A brief look at the history of influencer marketing

Have you ever thought of Father Christmas as an influencer? Well you might by the end of this article. 

You’d be forgiven for assuming that influencer marketing is a purely modern medium. Okay, so in its current, social media driven form, it is. However, the idea of influencers isn’t new at all. 

Influencer marketing has become the hottest new strategy for brands to amplify their brand/campaign message and build brand familiarity with new audiences, but when you step back and look at it, the actual concept of influencer marketing has been around for decades, at least! 

Influencers before social media

Before social media - ie. less than 20 years ago - marketing and advertising was all about TV, radio, billboards and magazines print ads. But, in all of those fields, influential people were still being used to lead those campaigns, in order to add credibility and sway consumer purchasing decisions. 

Gladiators, ready! 

Celebrity endorsements have existed in the modern era since early 1900, but in reality, you can trace it back to ancient Rome, where even gladiators endorsed products. If we look back to the 1700s, royalty were the influencers of the era, when products and businesses would have "Royal" approval or be ‘fit for a king’. Something that still exists today as ‘by royal appointment’ 

The tobacco industry 

It will come as no surprise to anybody that, back in the day, tobacco led the way with celebrity advertising partnerships. In 1905, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, a famous American actor and comedian at the time, was paid generously to be the face of Murad, a Turkish cigarette brand. Roscoe didn’t even smoke, which, let’s be honest, isn’t very authentic, is it? 

Father Christmas, the OG influencer 

And you don’t need a pulse to be an influencer. Arguably the most iconic influencer is Father Christmas, repping Coca Cola. One of Influencer marketing’s biggest heroes first built traction when Coca Cola introduced this image of Santa Claus in 1931 in their advertisements, sporting an on-brand red suit and grandad beard. Prior to Coca Cola highjacking Santa’s image, he had been up for interpretation depending on whoever was telling the story. 

You can look at cereal-box characters such as Tony the Tiger and Snap, Crackle, and Pop in the same way. These characters were created to become brand ambassadors over a long period of time, to strengthen our connections with products by putting a relatable human face and set of values on them. 

With all of the above examples, nobody back then referred to them as “influencers”. But we can easily compare them to the social influencers we see today. The media might have changed, but the purpose, psychology and mechanics of the process have always been used by brands in much the same way. All of these people - and characters - increased the chances that consumers would buy from the brand by providing a human (or semi-human) point of contact, with which to establish values and form a relationship.  

We all know that we are emotionally driven during our buying decision processes. That’s been the same since commerce began, and likely always will be. Influencers increase the likelihood that consumers will personally connect with a certain brand and product, regardless of whether they’re real or not.