In 2020, advertising changed forever. Brands moved away from the more traditional methods of advertising such as outdoor and events, instead looking to bring their messages directly into peoples homes using a new tool – social media. With the rise in time spent on social media came a rise in people turning to social channels for financial guidance. And with that rise came more uncertainty regarding what messages should be promoted, and questions on if all consumers understand when they are seeing an advert. Ultimately, it became clear to us that existing guidelines are outdated, and pre-existing regulations have not evolved at the same rapid rate of social advertising.
So we decided to find out more – we conducted a survey to better understand the UK’s attitudes on money management, and how we engage with financial guidance from influencers. What did the findings show? Well, amongst other figures, 30% of Brits who have seen an influencer or celebrity give financial guidance have acted upon it, and only a quarter of the UK (27%) understand the purpose of the #ad, #affiliate, and/or #gifted reference(s) on an influencer’s post. These alarming statistics prompted us to act – and act we did…
And so, the Influencer Council was born! We’ve recruited an expert taskforce that will unite to create the best-in-class approach for advertising financial services. Together we will work to provide better guidance for all brands promoting financial services with the use of influencers in the UK. Our ambition is to deliver better outcomes (and clarity) for all consumers, influencers, brands and media owners.
The Council will be chaired by presenter and social media expert, Christian Howes. Other panel members include retailer PrettyLittleThing; Rupa Shah, Founder & Director of Hashtag Ad Consulting; Clare Seal, Creator of My Frugal Year, founder of The Financial Wellbeing Forum and author; Joel Gladwin, Head of Policy at Coadec; Kia Commodore, founder of financial literacy platform, Pennies To Pounds; Youtuber and Blogger Amelia Liana; psychotherapist and author Owen O’Kane; Lian Hirst, Founder of PR & Digital agency TRACE Publicity and AJ Coyne, Head of Marketing at Klarna.
On the launch, Christian Howes, Chair of the Influencer Council said: “I am delighted to be appointed Chair of Klarna’s Influencer Council. Transparency and consumer protection are the foremost priorities for all our Council members and with such a diverse panel, I’m confident that through this Council, we will be able to provide better, clearer and actionable guidance for everyone to use across all social media platforms.”
If you’re itching to learn more about the panel, or see what topics we’ll be discussing in our sessions, you can access our Influencer Council website here.