OUGD601 - Practical / Campaign - Research

Generating more focused research into this field of marketing I looked examples of how this strategy has been utilised by brands to position bloggers as brand ambassadors to increase its popularity with a target audience. A study by Universal McCann reports more than three quarters of internet users now read blogs, with 900,000 blog posts going live daily in 81 languages. A brand ambassador is simply defined as  person appointed by an organisation to positively represent its identity: raising awareness, increasing sales and driving traffic. Initially these brand ambassadors were celebrities and other high-profile individuals however in todays society shifting to a millennial audience brands what 'real' people to represent their brand creating user generated content and using their social influence to increase the brand awareness 

One of the most successful examples of blogging becoming profitable is Teen vlogger Zoe Sugg who created her beauty and fashion blog 'zoella' in 2009. In 2016 she has gained more than 10 million subscribers and has a vlog view count of over 700 million views. As well as promoting several brands within her vlog this mass following has lead her to individual opportunities such as a two-book deal with Penguin in 2014 of which her novel 'Girl Online' achieved the ‘highest first-week sales for a debut book’ other opportunities include a beauty range launched exclusively for super drug also achieving high volumes of success.  This suggests the impact bloggers can have on product success through their communication with their audience. Another notable example of how bloggers directly influence a products success is the  Chloé Valentines Day fragrance campaign. This was an online campaign featuring sponsored placements with top fashion bloggers to promote the product in the run up to Valentines Day. As seen below the result of the campaign succeed with generating favorable audience sentiment, as well as generating significant audience engagement converting blog traffic into brand awareness, proving the success of influencer marketing within the millennial demographic. 

Chloé case study data