Draft Proposal: Advertising the Followers

The topic I would like to research is how advertisement is done differently now than earlier times. We are seeing more and more brands turning to social media and its celebrities to advertise and promote new products. It seems like this is the best way to get the consumers to pay attention. Also, a strategy that is noticeable is the fact that companies are creating new trends and using celebrities to promote these.

Adidas and Puma have used celebrities as creative directors to give their brands a new life and sell more. These celebrities have a large following on social media and will create large sales for the companies. Another strategy that is being used is creating campaigns that people want to emulate. An example of this is the “In My Calvins,” or #inmycalvins campaign by Calvin Klein. As per usual they took a group of celebrities and models and took their pictures in the clothes, or underwear in this case, and then put them on social media and it took off.

But it’s also more than just pretty campaigns, it also has to do with who companies use to promote their brands. Bloggers and internet celebrities are also getting to enjoy the new ways to advertise. Companies will send products and pay people with a lot of followers to post a picture up on social media. The amount that they are paid depends on how large their follow count is. It’s just incredible to see that just by taking and posting pictures you can make a living. Times have truly changed. 

This is a Harper’s Bazaar article touches a bit on what I want to talk about for this project. It is about fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein talking about how much she gets paid for her sponsored posts. Bernstein even mentions that as the follow count goes up, she can continue to charge more per post. "'On average, if you have hundreds of thousands of followers you can make anywhere from $500 to $5,000 a post, but if you have upwards of 6 million followers, your fee can be $20,000 to $100,000 a shot.'"