For most of the last decade, influencer marketing sat in its own corner of the marketing plan. It had its own budget line and scorecard, usually built on reach, likes and best-performing posts. It was treated as a social add-on, something brands did alongside media rather than as part of it.
Jarred Trembath is the SSA head of Influential and head of B2B, Affiliate Marketing at Publicis Groupe says influence has outgrown its silo (Image source: © 123rf
123rf)
That model is breaking down. Creators now command the attention that broadcast once owned, particularly among younger audiences who spend more time with people they follow than with any channel or publisher.
When attention moves, budgets follow. And when budgets reach a certain scale, finance teams start asking the same questions they ask of every other media investment: who did we reach and what did it cost?
What convergence looks like
Convergence shows up in four practical shifts.
- Planning
Creators are being planned alongside paid social, video and programmatic. The question is no longer "which influencers should we use?" but "what role should creator content play in this media plan, and at what weight?"
- Targeting
Creator selection is moving from follower counts to audience data. Planning starts with the audience a brand needs to reach: their interests, behaviours and motivations. That intelligence informs which creators to partner with, what content to develop and how paid media can extend its reach among relevant audiences.
- Identity
Where permissions and platform capabilities allow, identity and first-party data can connect paid creator activity to a brand’s wider audience strategy, supporting relevant follow-up and more coordinated journeys across channels.
- Measurement
Creator programmes need a measurement framework built around their intended outcome. Brand lift, qualified leads, affiliate sales and incremental results can sit alongside engagement, with a clear distinction between what can be directly tracked and what requires broader evaluation.
The benefit in Africa
For brands, the benefit is accountability. When creators are planned and measured as media, marketers can defend the investment and scale what works. Influence stops being the line item that gets cut first when budgets tighten.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the case is even stronger. Our markets are mobile-first and deeply social. Scaling across Africa requires consistency in how we plan, govern and measure, alongside flexibility in how we execute.
Language, cultural relevance, platform behaviour and routes to purchase need to shape the approach in each market.
Trust is often built through people rather than institutions and local creators speak to audiences in their own languages, humour and cultural codes in a way few global campaigns can.
Yet many brands across the region still buy influence the old way, on reach, in isolation and without a clear link to outcomes.
Brands that bring creators into their media and performance thinking will build an advantage that is hard to copy, because it rests on data and learning that compound over time.
Media rigour rather than takeover
Bringing influence into the media mix does not mean handing it entirely to media teams or reducing creators to inventory. Creators’ value comes from authenticity and the relationships they have with their communities.
That is creative and communications territory and it needs the judgement of people who understand storytelling, reputation and culture.
PR teams know how to build narratives and manage earned attention. Creative teams know how to make ideas travel. Communications specialists know how to protect a brand when conversations turn.
The convergence I am describing adds a layer of media and performance discipline to that work rather than replace it.
The best creator programmes will start with a strong idea and a credible voice, then use data to find the right audiences, paid media to extend the reach and measurement to prove the impact.
At Publicis Groupe, we see Influential as a creator marketing operating system: connecting audience intelligence, creator strategy, content, paid media and measurement.
Working across our media, PR, communications and creative agencies, it brings these capabilities into one connected approach, from understanding an audience to measuring the response.
What marketers should do next
For brands ready to make the shift, four steps make the biggest difference.
- Bring influence into the briefing and planning process from day one, with a defined role in the funnel
- Use data to match creators to the segments that matter and favour long-term partnerships over one-off posts
- Set KPIs that connect to business results, whether that is consideration, leads, sign-ups or sales (and build in tracking from the start)
- Keep the creative bar high. Data tells you where to show up, but it doesn’t tell you what to say. Always protect the creator's voice and the strength of the idea.
The next phase of influence will be defined by how well brands connect cultural relevance with commercial impact. That connection needs to be designed into the programme from the first brief.
