Episode 18 of the Influencer Marketing Lab podcast where I speak with Brendan Gahan, partner at Mekanism.
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The Influencer Marketing Lab podcast is sponsored by Tagger the data-driven influencer marketing platform and social listening tool.
Show notes
Welcome to episode 18 of the Influencer Marketing Lab - a weekly podcast tracking the growth spurts and growing pains of influencer marketing.
This week I'm in conversation with Brendan Gahan, Partner and Chief Social Officer at Mekanism. Often quoted in articles about influencer marketing in publications including the New York Times, Ad Age and Tubefilter Brendan has also been part of Vidcon's Advisory Board since 2014.
In our interview we cover:
- How Brendan cut his teeth selling-in Smosh as an early YouTuber deal .
- A day in the life at Mekansim as Chief Social Officer
- How shoppable livestreaming will be a key trend within influencer marketing
- Potential for Chinese-owned apps to displace Facebook and Instagram
- The George Foreman Grill-ification of the creator economy
Useful related links
- In July 2020 Amazon launched Amazon Live for influencers
- In August Instagram and Facebook launched live shopping features
- In December 2020 TikTok hosted a shoppable livestream event in partnership with Walmart where users can shop for Walmart fashion items featured by TikTok creators without having to leave the app.
- In 2019 Kim Kardashian West co-hosted a Chinese livestream channel with Viya n China’s e-commerce platform Taobao.
- Arii the Instagram fashion influencer with 2.6m followers hit the headlines in 2019 when she failed to sell 36 T-shirts from her own clothing range.
- Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online by Dr Crystal Abidin
- Transcript of the Verge Marques Brownlee The business of influence
- Why the Coty, Kylie & KKW tie-ins won’t work

Brendan Gahan talks about shoppable livestreaming (The QVC-ification of influencer marketing) on the Influencer Marketing Lab podcast.
Brendan Gahan biography
Brendan Gahan is Partner & Chief Social Officer at independent creative agency Mekanism, leading the agency’s social division.
Gahan has been at the forefront of social & influencer marketing since 2006, developing social campaigns for brands such as Mountain Dew, Unilever, Amazon, 20th Century Fox, and The Olympics. Brendan was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012 and his agency was recognized as Digiday’s Digital Video Agency of the year in 2017.
Gahan is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur and has recently been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Guardian, and Ad Age for his expertise on social media platforms, the rise of dark social and influencer marketing.
Where to find Brendan Gahan online
- Blog - https://brendangahan.com/newsletter/
- Twitter - https://twitter.com/brendangahan
- Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendangahan/
- TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brendangahan
- Mekanism - https://mekanism.com/
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