Henry Tajer, a mainstream adman with a long history of running agencies, is back in harness, this time with influencers.
He is the CEO of The Influence Group, with a substantial equity investment, working with founders Sharyn Smith and Howard Parry-Husband, made up of strategic consulting and insights business Pollinate and social influence agency Social Soup.
“I've really enjoyed getting back into it,” he told AdNews. “I am really happy with the decision I've made.”
He took a break after departing Dentsu Aegis Network as CEO in 2019, spending time enjoying life.
“Having had some pretty busy roles in my past, both here in Australia and over in the US, I felt that it was an opportunity for me to take a bit of a break and not just recharge but also rethink and reset for the future,” he says.
“That enabled me to take an objective view of the market and to really listen and to look at what different parts of the industry we're doing. That kept me out of the industry because for the most part I didn't really see or hear a lot of stuff that made me think, Wow, that's really revolutionary, or this is really innovative.
“And I don’t say that in a critical way, just realistic and honest. Also, with the acknowledgement that the industry in the last 20 years has done a huge amount evolving and changing to a digital reinvention and new channels and technology becoming part of people's lives.”
Tajer has known the founders of the new business -- Sharyn Smith and Howard Parry-Husband -- for more than a decade.
“They reached out to me and asked whether I'd be interested in providing them some advice on some things that they were doing in their business, all in a very non-formal manner.
“That was the beginning of me getting a better sense of both the companies. I did a little bit of consulting. That gave me an opportunity to understand what their thoughts and views were on their businesses and I gave them my own.
“That was the beginning of the three of us talking about what a new future could look like. In those conversations, and in, I guess, the design of what the Influence Group became, that attracted me to be more part of it. Without speaking for Howard and Sharyn, but knowing, they were also attracted to the idea of me being part of that. It was a really easy and obvious decision to make for all of us, I think.”
He is impressed by the teams in the business, their level of engagement and involvement.
Tajer gradually eased into the business, seeing how they design and create the right balance in influencer marketing campaigns and strategies to help clients.
“If you think about influencer marketing and the power of people advocating and reviewing and sampling products and services and then communicating about it in lots of different ways, it's really the oldest form of marketing that the planet has ever had,” he says.”
In his previous life in advertising holding groups, one of the most common and recurring realities was research ranking the channels and the drivers in marketing that move the needle.
“Usually, the top one, two and three was a recommendation from a trusted source or a friend, a review, or sampling the product and then being convinced firsthand,” he says.
“The irony in that is that they're usually the top ranked drivers, but the advertising industry as a whole hasn't really engaged in those. They went with the more traditional and more tried advertiser models, television commercial or outdoor or whatever it is.
“I'm not suggesting for a second that those aren't effective. What really dawned on me was that here we are in a post COVID era where getting recommendations, being supported by peers and social frameworks, is even more important, and the role of influencer marketing and influencers and creators is paramount now.”
This view is supported by his time at Amazon where he saw the power of brands selling on the platform. Those with the good reviews and who managed the review process with their customer base best had the best sales and the best outcomes. And that is a form of influence.
“We're really harnessing and bringing to clients the power of influencer marketing and how engaging that channel and that strategically into their business is helping them achieve their business goals.
“That's what got my attention when I first started to do some work with Howard and Sharyn and looked at what the businesses were capable of.
“It was really about identifying how influence works within the broader business drivers through some of the strategic work and insights work. And the Social Soup business is one of, if not, the largest and oldest influencer marketing agencies in Australia.
“We're fortunate that the influencer marketing and macro strategy segments within the industry are still nascent, in particular, the influencer market in Australia.
“While it's been around for a long time, if you compare it to some of the other big parts of the marketing and business industry, it hasn't reached its tipping point yet.
“This is an area that we want to have the industry as a whole look at and embrace and include in the thinking for what clients need.
“We also know that there have been some bad actors in this space that have spooked some parts of business, and I guess the message that I would make to clients who may feel concerned about that is that a lot has happened to put the right regulatory frameworks in place and authenticity frameworks in place.
“Even the platforms themselves have got much, much stronger and more effective protocols on fake influencers and on bad behaviour taking place.
“So the whole space, from all of the key stakeholders, is in a really good place, and I think that will continue.”
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