwpublishing

— Melinda Woods (@womel) March 1, 2017

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