Customer Spotlight: Havas Public Relations
This is the beginning of our new series called Customer Spotlight. Throughout the series, we’ll sit down with both new and established clients to discuss happenings in the world of Influencer Marketing.
To kick off our first round, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Lesley Sillaman, Senior Vice President, global at Havas PR — a longtime client of Activate. Some of Lesley’s clients at Havas include Transitions Optical, Sodexo and IPEMA (International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association). We’re thrilled to have both Havas and Lesley for our inaugural discussion.
BL: Hi Lesley! To start out and introduce you to our readers, can you tell us a bit about your role at Havas and the types of clients you work with?
L: My role at Havas is Sr. Vice President. I work on account strategy and media relations with the global team. In keeping with our fast-paced environment where we’re asked to think and move across multiple functions all the time, I’ve been able to build rewarding long-standing relationships with quite a few different clients — ranging widely from B2B, corporate and consumer. In fact, I’m lucky enough to have several clients that have been with me for the entire decade that I’ve been with Havas.
BL: In working in such a broad capacity, what shifts have you seen in digital client strategies over the last several years, particularly in how influencer marketing is playing a role?
L: Ten years in digital is like 100 years in any other industry! When I started working at an agency, many of our clients were focused digitally on building their websites. We helped them with copywriting, editing, strategy, etc. That quickly turned into providing social media strategy and support, both have continued over time. Now, we’re working with clients on digital strategy that takes messages directly to their key target audiences, as opposed to simply pulling them back to a website.
Influencer marketing is a very strong component of our client’s overall strategies, even with non-traditional clients. They appreciate the credibility that third-party influencers have, the authenticity of a real, trusted person. Our role is to help our clients think through the best ways to use influencers and how to start a relevant, engaging and memorable conversation that ultimately leads to the desired call to action.
BL: Can you share an example of one of these clients’ successful influencer campaigns?
L: One of the first campaigns I worked on with Activate was for a company focused on quality of life services. In particular, we were interested in working with influencers who could discuss a topic that can be difficult to wrap your head around. Our focus was to create high-caliber targeted content pieces but also build a relationship with an influencer who could attend a conference that our client was hosting. This influencer took his audience through an experience both online and offline, creating content throughout the journey. The campaign’s success was a result of our partnership that gave us access to strong, passionate, targeted influencers and a unique flexibility to work with these influencers in multiple capacities.
Another successful campaign was one we completed together for a consumer client focused on outdoor play on playgrounds. The multimedia content produced for this campaign was invaluable. The key was building a story to portray how influencers spent time together on the playground — all in their own voices. It felt authentic and real. The client was very impressed.
BL: Is there a specific way that you or your client measures the success of campaigns like these?
L: There really are a variety of ways. Reach and engagement are certainly important when we’re trying to communicate a campaign in a snapshot. It’s often about an influencer’s ability to expand and engage beyond one social channel. My clients are looking to see organic conversations start across channels. It goes without saying that clients expect exceptional influencer content. If it’s high quality and in line with their goals, that’s considered a success. (An important note: We also look at advertising value equivalency, or AVE, to help translate to our clients the bottom-line value of stories well told.)
BL: What specific attributes or expectations do you look for when working with influencers?
L: It really varies by client and need. There are times when we’re looking for a specific set of lifestyle characteristics or a targeted geography. Outside of that, I typically gravitate toward influencers who are enthusiastic, personalized and who come back to us with specific ideas. It shows that they’ve taken time to think about the content they’ll create and why they’re a good fit. True engagement and passion for the topic, rather than reach, is the most important thing to us.
BL: How have brand relationships with influencers changed in the last few years?
L: Influencers, just like agencies, have gotten sophisticated, especially as it pertains to their expertise. We’ve seen brands get very targeted about the way they use their influencers,not only with the people that they’re using but also with the channels that they’re using to amplify their message. Brand and influencer relationships have become strongly collaborative.
BL: How has the advent of new influencer technologies re-shaped the way you approach your work with influencers?
It’s made it so much easier. Once we’ve identified the best technologies to work with, like your company, we can more seamlessly share brand messaging via the right influencers and measure real-time results. As the world turns mobile, new mobile technologies will likely advance the way brands and influencers work on social campaigns.
BL: Given client needs and requests, how do you see influencers and influencer marketing evolving in the upcoming years?
L: I think both brands and influencers will hold each other to very high standards. As the influencer marketing world grows, so does competition for both. Both also have a strong desire to protect the authenticity of their voice and messaging. Sophistication to influencer and brand relationships will continue to evolve in a very symbiotic way. Further out-of-the box collaborations that build organic stories and engage the right target consumers are in store for the future.
Many thanks to Samone Wheeler for her contributions to this article.
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