Adidas' Big Bet on Micro-Influencers

ADIDAS PLANS TO SHOW UP WHERE OTHER BRANDS CAN'T

Influencer marketing may be the world's oldest sales tactic, and like it has done with many things, social media has exploited it beyond any reasonable level, but brands are finding creative new ways to tell their stories.

As the dominance of the newsfeed fades and the majority of our attention shifts to more personal and direct corners of the Internet, brands are recognizing that they need to adapt their influencer strategies. Adidas just announced the latest of those shifts: Rather than doubling down on the 5 million+ follower accounts, they've launched what is probably the world's largest micro-influencer program.

Called the NIL Network (NIL = the Name, Image and Likeness deals that they sign), Adidas is recruiting 50,000 college athletes from across the US to act as local ambassadors for their brand. The participants' compensation will come as a blend of affiliate sales and pay-for-content. The announcement came on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the legislation that opened up college-level sports and scholarships to every athlete, regardless of their gender. The connection between the NIL program and Title IX is that these types of programs can be similarly inclusive – where macro-influencer partnerships largely go to people with privilege, able-bodies, and a narrow set of beauty standards, micro-partnerships can benefit a much more diverse set of people.

When it comes to driving value back to their businesses, what Adidas, and other programs like it, recognize is that most influence happens when we see or hear recommendations from people we're actually connected with. Those connections don't happen on Instagram's most popular posts – they're happening in Stories, Snapchat, TikTok, and group chats. Adidas' hope is that the places their band content starts to appear is just as diverse as the people they've partnered with.

We've been tracking this dispersion of social media activity (see our 2019 article: The Shift to Private Social Media) and I've personally been very curious to see how brands will try to keep up with a more decentralized media landscape. Some have tried jumping in themselves, by joining Discord chats, sponsoring Twitch streamers, launching TikTok accounts, and even hosting Telegram channels. Adidas' plan, however, seems to be the most scalable, and probably the most effective. Rather than trying to identify all of the channels that people are sharing in, and then jumping in themselves, they've empowered a network of people who are already posting and sharing in those places.

That same principle can be true for those of us who don't have Adidas' scale and budget. Whether we're spending $5 million or $500 to promote a message, brand, or product through social channels, it's worth asking ourselves: Is the public, newsfeed-based social media still working for us, or is there a way that we can get our stories told in the places where real conversations are happening?

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting