Influencer marketing has been taking the marketing world by storm. One of the most effective marketing strategies of today, influencer marketing has proven over and over again to be highly efficient at promoting brand awareness, connecting brands with their target audiences, and driving sales. As a result, brands have reportedly allocated approximately 35% of their marketing budget to these powerful and engaging content creators.

Influencer marketing owes its ever-growing popularity to the continuous global increase in social media usage as a form of communication and source of information. Data from the Adweek-Morning Consult Study revealed that the total number of social media users has skyrocketed to 500 million in 2021. The data suggested that influencer marketing will continue to gain momentum and has yet to reach its full potential. Furthermore, in-depth research on consumer behavior conducted by Mediakix reported that 87% of consumers arrive at purchase decisions based on information provided by an influencer’s engaging content.

Its impressive results and promising potential in creating brand awareness, building brand-consumer relationships, and driving sales have made influencer marketing one of the hottest marketing strategies in the tech-driven world. Therefore, it came as no surprise that an increasing number of brands, from clothing to sports equipment, tech gadgets, and even big brands, have been transitioning their strategies and investing a significant portion of their budget into influencer marketing over the past few years.

In this blog entry, Tellscore takes a deeper look into how some of the world’s biggest brands skillfully utilize influencer marketing strategies to drive sales and reach their target audiences with awe-inspiring results.

Pepsi

Let us start with the beverage giant, Pepsi. The world's biggest manufacturer of the household staple drink utilized influencer marketing to increase the sales of its special edition designed and adorned with adorable emojis. Targeting Gen Z's and Millenials, the campaign promoted the use of the hashtags #SayItWithPepsi and #PepsiMoji!

As both generations have a strong online presence, the brand astutely utilized influencer marketing strategies as a pivotal part of the campaign, recruiting influencers to present #PepsiMoji by creating more than 200 unique and exciting new content such as photo posts, short video clips, and blog content.

The brand then selected 40 influencers with the best and most engaging content from a pool of over 200 candidates to reshare their works. The campaign was a resounding online success, garnering an astounding 46 million impressions.

Dunkin’ Donuts

Every first Monday of June, the United States celebrates National Donut Day to commemorate the members of Chicago's Salvation Army that started the tradition of serving donuts to soldiers fighting in World War I from 1914 to 1918.

Last year, the famous donut brand Dunkin’ Donuts celebrated the #NationalDonutDay by collaborating with studios, influencers, and popular content creators on the Snapchat platform. Concurrently, the brand launched a special promotion for purchases made at all Dunkin' Donut shops nationwide to boost the awareness of the campaign.

The world's largest donut chain saw a 10x increase in the number of its Snapchat followers during its one-day campaign –a number that would typically take months to achieve. In addition, the campaign was able to reach 3 million potential customers across the United States, generating an astronomical amount in sales revenue for this all-American donut brand.

Häagen-Dazs

Despite its four seasons, global warming has ensured that the U.S. summers get longer and hot days get hotter every year. Yes, this may mean an extended period to enjoy the ray of sunshine and more opportunities to visit the beach. Nothing, however, feels quite as decadent as luxurious ice cream on a hot summer's day.

To fight the heat and boost the sales of its products during the summer, the season of ice creams, Häagen-Dazs launched a promotional Buy One Get One (BOGO) campaign. With the theme "Häagen-Dazs Open Container," the luxurious yet affordable ice cream brand collaborated with influencers to create and share real-time content that appealed to the lifestyle of New Yorkers, from rooftop parties to a stroll through the park.

Following the initial release of influencer content, Häagen-Dazs narrowed the scope of its target demographics based on postcodes to curate the details of the BOGO deals for each Häagen-Dazs shop located in various postcodes.

The brand’s decision to share influencer content through multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, maximized the awareness of the campaign to 14.3 million impressions from online users across the United States.

Peugeot

From 2018 to 2019, the internationally acclaimed French automobile company Peugeot launched an influencer marketing campaign Unboring the Future, as part of its marketing plan to shift the perception of its target audience (aged 18-24 in particular) and refine its image into a modern, futuristic, and tech-driven automobile brand.

Peugeot achieved the set objective by unveiling its concept cars befitting its new brand image at Brussels Motor Show 2018. Riding on the momentum of the unveiling, the French automobile brand collaborated with macro-influencers and micro-influencers with various follower bases and demographics to act as amplifiers in the online landscape. In this campaign, macro-influencers were employed to create quality content, while micro-influencers were tasked with sharing with their followers their product experiences and promoting call-to-action (CTA) through rewards or giveaways on their social media accounts.

The integration of influencer marketing strategies allowed Peugeot to connect with a significantly higher number of its target audience than could traditional marketing strategies. Through the collaboration with macro-influencers and micro-influencers, the automobile brand managed to engage with up to 12.99% of social media followers –a significantly higher engagement rate than the market's average.

Adidas

Adidas is among the first global brands to adopt influencer marketing in its campaigns to promote its products. Dominating the influencer marketing scene, particularly on the Instagram platform, the world's leading sportswear and apparel brand collaborated heavily with Instagram influencers to connect with the brand's target group. Adidas's influencer marketing campaigns are renowned for their effectiveness in reaching the younger generations of potential customers and have remained one of the most successful influencer marketing cases.

Adidas collaborated with world-famous celebrities from various industries, from American singer Selena Gomez to British model Naomi Campbell, soccer player Lionel Messi, and many more. Their fame and celebrity status lends Adidas a reputation that extends beyond the sports industry, gaining the brand an enormous number of followers.

Furthermore, Adidas has not limited its influencer marketing strategies to celebrities alone. The sportswear brand has also collaborated with micro-influencers, Instagram influencers, and bloggers to boost brand awareness and expand its customer base. Micro-influencers, in particular, is important in creating awareness of the brand's new products.

One key factor to Adidas's success in the influencer marketing arena has been its continuous collaboration with influencers to create always-on content, with or without the presence of a new product. As a result, the consistent investment in influencer marketing has garnered Adidas tremendous brand awareness.

Dior

Christian Dior (commonly known as Dior) is a French fashion house that offers a wide range of luxury products, from clothing and accessories to fragrances and cosmetics. The global company is another brand that has entered the influencer marketing arena with a promotional campaign for its new product, Dior Forever foundation.

As Dior Forever foundation was available in 67 shades, Dior collaborated with 67 influencers from different countries and ethnicities, including but not limited to the USA, UK, Germany, Canada, Spain, China, South Africa, and Malaysia, as well as Thailand. The influencers were tasked with creating content that share their experiences with the product as part of the 67-day campaign.

According to the brand’s marketing agency, Dior celebrated the campaign’s success with the 67 influencers generating approximately 2.66 million audience reach and 600k engagements. Additionally, the luxury fashion house has gained a portfolio of creative content that can be utilized as shoppable posts to drive sales further.

The six of the most prominent examples of big brands and their strategies in utilizing influencer marketing to launch impactful campaigns showcased the versatility and the power of influencer marketing in the digital era. From edible products to fashion, clothing, sports equipment, cars, and even luxury products, influencer marketing is a comprehensive marketing strategy applicable to businesses of every industry.

Tellscore, Southeast Asia's leading influencer marketing automation platform, and its team of experts are ready to help brands and marketers leverage influencer marketing to promote brand awareness, brand recognition, or drive sales. For more information, visit https://th.tellscore.com/en or call us at 02 160 5020.

Want to learn more about successful influencer marketing case studies of brands in Thailand? Visit https://th.tellscore.com/en/CaseStudy.

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Case Study: How Top Brands Use Influencer Marketing Strategies to Increase Brand Awareness and Drive Sales