While the Caribbean possesses a strong storytelling culture, brands must ensure that the influencers they partner with align naturally with their values and target audiences.
That’s according to Regional Marketing Director at Unicomer, Feisal Muradali, while speaking at Media InSite’s ‘From Insight to Impact’ Conference, where industry leaders emphasised the importance of authenticity in influencer marketing.
He said the Caribbean has a unique strength in storytelling, but brands must be strategic when selecting influencers.
“To varying degrees we have seen success with it, but it all comes down to relevance and authenticity in your choice of that voice, and I agree that brand building sits with the marketing team and the organisation, and influence is the tool that we can use, but at the end of the day, it’s all about how relevant that voice is to the audience and how authentic it is, and that’s really where I think the line has to be drawn.”
He noted that consumers are becoming increasingly wary of overly curated content, prompting many brands to shift their focus toward micro-influencers, who are often perceived as more genuine and relatable.
President of FIBEP, the World Association for Media Intelligence, Todd Murphy, highlighted the role of artificial intelligence and expert analysis in transforming data into actionable insights.
“That distance from the number on a dashboard to a decision a leader can make is the entire distance from insight to impact. That’s what professional analysis gives you: a clear read on your market position, your competitive standing, your real risk, or even your crisis exposure.”
As Media InSite celebrates its 15th anniversary, CEO and Founder Allison Demas outlined the company’s vision for the conference and its evolving role within the industry.
“We called the conference ‘Insight to Impact’ because we see that there has been a movement, so it’s no longer a question of just providing data but informing our clients how they can use data to take strategic action, so we’ve moved now into the realm of decision intelligence, whereby you can take strategic action and make decisions based on the information that we provide.”
She said the company has evolved from a media and advertising monitoring service into a media intelligence company and has managed to pivot during difficult periods such as the Covid-19 pandemic.