Havas to 'lead influencer transparency' with new venture

Lindsay Bennett
By Lindsay Bennett | 14 December 2016
 
Taryn Williams and James Wright

Havas Australia is hoping to lead transparency across influencer marketing, teaming up with online talent marketplace platform The Right Fit.

The Right Fit currently boasts 6000 influencers, including models, actors, photographers, makeup artist, stylist and more. It was launched in February by Wink models founder Taryn Williams, directly connecting talent with brands and clients.

James Wright, chief operating officer of Havas and CEO of its PR firm Red Agency, tells AdNews he sees influencers as effective media channels if used correctly.

“There has been a lot of poor practice in influencer marketing, with people paying influencers 2000 for one Instagram post. That’s not a smart use of cash,” he says.

“We want to lead the conversation on transparency, effectiveness and best practice with influencers. Someone’s got to do it and we’ve been leading social marketing for some time – this is the next evolution of that.

“Not everyone is doing it well and we know we can do it better.”

Transparency in influencer marketing has been a pain point for the industry, particularly this year with disclosure on social media coming into question.

Wright says a huge focus of Havas’ latest venture with The Right Fit will be to ensure the correct influencer is paired with a brand in an authentic way and contributes to a longer-term strategy.

“As soon as an influence supports a brand that doesn’t fit, they are eroding their own person brand. There’s responsibility on all sides to be authentic, from the agency, the brand and the influencer themselves,” he says.

In the coming months, Havas Group and The Right Fit will be launching a series of initiatives designed to "disrupt" the influencer marketing space. The focus will be on bringing the science behind influencer marketing to life so clients can truly understand the return on investment.

The move follows Havas signalling its intention to support and invest in emerging businesses as part of its new Havas Ventures offering, announced in September.

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