According to a Recent Matters survey cited by BC Ventures senior vice president of operations Marco Bianchi, 69% of consumers trust influencers more than brands alone. And 62% of consumers trust influencers more than celebrity endorsers.
“Since the dawn of marketing, we’ve seen celebrity endorsers selling everything from Tide to any consumer product out there,”
“And this is incredibly telling: Folks are looking for something else, more than a talking head. And if you’ve been following the news, the Hollywood strikes have helped the creative economy in some ways, really opening the eyes of marketers to look beyond TV and traditional media to fulfill their various goals.”
At the recent Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Brian Christopher was occasionally recognized by fans of his YouTube channel, BCSlots, which features him playing slots at casinos across the country. That’s what happens when you’re one of the most popular social media influencers in the gaming industry.
But even as Christopher embraces being recognized, it was not why he was at G2E.
“I’m not coming for that,” Christopher said of the attention he drew at Venetian Expo in Las Vegas. “I’m coming to see all the newest games and to reconnect with the manufacturers, but also to meet tons of other partners that we deal with in the industry”.
Martin Van Der Merwe, assistant vice president of global casino marketing at Carnival Corporation, said the essential quality he seeks in influencers is “trusting that relationship as marketers. You want to lean into that trust because that’s the way in which influence really works.You’re looking for someone who looks like you, who does the same things you do that you can see yourself in,” Van Der Merwe said.
“That’s what you’re looking for in the relationship that you’re building. From a marketing standpoint, you want to find that thing that fits into what you’re trying to communicate and have that come from an authentic place.”
