Brand Association: How Influencer Marketing Can Put Your Brand At Risk

I am a big fan of influencer marketing, it is one of the core services we provide to our clients at POP Communications. I also believe that if executed well, influencer marketing can help increase brand awareness and revenue.

In the last three years, we have witnessed an explosion of influencers in the UAE and a lot of PR professionals weren’t sure how to handle this aspect of public relations so they threw money and gifts at them. Once people found out that all you had to do was create a social media profile, buy a few followers and get on PR databases to get freebies and make a few bucks, the market exploded with thousands of social media accounts tagging themselves as #bloggers and #influencers.

For PR professionals, life as we know it will never be the same again.

There is so much to cover on this topic and I’ll hopefully write more about it in the future. However, today I would like to touch on how working with the wrong influencers can negatively affect your brand and how you can avoid this.

A few days ago, Kuwaiti beauty influencer Sondos Al Qattan posted a video discussing her intention to hire a Filipino domestic worker. She referred to the worker as a ‘Servant’ and complained about signing a contract that allowed the worker to keep his/her passport. She also wasn’t happy about giving them four days off in a month. You can read more about this on Buzzfeed. The now deleted video immediately caused a ruckus and people especially those of Filipino descent are now appealing to brands to stop working with her.

After a few minutes of research I discovered she works with brands such as Phyto, Shiseido,Bella Contacts to name a few and all of these brands are being tagged on tweets calling for them to stop associating with Sondos. I also noticed that Phyto Kuwait has turned off their instagram comment section to avoid the backlash even though as of a few hours ago Sondos was still posting about their products.

As a PR specialist, I find Phyto Kuwait’s decision to turn off their comment section and block consumer feedback alarming. They definitely need to re-evaluate their marketing team and make some changes. Also personally, I will now forever associate Phyto with Sondos and never buy their products. I will also discourage my network from spending with them.

This is what Phyto Kuwait should have done;

• Immediately terminated their contract with Sondos Al Qattan
• Send out a press release distancing their brand from her and informing existing and potential consumers that they don’t share her views
• Posted a statement on their social media account to say they have cut ties with Sondos
• Turned on their comment section and individually respond to every comment assuring them that actions are being taken to distance themselves from Sondos and that they don’t share her views.
• Created a campaign that benefitted domestic workers

So how do you protect your brand from negative brand associations and ensure that your influencer marketing efforts don’t backfire on you? I have listed out a few actions that can be taken below, these usually applies to paid, high value or long term influencer partnerships.

• Research : Extensively research influencers during your selection processes. Check their tweets, instagram comment sections, facebook pages they like, things they’ve been tagged in. These usually reveal a lot about their values and associations.
• Interview: Once you’ve shortlisted influencers, have a phone or in person chat with them. Tell them about your brand values and see if they share the same values.
• Contract: Have a code of conduct clause that outlines expected behavior for the duration of the partnership. This makes it easier to terminate the contract when the influencer is involved in a scandal that goes against your brand value.