Speaking on a panel organised by Mashable during Advertising Week Europe 2016 today (21 April), Shinobi (not his real name) discussed the thorny issue of how brands can effectively work with vloggers and online influencers.
Shinobi, who has worked with Coach (whose range includes watches) as well as Audi, Adidas, LG and Microsoft, claimed that Daniel Wellington had sent "watches to pretty much anyone" and reaped several social posts in return.
"They kind of ruined it for other watch brands," he added. "If you see a watch appear on my feed there has to be something very special about the watch."
While he branded the tactic "successful but annoying" in terms of raising awareness of the brand, he claimed it had may have backfired with fans of the influencers involved, as one of the comments below a post said "Sellout".
Ultimately, he said, brands doing this would not get the results they wanted as there was "a massive backlash against that kind of in-your-face marketing".
But Shinobi conceded that fans needed to be educated on the commercial realities of running a social feed and necessity for influencers to team up with brands.
"We have to eat. We’ve got bills to pay. This is my full-time hustle," he said.
Daniel Wellington has yet to respond to a request by Marketing to comment on Shinobi’s criticism of its marketing.
This story originally appeared on PRWeek sister title Marketing
