Véronique Pican (IAB France): “It is by exchanging all together that we will achieve a normalization of the Influence Marketing market”

Is the lack of infrastructure for Influence Marketing an obstacle to the growth and development of this new lever?

Veronique Pican: The development of influencer marketing has been exponential over the last ten years because platforms have multiplied (and therefore the number of entries), because the targets have expanded from “business to consumer” to “business to business”, but also because the relationship between brands and influencers has become sophisticated and professionalized.

We found that the actors in this ecosystem do not use the same vocabulary, or the same indicators of success for a campaign, which makes things difficult for marketers to read. And as after any adolescent period, we naturally return to a universe that is organized and structured. And that's a good thing for its good development.

Like many digital levers, influencer marketing intervenes both on branding issues (visibility, community engagement, etc.) but also at the end of the consumer journey directly linked to recommendation and purchase (therefore to performance). That is why it is now necessary to Sharing good practices at the same time, but also to identify and formalize KPI's between all the actors in the value chain and finally to harmonize them.

It's exactly The mission of the IAB France which seeks, through tools, pedagogy, sometimes standards, to make the market understandable and to facilitate uses for all of its audiences: advertisers, agencies, measurers and technologies. The objective is therefore to share good practices, clear definitions of what influence is and the actors who compose it (who does what?) as well as common references on which the market can rely to measure performance.

It seems obvious that the absence of current infrastructures and the delay of the necessary standardization until now would be an obstacle to the future development of this lever.

Would you say that it is imperative to standardize this growing market?

Veronique Pican: Yes, and this need for standardization is, as is often the case in digital technology, a global issue. The acceleration of the number of platforms is obviously a good thing because it leaves the choice to brands but also to influencers, but on the contrary, they impose their indicators.

It is therefore naturally necessary to have an “arbitrator” or a trusted third party. As well as the multiplication of technologies and intermediaries (new agencies dedicated to a social platform or several with specific tools and monitoring) makes sense in a booming market.

On the other hand, the influence is very local (production of specific content, typology of muses and emotional sources, etc.) and even if our referents are increasingly global. Like legal framework systems, which are also subject to territoriality: identification of advertising, prohibition of deceptive commercial practices, editor/host status, the subject is multifaceted. THE ARPP In fact, was groundbreaking in publishing an influencer marketing observatory.

How does the creation of an IAB TaskForce dedicated to Influence Marketing support the growth of this market?

Veronique Pican: In this Task Force, we have brought together a multitude of actors in a logic of representativeness of the sector with publisher platforms (RS), media and communication agencies, marketing influence agencies, activation platforms and technological solutions.

It is by exchanging ideas together and with brands that we will be able to define a common framework and a harmonized measure of performance (quantitative but also qualitative) and that we will end up with a standardization of the Influence Marketing market.

In your opinion, what are the prospects for the evolution of Influence Marketing?

Veronique Pican: Influence Marketing is only in its infancy! New advertising formats and new technologies such as AR/VR (augmented reality and virtual reality) are becoming used on publisher platforms that offer even more possibilities and consumer experiences.

So these are all opportunities for brands and influencers. Getting in touch with consumers in a different way (discovery, immersion, gaming, shopping,...) remains a very attractive and creative subject.