Greetings from LHC HQ, where our recent off-site to The Overlook Bar has us believing in magic again. Like real, actual magic. It was sick — you should go.
But enough about us and onto the #content that you’ve been craving...
Closing the Deal (the Steal of the Century)
It brings us no pleasure to report that the demise of the influencer appears to have been greatly exaggerated.
It wasn't all that long ago when outlets like Inc. were pronouncing the death of skincare-shilling, ring-light illuminated social media stars making that marketing dollar.
And earlier this year, a study "found that 87% of consumers believe it’s likely that influencers don’t even use the products they advertise, and 4 out of 5 consumers who have purchased something based on an influencer recommendation have had some sort of negative experience with the product."
Turns out, however, that it's still possible to create a shopping frenzy via some well-planned influence hustling.
Ahead of the release of Sally Rooney's much anticipated new novel Intermezzo, her publishers at Farrar, Straus and Giroux didn't go the traditional route, distributing advance review copies to all and sundry several months before the book becomes available to the proles.
Instead, FSG generated buzz for "the Salinger of the Snapchat generation" (ugh…) by turning to our old friends, the influencers. MSNBC reports:
Just 2,500 copies of “Intermezzo” … were reportedly sent to journalists, critics, influencers, booksellers — and celebrities. Each galley was named and numbered. The result was sudden, dramatic and frenzied. Sarah Jessica Parker was photographed reading an advanced copy in July on the set of “And Just Like That.” My social media pages were plastered with photos of “Intermezzo” resting aesthetically next to an Aperol Spritz on a wrought iron table, or strategically covering the face of a bikini-clad lit-fluencer reading on a high-pile beach towel. Everyone wanted a copy. “Intermezzo” had become a status symbol.
But if you're consumed with a fundamental contempt for influencers and all they represent, don't worry -- it turns out AI is going to steal their jobs as well. Just two weeks back, Meta "presented a live demo of a creator-based AI persona, which looked like the creator, talked like the creator, and tried to respond to questions like the creator would," per The Verge. So it's only a matter of time before an AI-generated Charli D'Amelio appears on your Instagram feed spouting disinformation about the links between chemtrails, hurricane season, and the Bavarian Illuminati.
And let's not forget about the continuing growth of "virtual influencers", who "could potentially save brands and retailers millions of dollars otherwise spent on human influencers," RetailDive reports, even going so far as to tout the fact that the digital creations are unlikely to unionize.
Of course, LHC isn't above dabbling in the dark arts of influencer marketing now and then, in addition to our wealth of best-in-class creative offerings. Want to learn more? Get in touch.
Recent work
Here at LHC, we're all about that #content, but of course, we begrudgingly accept that our team has interests outside of the office. To highlight some of the amazing extracurricular work they're doing, we created an old-school zine to show off the many talents we've got to display.
