The Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AIMCO) launches code of practice to support brands, agencies and creators
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An Australian influencer marketing trade body has made progress in professionalising the industry with the launch of a code of practice.
The Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AIMCO) has today published a 20-page influencer marketing code of practice.
With input from more than 50 companies, the code is AIMCO’s first major initiative since launching in September 2019 and provides a set of working practices to support brands, agencies and creators operating in the sector.
“AIMCO will be working hard to execute an agenda of strengthening confidence in the category for marketers, creators and the general public."
Detch Singh, AIMCO's inaugural chair
The document seeks to articulate the areas of responsibility and proposed requirements for the whole influencer marketing ecosystem. It aims to give guidance to any business engaging in influencer marketing:
- Ensuring appropriate briefs and contracts
- Importance of including content rights/IP within contracts
- Transparency regarding influencer vetting practices
- Brand safety considerations
- Advertising disclosure requirements under Australian Consumer Law
- Metrics and reporting transparency
AIMCO’s Guiding Council, comprised of 17 organisations from within the founding members of AIMCO, have elected Detch Singh, Founder & CEO, Hypetap to serve as inaugural Chair with Patrick Whitnall, Head of Content and Sport, Publicis Media and Karan White, Business Director, Pod Legal as Deputies.
Commenting on the code’s launch Detch Singh, said: “Influencer marketing is now widely recognised as a powerful channel, but we have lacked a voice… AIMCO will be working hard to execute an agenda of strengthening confidence in the category for marketers, creators and the general public."
AIMCO’s focus will now rest in building awareness and then adoption of these best practices. Further developments will include education and Industry training, continuous improvement and the implementation of accountability frameworks.
Download AIMCO’s Influencer Marketing Code of Practice (opens as a PDF).
Influencer marketing is enjoying an annual compound growth rate of between 40% and 50%. The sector is x20 the size it was five years ago. Up from $500 million in 2015 the industry is forecast to reach $10 billion this year. Brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022. This is according to Business Insider statistics based on MediaKix information.
A side effect of influencer marketing’s exponential growth rate is the mushrooming of the competitor landscape. The number of new influencer marketing platforms, marketplaces and agencies competing globally has risen sharply.
The competitor landscape has grown x6 in the past five years. In 2015 190 companies occupied the space. By 2019 1,120 companies were active in the ecosystem. In 2019 alone 380 new entrants set up shop.
The influencer buy-side provider landscape is marked by:
- low barriers to entry
- increasingly fragmented market
- lack of consistency in procedures and acknowledged best practices
Spend within influencer marketing will rise when two parts of the puzzles are solved:
where influencers meet critical standards on transparency, credibility and quality of followers.
where influencer marketing providers can demonstrate effective measurement, a way to eliminate influencer fraud and help brands easily identify and select the most appropriate influencers.
Advertisers see the potential of influencer marketing but there is a need for trust and transparency to be built from within the industry. Commenting on AIMCO’s new code of practice Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) CEO, John Broome said: “Advertisers are keen to support responsible social influencer marketing. This new code of conduct will help build trust in online advertising through transparency and disclosure. It’s an important step forward for the industry.”
AIMCO Members
AIMCO Members in alphabetical order are:
- Allegiant Media/Tagger Media
- Apex Sports Marketing
- CHE Proximity
- Co-maker
- DVM Law
- Day Management
- Hello Social
- Hyland
- Hypetap
- JOOC’D
- MediaCom
- OMD Create
- PHD Media
- Pod Legal
- Publicis Media
- Q-83
- Reprise Digital
- Social Law Co
- Social Soup
- The Lifestyle Suite
- Totally Awesome
- TRIBE
- Vamp
- Wavemaker
- We Are Social
- WOM Network
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