奢侈品與“網紅”營銷
At Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport in early 2017, waiting to board his flight back to Paris, Olivier Billon noted a forty-something man beside him wearing an expensive Panerai watch and asked how he got to know the brand. The answer surprised him: Instagram. But it also filled him with pride: Mr Billon is a pioneer of influencer marketing — where brands engage those with millions of followers on social media, whether with experiences, gifts or money, to promote their goods.
Mr Billon, fresh out of elite French university Sciences Po, worked on early influencer campaigns first for cosmetics company L’Oréal and then through his consultancy Ykone, founded in 2009 when he was 24. He was convinced, he says, that his friend Betty Autier’s blog — with 400,000 views a month when Mr Billon started his business — “could be of great interest for brands”.
比朗從精英雲集的法國政治學院(Sciences Po)畢業後，最初是爲化妝品巨擎歐萊雅( L’Oréal)工作，而後通過自創的諮詢公司Ykone（2009年自己24歲那年創建）從事網紅早期營銷宣傳造勢活動。他說自己堅信密友Betty Autier的博客（比朗創業伊始，該博客每月點擊量高達40萬）“會讓各大時尚品牌展露濃厚興趣”。With his choirboy-like manners, Mr Billon advises companies how to create and maintain an engaging presence on social media, from events and product launches designed to be worth sharing — with mandatory hashtags and branded photo opportunities — to ad hoc activities for influencers. His first clients were L’Oréal Professionnel, Chanel couture and Dior couture. “My first project within the watch and jewellery industry was for the launch of the Dior VIII watch in 2011,” he says. For that, he orchestrated “a two-day experience and presentation of the watch for a group of international influencers in Paris” on behalf of the brand.
無論從具體活動以及值得共享的產品推介（強制性主題標籤和帶有品牌標識的曬照）、還是專爲網紅舉辦的專門活動，比朗以真誠的態度給各家時尚公司支招如何成爲與維繫社交媒體的寵兒。他的首批客戶就包括了歐萊雅染護髮公司(L’Oréal Professionnel)、香奈兒(Chanel)時裝與迪奧(Dior) 時裝等重量級公司。“我在腕錶及首飾行業的首個項目是爲2011年推介迪奧Dior VIII腕錶。”他說。爲此，他代表迪奧公司精心策劃了“爲巴黎一些國際知名網紅舉辦了爲期兩天的親身體驗活動與介紹會。”
Influencer marketing was then becoming relevant to the industry as a more mature — and wealthier — audience took to social media; at the same time, luxury goods companies introduced more accessible product categories for younger users. It is now, according to Mediakix, an “influencer marketing agency”, a $1bn market.
越發成熟與闊綽的消費者癡迷上社交媒體後，網紅營銷逐漸與時尚界合爲一體；與此同時，奢侈品公司也爲年輕一代消費者提供更爲價廉物美的各式產品。據網紅營銷能力諮詢機構Mediakix統計，如今每年的網紅營銷額達10億美元。“When I started it was all about the blogs. Now it’s all a different story with Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram,” says Mr Billon. Instagram is a community of 800m people sharing and liking each other’s photos, and 75 per cent of Instagram’s users said they had been inspired by a post to take actions such as visiting a website or buying something online, according to a 2015 survey. “Instagram has brought transparency. It is easy to assess the size and quality of the influence by checking the numbers and identities of the influencers’ followers,” he says.
“本人初創伊始，社交媒體僅是各式博客。如今隨着Snapchat、YouTube以及Instagram等社交媒體異軍突起，整個格局發生了天翻地覆的變化。”比朗說。Instagram如今擁有8億用戶，粉絲們彼此分享與點贊各自上傳的照片；而2015年的一項調查表明：75%的Instagram用戶說自己正是受啓發於某個曬照纔去遊覽相關網站或是成爲剁手黨一員。“Instagram讓一切成功實現了透明化。通過研究網紅擁有的粉絲羣及其具體身份，我們就很容易評估出網紅影響力的廣度與深度。”他說。Outside his office, it is Paris Couture Week and influencers — with their Instagram-ready outfits and sponsored luxury goods — abound.
而在比朗的辦公室外，巴黎時裝週(Paris Couture Week)正在火熱進行，身穿Instagram曬照行頭以及奢侈品公司贊助配飾的各式網紅隨處可見。The rise of influencers is linked with fundamental changes in the economics of the luxury sector and the technology of the wider world. A 2017 study by consultants Bain indicated that millennials already make up 30 per cent of luxury consumers. At the same time, dressing down — signalled by increased spending on luxury casualwear — has gone up.
網紅的崛起與奢侈品產業經濟學的質變以及其它行業科技的突飛猛進發展息息相關。貝恩諮詢公司(Bain)2017年的研究報告表明：千禧年後出生的一代人已佔據奢侈品消費總人數的30%。與此同時，休閒風越刮越盛，其標誌就是消費者花在奢侈休閒裝束的費用與日俱增。Luxury companies’ investments in influencer marketing have also been prompted by the growing popularity of ad blocking software, nullifying their spending on digital adverts. There are 615m devices which have ad blocking software, according to PageFair, a tech business, which says it serves “unblockable” ads.
