Experts comment on episode and give advice to companies that work with media personalities, especially on the internet
Iran Santana Alves, known as Luva de Pedreiro, has become one of the most talked about topics on social media in recent weeks, but this time, not because of his videos and his already known line “receive!”.
The subject was the discovery that the boy, who has more than 15 million followers on Instagram and more than one million subscribers on YouTube, would have practically zeroed out his bank accounts, despite having advertised for giant companies, such as to Amazon.
For experts heard by the PROPMARK, the case can serve as a point of attention for advertisers in their relationships with digital influencers, especially in situations of ‘meteoric rises’. Despite currently being a very common practice, the world of advertising with influencers, especially with those who “come overnight”, still has edges to be fixed.
“This case shows the danger of building an informal relationship. When we talk about influencer marketing, that phase has passed. Few influencers treat this world in an informal way. Unfortunately, it [Iran] took that risk and was at the mercy of the entrepreneur’s ethics”, commented Eric Messa, coordinator of the Publicity and Propaganda course at Faap.
This Tuesday (28), after the controversy, Iran announced its new manager: futsal player Falcão.
The announcement was made in a post on the player’s official Instagram account, where he thanks the influencer for looking for him and stressed that, from this moment on, all career decisions will be made by Iran and his family.
In addition, Falcão also informed that he will not own the influencer and that “any agency that has good things for Iran “Luva de Pedreiro”, will be welcome”.
Soon after, it was Iran telling the news. In a post on Instagram, Glova de Pedreiro thanks Falcão for helping him at a time when he and his family “needed it most”.
How much and when does an influencer earn?
The information about the influencer’s almost zero accounts caused surprise in the public, since the press investigation revealed that the 20-year-old influencer’s first billing would be BRL 300,000 and that Amazon would have invested BRL 1 million in the campaign where the boy presents streaming sports programming.
The truth is that, in the market of influence, the exorbitant values in the known direct mail are common and vary from influencer to influencer: the bigger the audience, relevance and engagement, the bigger the cache.
The high value, according to ESPM digital marketing professor João Finamor, is justifiable, even though these are his first steps in advertising. “He was the moment, he was on the crest of the wave, so the fee was very disputed, because he was in everyone’s sights. He had great potential to charge a considerable amount,” he said.
Speaking of the most bureaucratic part of procedures and deadlines, Finamor also explained that the most common within the environment is the influencer, or entrepreneur or agency that represents him, forwarding to the company an invoice with the amount agreed in the contract and that the payment time can be up to 90 days.
Letícia Barbosa Krasnhak, professor of Public Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUC-PR), adds that, as well as the amounts, the payment methods also vary from contract to contract. “The payment can be a single amount, it can be a percentage of sales… It all depends on the campaign and the contract”, explained Krasnhak.
Brands cited in the Luva de Pedreiro case: how to act?
If before, advertising campaigns were starring famous actors and actresses, today, the most common thing is to see content creators sharing their experiences and experiences with brands on their social networks, alongside advertising signage, a strategy that can lead a brand to other audiences and niches.
The publication that announces Luva de Pedreiro as a poster boy for Amazon, for example, already has more than one million likes on the influencer’s Instagram.
Advertisers reach influencers in a variety of ways, either through direct contact with the person or through entrepreneurs, agencies or press offices.
But in the case of Luva de Pedreiro, press vehicles reported that the influencer’s manager had vetoed some campaigns by brands such as Nike and Unilever, without Iran’s knowledge.
According to the ESPM professor, this type of behavior in the career management of an influencer lights up another red flag and can make brands afraid to work with the creator.
“This veto shows how much this entrepreneur was holding back the influencer’s strategy. Brands must be afraid to invest and how to invest, if this money goes to him, if not… to see if it is still possible to work with Glova de Pedreiro”, explained the ESPM professor.
By having its image linked to an influencer – either through publicity or by appearing in related news – a brand is subject to criticism based on the mistakes that it may make throughout its career or be mentioned in possible controversies.
The list of cases is long. With each controversy involving an influencer or media personality, people look for companies that are or were their partners to demand a position.
In this case of Luva de Pedreiro, the brands appear only orbiting the imbroglio and so far they have not commented on the case. Even so, the professor at PUC-PR believes that regardless of the scenario, it is advisable for companies to have a clear crisis management plan, in case something happens.
“Brands need to position themselves when they are involved in controversies, but in a strategic way and that is in accordance with the values and performance of the company”, detailed Krasnhak.
In the assessment of the coordinator of the PP course at Faap, companies should follow the development of the case, especially in the networks, to understand if they are being cited and how.
“It is important for brands to monitor the case more closely, to see if they are being cited and, in this repercussion, to understand how they are being cited. Then, they can analyze how to act”, completed Messa.
In the case of Luva de Pedreiro, experts note that the image of none of the companies mentioned was tarnished on the networks, because the mistake would not have been the influencer hired, but the person responsible for managing his career.
“Brands were not weakened because what happened was a bad nature, a lack of ethics on the part of the entrepreneur, not on the part of the influencer who was representing the brand. For companies, this did not spill over”, explained Finamor.
Professionalization of publicity
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the case of Luva exemplifies some points of attention in partnerships with digital influencers. According to experts, there are ways for both brands and influencers to protect themselves, even in unusual situations like this.
For influencers, Finamor highlighted the importance of having and deeply understanding the contract being proposed.
“The main recommendation is to always have and evaluate the contract. As much as you don’t have a lawyer, just by reading you can already suspect something. If you have something strange or a very high percentage, be suspicious. Do not sign if you are not sure of how it will work”, he said.
In this sense, the PUC-PR professor also spoke of the importance of having a team. “The influencer is a company today. So he needs to have legal support, have more people involved in the project, in the company, check the information, read the contracts carefully, check the details and know how to negotiate”, she added.
As for brands, experts talked about the importance of researching the history of the quoted influencer. “Working with an influencer implies the human factor, and humans make mistakes. Brands understanding the history of these influencers and commercial relationships gives an indication of security about the work”, explained Finamor.
Emphasizing a key procedure in such a dynamic market, the Master in Marketing also reinforced the importance of having crisis management always prepared.
“It is important to check if the values are discussed and if they are linked, and the brands need to be prepared with a crisis management, in case of any controversy”, concluded Krasnhak.
