The Remarkables Group (TRG) has repositioned itself as an influencer agency, moving away from its origin as a blogger talent agency.
The company, which started in 2012, will now ramp up its presence in the competitive influencer market.
Earlier this year TRG split its business into two offerings, being influencer connections and the traditional blogger side of the group. Now, founder Lorraine Murphy has chosen to drop the representation model to ensure transparency for her current and future clients.
Murphy says in an open letter: “We have explored various scenarios that could allow us to provide this strategic offer to brands while also continuing to represent the influencers we have built such strong relationships with. Ultimately, we realised that in order to provide unbiased advice, we need to be unbiased.
“We believe that transparency is important in every area of media and publishing, however that need is even more vital in areas that are growing as rapidly as influencer marketing is in Australia right now. With any fast-evolving space comes the potential for confusion and even misleading information."
With the influencer industry booming, Murphy admits that a new business model was called for to serve the changing needs of brands.
“In the four and a half years since we launched, the influencer space has evolved and matured significantly, with marketers now having a far greater understanding of the power of influencer marketing. To meet this need many new players have since entered the market offering various solutions.”
TRG secured six new influencers this year, including media personality Deborah Hutton and the I Quit Sugar team. It is working with its influencers and bloggers to find them the right representation for 2017.
The company works with clients including Woolworths, Qantas, Toyota, Bupa, L’Oreal, Nestle, Nissan, Origin, Priceline and Schwarzkopf. It hopes to continue these brand relationships.
Murphy has previously been vocal on the “pain points” of influencer marketing, expressing frustration with industry measurement benchmarks.
“There is no consistent measure for what constitutes a successful campaign and what constitutes a disastrous one,” she says.
With TRG delving deeper into the market, it is promising to go beyond traditionally accepted statistics.
TRG will continue to operate its talent competition Rising Social Star and its pet agency, Remarkables Pets.
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