ClickThrough's Head of International Marketing, Alison Humphries, is back with another roundup of the latest news stories. From the impact of the US election on the marketing industry to how Brexit is affecting shipping processes, find out more.

International Marketing News: The Evolution of Influencer Marketing and How the US Election Could Affect the Marketing Industry

What's new, important and interesting in the world of international marketing? This week we take a look at the impact of the pandemic on influencer marketing, the potential influence of the US election on the marketing industry, the effects of a Google and Apple partnership on the search engine landscape and how Brexit and COVID-19 are affecting shipment processes of luxury goods.

THE EVOLUTION OF INFLUENCER MARKETING DURING THE PANDEMIC

Econsultancy bring us up to date with the challenges influencers have experienced over the course of the pandemic, and how they have evolved their activity to counteract these:

• ‘At home’ photoshoots and producing content relevant to the home e.g. comfortable fashion and home improvement have become much more commonplace
• In-house appearances and events have been replaced by selling merchandise online as admonished by Fanjoy  and the rollout of digital merchandising for YouTube, Instagram and TikTok
• Using organic social activity on TikTok through trends emerging from conversations on the app and regular users going viral e.g. beauty brand The Ordinary saw sales of its Peeling Solution spike by 426% after a single video went viral

• Triller’s arrival on the scene enables users to record videos set to songs and offers AI editing tools to enhance the quality of the videos. This is coupled with the release of Crosshype, an influencer platform where guaranteed views can be bought with a calculable CPC
• Takumi’s recent research indicated that 25% of consumers are more inclined to seek news updates and opinions from influencers than journalists. The World Health Organisation used this to their advantage by employing an influencer to provide guidance on how to prevent Coronavirus.

THE EFFECTS OF THE US ELECTION ON THE MARKETING WORLD

eMarketer illustrate how the operating environment with a Biden or Trump win could look.

Should Trump win, current economic policies are likely to remain unchanged, even potential changes resulting from the current data privacy and antitrust debates are likely to be low key. Further application of antitrust legislation against large tech companies, a greater focus on data localisation and US proprietorship of key parts of the internet economy are likely to become more common place.

If Biden wins, the US citizens may see the government play more of an active role in the economy and society. A key focus would be the elimination of the pandemic and increased efforts to stimulate economic growth. Expansion of internet access and regulation of data privacy are also a key focus.

In either case, a federal data privacy law looks highly likely in light of the forthcoming moves by different states e.g. the California Consumer Privacy Act. A Biden presidency may be more in favour of stricter consumer privacy laws, as perspectives on this vary within the democratic party.

GOOGLE STRIKE A DEAL TO CONTINUE TO BE THE DEFAULT SERCH ENGINE ON APPLE DEVICES

Fossbytes reveal more about the agreement Google has recently sought to remain the default search engine on Apple devices.

Reportedly, Google search traffic drives 14 to 21% of Apple’s profits, with around 50% of these searches emanating from Apple devices. Both Google and Apple could be seen as colluding on anti-competitive behaviour, as their combined market share could impact on the growth of smaller search engines like DuckDuckGo.

Google’s defence of the partnership is that consumers prefer to use Google in the same way that Coca Cola is a popular choice in the fizzy drinks market. Either way, there could be huge losses either side if the partnership is broken up.

BREXIT AND COVID-19 HAVE A HEAVY INFLUENCE ON SHIPPING PROCESSES

Institute of Export and International Trade unveil significant changes to shipping routes, including selecting alternative ports, shipping methods and transport modes as a result of the combined impacts of the pandemic and Brexit.

Training staff on new trade rules and goods movement systems has slowed due to the current challenges of getting people into one place to attend appropriate courses.

A shortage of containers and port personnel is creating bottlenecks, driving ports to implement initiatives to restrict congestion e.g. New Zealand port Auckland joins a number of other ports in implementing congestion surcharges, in this case impacting on imports from Europe, Turkey, Israel and China.

CHINA’S ACTIONS TO MAINTAIN AUTHENTICITY IN THE LUXURY GOODS MARKET

Jing outline the efforts luxury brands have gone to in order to protect the authenticity of their products in the Chinese market. Breitling have set the pace on protecting the consumer from being exposed to counterfeit products through working with Ariantee on issuing “digital passports” for its watches. These use blockchain technology to prevent scammers from changing information about the products.

The explosion of the re-sale of luxury goods in China has driven the requirement for authentication technology and software to distance fraud from e-commerce platforms. The growing awareness of counterfeiting in the second hand luxury goods market has driven consumer expectations for a guarantee of authenticity. JD.com have responded to this through creating an anti-counterfeit system, which now has membership in excess of 320 brands. Alibaba and Tencent have responded with their own versions of preventing the trading of counterfeit products.

Entrupy has gained momentum through offering users a portable scanning device to take microscopic images of products to compare with archived images of authentic products to identify any fakes.

Technology-driven solutions and thinking outside of the box collaborate to win the fight against fake products from entering the market place.

If you want to discuss any of the news included in this week's international marketing roundup, get in touch with our experts today.