With the growing influence of digital marketing, brand owners are at no loss of options when deciding how to spend their digital marketing budget. A September 2021 insights from New York-based Nielsen titled “Making personal connections: How brands are leveraging social influencers,” notes that although influencer marketing did not stem from the pandemic, the social circumstances during its existence “have fostered a stronger need for interpersonal connection among consumers, and social media has delivered.”

Citing research from Nielsen Scarborough, the Insights notes that nearly one-in-five Americans (19.3%) agree or somewhat agree that they might be influenced by a celebrity endorsement when it comes to a product purchase.

The market research firm highlights the importance of being considered a trusted source for consumers through the path to purchase.

“Nielsen Scarborough data shows that 83% of Americans say that they stick with brands they like, but just 22.6% like to connect with brands on social media networking sites,” the Insights concludes. “Influencer marketing can help brands begin to bridge that 60% gap — and start to measure the results.”

One opportunity for brand owners in today’s advanced digital marketing world is the platform Cameo, a video-sharing service in which people hire celebrities to create personalized videos. Recently, Beverage Industry (BI) connected with Marty Pesis, vice president of growth at Chicago-based Cameo, where he highlighted the future of social/digital solutions for consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketing efforts.

BI: How are social platforms being utilized in marketing efforts for consumer brands?

MP: Social platforms are sitting on an incredible amount of user data that gets passed through to digital advertisers, allowing brands to target their audiences in a hyper-focused way. Over the last few years, we’ve seen the platforms make huge strides in their AI-driven optimization features, helping brands start with a broad audience, and over time, automatically hone in on the top performing groups.

BI: What are the latest vanguard digital marketing opportunities for brands?

MP: Now that the tech-enabled platforms are handling the targeting for brands, creative has become the primary way to differentiate. Great creative is what separates good and great digital ad campaigns these days. The real lever is a strong creative testing program that helps you scale.

BI: Can you explain how Cameo’s C4B model works?

MP: Cameo for Business helps marketers create explosively creative and effective campaigns. We do this by leveraging our in-house Creative Solutions team who build strategies that scale. Then, through our marketplace model, we provide brands access to every tier and type of talent to match their specific audience. Our talent base spans more than 50,000 including TikTok personalities, NCAA athletes, Grammy-winning musicians, Oscar-winning actors and more. Brands can choose to book Business Cameo Videos from talent directly, or can look to our team for additional support.

BI: How can beverage manufacturers leverage platforms like Cameo in their future marketing programs?

MP: Cameo for Business unlocks access to 50,000-plus of the most diverse talent on earth. Celebrities have a lot of built-in trust and recognizability, and are incredible spokespeople to help your audience feel a connection to the marketing messages you’re putting out. In leveraging C4B, brands can find a relevant person to represent their campaigns via our insights-backed approach where we recommend talent based on proprietary insights.

BI: What factors should brands consider before leveraging a platform like Cameo for digital marketing?

MP: Like any marketing campaign, brands need to start with clear goals and success metrics. Leveraging our Creative Solutions team, we help our clients be strategic and carefully think through the audience they’re targeting, and hone in on an idea that’s really going to resonate with their consumers. The celebrity component is definitely an important part of utilizing Cameo for Business, but a long-lasting campaign requires a strong marketing strategy. What’s unique about Cameo for Business is that we not only provide unmatched access to talent, but have a team of seasoned marketers on our Creative Solutions team who can help clients every step of the way by generating inventive strategies that are relevant and authentic to their brand.