• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, December 18, 2024

Lots of brands spend ad dollars in and around creator and influencer content.  They either pay for ads to interrupt creator content, or they pay creators and influencers to talk about their brand and they do so in a way that appears authentic.  At least that’s their hope.   What does it mean to be truly authentic?

Authenticity is in the eye of the beholder.  The fact is that if a brand is paying an influencer to talk about their brand, that is not truly authentic.  That is authentically capitalistic.    If an influencer picks a brand to talk about and does so on their own, that is authentic.  If they pick a brand and reach out to them to see if they would be interested in sponsoring their content, that is an actually authentic act -- though still motivated by money.

In the case of interruptive ads, the ones that disrupt the viewing experience, there is no measure of authenticity.  That is simply targeting.  That is reaching an audience, and the ecosystem is OK with that not being “authentic.”  But what if influencers can choose which brands will interrupt their content, or run alongside the content?  If they can choose, is that not authentic?

Creators are like traditional publishers while influencers are more like spokespeople.  The system has been focused on influencers, but the balance is shifting toward creators because they create more “authentically"  They create content because they want to amass an audience, and they know that audience can be monetized in any number of ways.  The monetization of that audience can be done with their input, and in some cases, they can opt in to select the brands that will be associated with their content.

Those choices breed authenticity, although not the way some brands tend to think of it.  Brands need to rethink the definition of authenticity.  If they want to be authentic, they need to engage in more of a marketplace that allows them to offer their wares and let creators choose.  If they don’t operate in this manner, they are simply targeting.  Targeting is fine, but don’t confuse targeting with being authentic.  They satisfy two completely different objectives.

The notion of authenticity is one that will naturally change as more marketers begin to better understand the necessary balance among sponsored posts, embedded ads and interruptive ads.  The audience responds in different ways to each, and that signal is going to push an evolution in digital advertising.

The audience is blocking ads, they are paying to avoid them, and they are skipping whenever they can.  That creates a necessary opportunity for evolution.  Sponsored posts and sponsored ad reads have been but one way to handle that change, and the idea of authenticity is more about what makes sense given the context and the creator themselves, far more than whether the creators chose that brand to be their sponsor.

If you have an ad agency reaching out to creators to do ad reads, the authenticity is mixed at best.  I recommend advertisers look for ways to engage creators on their terms and let creators choose who they work with.  That creates more authenticity -- and the audience will recognize that, too.