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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.
2017年年初，在莫斯科谢列梅捷沃国际机场(Sheremetyevo International Airport)候机返回巴黎的奥利佛?比朗(Olivier Billon)注意到身旁坐着位佩戴名贵沛纳海(Panerai)腕表的四十多岁男子，并问其是如何知晓这款腕表的来龙去脉的。对方的回答大出其意料：竟是通过Instagram！但这样的回答也让他很是自豪：比朗是“意见领袖（即网红）影响力营销”(Influencer Marketing)风潮的引领者——让各大品牌与那些粉丝达数百万的网红通力合作（不管是通过亲身体验产品、免费赠送还是支付酬劳），来推销自己旗下产品。
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”.
比朗从精英云集的法国政治学院(Sciences Po)毕业后，最初是为化妆品巨擎欧莱雅( L’Oréal)工作，而后通过自创的咨询公司Ykone（2009年自己24岁那年创建）从事网红早期营销宣传造势活动。他说自己坚信密友Betty Autier的博客（比朗创业伊始，该博客每月点击量高达40万）“会让各大时尚品牌展露浓厚兴趣”。
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.
无论从具体活动以及值得共享的产品推介（强制性主题标签和带有品牌标识的晒照）、还是专为网红举办的专门活动，比朗以真诚的态度给各家时尚公司支招如何成为与维系社交媒体的宠儿。他的首批客户就包括了欧莱雅染护发公司(L’Oréal Professionnel)、香奈儿(Chanel)时装与迪奥(Dior) 时装等重量级公司。“我在腕表及首饰行业的首个项目是为2011年推介迪奥Dior VIII腕表。”他说。为此，他代表迪奥公司精心策划了“为巴黎一些国际知名网红举办了为期两天的亲身体验活动与介绍会。”
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.
越发成熟与阔绰的消费者痴迷上社交媒体后，网红营销逐渐与时尚界合为一体；与此同时，奢侈品公司也为年轻一代消费者提供更为价廉物美的各式产品。据网红营销能力咨询机构Mediakix统计，如今每年的网红营销额达10亿美元。
“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.
“本人初创伊始，社交媒体仅是各式博客。如今随着Snapchat、YouTube以及Instagram等社交媒体异军突起，整个格局发生了天翻地覆的变化。”比朗说。Instagram如今拥有8亿用户，粉丝们彼此分享与点赞各自上传的照片；而2015年的一项调查表明：75%的Instagram用户说自己正是受启发于某个晒照才去游览相关网站或是成为剁手党一员。“Instagram让一切成功实现了透明化。通过研究网红拥有的粉丝群及其具体身份，我们就很容易评估出网红影响力的广度与深度。”他说。
Outside his office, it is Paris Couture Week and influencers — with their Instagram-ready outfits and sponsored luxury goods — abound.
而在比朗的办公室外，巴黎时装周(Paris Couture Week)正在火热进行，身穿Instagram晒照行头以及奢侈品公司赞助配饰的各式网红随处可见。
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.
网红的崛起与奢侈品产业经济学的质变以及其它行业科技的突飞猛进发展息息相关。贝恩咨询公司(Bain)2017年的研究报告表明：千禧年后出生的一代人已占据奢侈品消费总人数的30%。与此同时，休闲风越刮越盛，其标志就是消费者花在奢侈休闲装束的费用与日俱增。
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.
奢侈品公司在网红营销方面大把烧钱，广告拦截软件大行其道也是重要推手，因为此举可让各大时尚公司的网络付费广告白白忙活。据高科技公司PageFair统计：目前全球有6.15亿台电脑安装了广告拦截软件，而PageFair自诩提供反拦截广告服务。
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，各家公司如今开始认为广告宣传是愉悦体验而非消极障碍。博客上的付费帖子就是首批饯行者，这样的“原汁原味内容”如今已拓展至报刊杂志。口碑营销协会(The Word of Mouth Marketing Association)的研究表明：相比付费广告，口碑（即网络上的口碑）能让产品销售额飚升5-200倍。口碑营销协会的会员都是媒体机构与国际大公司。
“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.
“年轻一代已成为举足轻重的消费市场，因为这是个很大的市场，发展前景不可限量。”豪雅(TAG Heuer )CEO兼奢侈品巨擎路威酩轩(LVMH)腕表部主管让?克洛德?比韦(Jean Claude Biver)说。比韦注意到：在豪雅腕表的消费人群中，千禧年后出生的一代人增长尤为迅猛，这一切都要归功于全球品牌大使——足球巨星C罗(Cristiano Ronaldo)以及超模贝拉?哈迪德(Bella Hadid)最近与公司签订的合作协议，两大巨星拥有的Instagram粉丝数分别高达1.18亿与1650万。
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.
网红获得的具体酬劳因合作时长、合作类型以及合作对象而大相径庭。醉心提升自己影响力的网红或许愿为自己心仪的高端品牌免费代言，以换取在社交媒体上奉上自己亲身体验的素材。作为协议内容之一，品牌公司有时会确保网红获得足够的媒体关注度。
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.
据Hopper公司统计：拥有10万Instagram粉丝数的网红每张照片酬劳约为2000英镑；而拥有400万-2000万粉丝数知名网红的酬劳是5000-13000英镑。Hopper公司负责“策划在Instagram造势事宜以及安排旅游行程”。但Hopper说，拥有1320万粉丝数的塞莱娜?戈麦斯(Selena Gomez)，其在社交媒体的每张晒照酬劳高达55万美元。
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.
而在腕表及首饰品牌公司看来，网红们若真心喜欢上了代言品牌、且在有效合同期满后依然“爱不释手”，彼此的合作就会更上一层楼。奥利维尔?比龙(Olivier Billon)劝告说，从这种意义上说，品牌公司要与“痴迷自家品牌、并致力于晒出真实可信美照”的网红合作，而不是仅凭网红的大致粉丝数决定合作对象。
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.”
比龙说关注“点赞、点评以及共享等方面实现高互动率”(high engagement rates)至关重要，并补充说那些小网红（micro-influencers，粉丝数少于5万）与粉丝的互动率往往更高。“这是点对点营销法(peer-to-peer marketing)，网红或许并非我们的朋友，但我们游览社交媒体讯息(social media feed)时，他们通常在线。”
