Influencer Strategist and Communications Consultant - Freelance Aromatherapist and Holistic Wellness Specialist
Brand Owners and Influencers - How the recent Cross Brand ASA ruling impacts you🎤 Now everyone’s calmed down a bit about the recent ruling for Grace Beverly, regarding cross-brand online posts, I thought I would just summarise. ‘If you have a social media following, in any form, it impacts you!’ Mark has done an excellent job of summarising even further in his post below. I'm curious about the ASA's stance on other entrepreneurs with large social followings who are influential and post about their brands, brands they’ve invested in… I mean that list goes on and on and on, and many probably have a bigger ‘influence’ than Grace. To me, this indicates the ASA's guidance is not sophisticated enough for the market it aims to regulate; it's simply not keeping up with the pace. Because the ruling is about such a broad scope, we are now not just talking about influencers but about anyone promoting their business online, so this becomes massively problematic. For now let’s continue to watch this space…
Founder / Influencer Marketing Specialist - I help agencies and brands build profitable social media and influencer marketing strategies.
Ok - i've gone and brushed up on my ASA CAP Code - had a look at what the most recent language is and based on the below - anyone who ever speaks about practically anything online ever. YOU ARE AN ADVERTISER! Verbatim - from the ASA CAP Guide - What is an AD " This means that whenever you receive any sort of incentive from a brand (even if it’s not money – free products and other benefits count too, see p5), or you are directly connected to a brand e.g., you’re an owner, employee, shareholder, director or have any other commercial or personal interest (i.e. family and friends), you need to make clear in any content where you feature or refer to the brand, that it’s advertising. This is the case even when the brand doesn’t know if or what you’re creating. The same is true If you’ve received payment or any other incentive from a brand, or you are otherwise personally or commercially connected to the brand, any related content will need to make clear that it’s advertising. for content containing affiliate marketing links (see p6). The easiest way to ensure that content makes clear when it’s advertising is to include a clear and prominent ‘Ad’ label upfront before people view the rest of the content (see p7). Both you and the brand are responsible for ensuring that content is properly disclosed, and you are expected to disclose throughout any ongoing relationship and in relevant content for a period of 12 months after. " So to be clear: You own the brand - AD You work for the brand - AD You have shares in the brand - AD (What share percentage as I own the S&P 500 with the US top 500 companies - can I not speak about them?) You have a friend or a family member who own or work for the brand - AD The brand has never asked you to do anything - no creative control or payment, unlucky - AD You've left the company but mention them on social, but because you previously worked there you need to disclose you were an employee for 12 months - AD You were gifted a product 11 months ago with no obligation and happen to mention them again in the future, we don't care - AD You were actually paid to promote the brand - yeh fair enough AD This is absolutely categorically utterly fucking ridiculous. As an industry we have to do something about this because we're getting to the point where any organic mentions of products online by individuals will be treated as advertising and you'll have to prove your innocence. FYI - I work for an agency that does work for coca cola - I like coca cola. #AD #influencermarketing #asa #capcode #advertising #influencers #socialmediamarketing
