Brands That Got Influencer Marketing Right in 2014

GE’s moon boots

The words “influencer marketing” became buzzwords this year, with new marketplaces and efforts to connect with consumers through influential social media personalities.

As new influencers began to surface on YouTube and new marketplaces promised to connect brands with influencers on burgeoning networks like Instagram and Vine, the truth was that most brands weren’t sure how to identify the right influencers. Still, despite the challenges, there were a few brands that got it right.

Perhaps one of the most memorable examples is the Oscar selfie, taken by Ellen DeGeneres using a Samsung phone. It didn’t matter than DeGeneres was tweeting from her iPhone backstage, the Samsung-commissioned selfie blew up Twitter with more than one million retweets and became the most retweeted tweet ever.

GE was another company that seemed to really understand the power of the influencer. For the 45th anniversary of the lunar landing, the company teamed up with JackThreads and Android Homme to create a limited edition sneaker based on the boots worn by astronauts. GE also enlisted American hero Buzz Aldrin for the unveiling on Snapchat.

When GE launched its pop-up #emojiscience lab, it teamed up with Bill Nye “The Science Guy” for the commercial and to help with the experiments. Again, GE took to Snapchat, where users were encouraged to send an emoji to the General Electric profile and get #emojiscience video experiments in return. Bill Nye also took the opportunity to explain evolution using emojis. The campaign itself is a super smart experiment that makes science accessible and fun.

Spotify wanted to pay homage both to the love of music and to the customers who powered its growth. What better way than to engage advocates and influencers alike for a #ThatSongWhen campaign about music that impacted their lives. Perhaps one of the best parts of the campaign was that it was crowdsourced. However, Spotify did team up with influencers like photographer, musician and creative director Dan Rubin, who shared about how the discovery of Massive Attack changed his taste in music forever.

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