奢侈品公司在網紅營銷方面大把燒錢，廣告攔截軟件大行其道也是重要推手，因爲此舉可讓各大時尚公司的網絡付費廣告白白忙活。據高科技公司PageFair統計：目前全球有6.15億臺電腦安裝了廣告攔截軟件，而PageFair自詡提供反攔截廣告服務。Alongside this, companies began to conceive of advertising as an enjoyable experience rather than an interruption. Paid posts on blogs were the first to do this, and such “native content” has spread to magazines and newspapers. A study conducted by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association — whose members are media agencies and global companies — found that word of mouth, even digital, can drive sales anywhere from five to 200 times more than paid advertising.
此外，各家公司如今開始認爲廣告宣傳是愉悅體驗而非消極障礙。博客上的付費帖子就是首批餞行者，這樣的“原汁原味內容”如今已拓展至報刊雜誌。口碑營銷協會(The Word of Mouth Marketing Association)的研究表明：相比付費廣告，口碑（即網絡上的口碑）能讓產品銷售額飈升5-200倍。口碑營銷協會的會員都是媒體機構與國際大公司。“The young generation is an important market because it is a big market and it is the market of tomorrow,” says Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive of TAG Heuer and president of luxury conglomerate LVMH’s watch division. Mr Biver notes that, thanks to recent partnerships with ambassadors such as footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and model Bella Hadid, who have 118m and 16.5m Instagram followers respectively, millennials have grown significantly as part of TAG’s customer base.
“年輕一代已成爲舉足輕重的消費市場，因爲這是個很大的市場，發展前景不可限量。”豪雅(TAG Heuer )CEO兼奢侈品巨擎路威酩軒(LVMH)腕錶部主管讓?克洛德?比韋(Jean Claude Biver)說。比韋注意到：在豪雅腕錶的消費人羣中，千禧年後出生的一代人增長尤爲迅猛，這一切都要歸功於全球品牌大使——足球巨星C羅(Cristiano Ronaldo)以及超模貝拉?哈迪德(Bella Hadid)最近與公司簽訂的合作協議，兩大巨星擁有的Instagram粉絲數分別高達1.18億與1650萬。Tariffs vary enormously according to the length and type of projects, as well as the parties involved. Influencers seeking to elevate their status might be willing to work for free for a desirable high-end brand in exchange for an experience that will provide content for their media channels. Sometimes the brand secures media coverage about the influencer as part of the collaboration’s agreement.
網紅獲得的具體酬勞因合作時長、合作類型以及合作對象而大相徑庭。醉心提升自己影響力的網紅或許願爲自己心儀的高端品牌免費代言，以換取在社交媒體上奉上自己親身體驗的素材。作爲協議內容之一，品牌公司有時會確保網紅獲得足夠的媒體關注度。An influencer with 100,000 followers on Instagram can charge around ￡2,000 per picture, while celebrity influencers with between 4m and 20m followers can charge ￡5,000-￡13,000, according to Hopper, a company offering an “Instagram planner and scheduling tool”. Selena Gomez’s social media posts to her 132m followers, however, are worth $550,000 each, Hopper says.
據Hopper公司統計：擁有10萬Instagram粉絲數的網紅每張照片酬勞約爲2000英鎊；而擁有400萬-2000萬粉絲數知名網紅的酬勞是5000-13000英鎊。Hopper公司負責“策劃在Instagram造勢事宜以及安排旅遊行程”。但Hopper說，擁有1320萬粉絲數的塞萊娜?戈麥斯(Selena Gomez)，其在社交媒體的每張曬照酬勞高達55萬美元。From the perspective of watch and jewellery houses, collaborations are more successful when the influencers develop a genuine affection for the items they have been gifted and wear them beyond the contractual period. In this sense, Olivier Billon recommends that brands work with influencers “who have a real passion and interest for a brand and commit to create authentic posts”, rather than choosing them on the basis of crude numeric figures.
而在腕錶及首飾品牌公司看來，網紅們若真心喜歡上了代言品牌、且在有效合同期滿後依然“愛不釋手”，彼此的合作就會更上一層樓。奧利維爾?比龍(Olivier Billon)勸告說，從這種意義上說，品牌公司要與“癡迷自家品牌、並致力於曬出真實可信美照”的網紅合作，而不是僅憑網紅的大致粉絲數決定合作對象。Mr Billon explains the importance of focusing on “achieving high engagement rates (above 5 per cent) in likes, comments and shares” and adds that often micro-influencers (those with fewer than 50,000 followers) offer higher levels of engagement. “It’s peer-to-peer marketing. Influencers may not be our friends, however they are constantly present when we look at our social media feed.”
比龍說關注“點贊、點評以及共享等方面實現高互動率”(high engagement rates)至關重要，並補充說那些小網紅（micro-influencers，粉絲數少於5萬）與粉絲的互動率往往更高。“這是點對點營銷法(peer-to-peer marketing)，網紅或許並非我們的朋友，但我們遊覽社交媒體訊息(social media feed)時，他們通常在線。”
