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“While Australia and New Zealand are so similar, those cultural moments and cultural awareness around that target audience and what they actually do like and who they have a positive relationship with is super important.
“Sometimes we’ll get a brief and a client might say they want an Instagram campaign but that might not actually be where their audience demographic is most active.
“It’s just about aligning and getting that really great impact.”
The agency has worked with brands including Microsoft, Jeuneora, U by Kotex, Mitre10, Westpac, Amnesty International and Tourism New Zealand. They have also noticed a rise in B2B marketing leveraging influencers, such as Microsoft, and say the surge seen during the pandemic hasn’t dropped off.
“We see more and more brands and also smaller startups looking into how they could use influencers as well,” says Spencer.
“Brands realise that influencers are here to stay and are now a very important part of their marketing mix. So we’re a couple of years behind but we’re starting to catch up because brands are realising the importance of it.
“SMBs, B2Bs are starting to go, ‘Actually, we can do this. We can use these amazing advocates that can also reach their community and create content.’
“So once you start seeing industries that would never have ever touched them as well as different sized businesses, you know that groundswell, snowball effect is really winning and taking place.”
Due to the lack of competition in New Zealand, influencers have been able to set their own rates, pushing up the prices for brands. As a solution to this, Born Bred has been investing in Australian creators to be able to reach New Zealand audiences.
“It’s a really interesting space — we did a study recently and New Zealand
“Brands realise that influencers are here to stay and are a
very important part of their marketing mix now. So we’re a couple of years behind but we’re starting
to catch up because brands are realising the importance of it.” The Social Club co-CEO Melanie Spencer
influencers are the most expensive in the world,” says Winterbourn.
“That has actually limited the impact a lot of brands in New Zealand can make on the market because these influencers are so expensive.
“We’re seeing TikTokers with less than 100,000 followers charging $5000-$6000 for a TikTok post, which is absolutely outrageous.
“So what we’re actually seeing now, strategically through collab- oration and various media and brand campaigns, is we’ve proac- tively grown a lot of our talents’ New Zealand following so brands in New Zealand can engage Australian-based content creators who have a really high New Zealand following and it’s finan- cially more viable. They can see a clear ROI on their spend which unfortunately a lot of the times utilising New Zealand influencers for huge fees, you’re not seeing as much of an impact.”
Winterbourn says that in addi- tion to high prices, a small talent pool in New Zealand means brands are often using the same influencers and therefore reaching the same audience. The closeness between Australia and New Zealand means there’s an opportunity to take local creators who can successfully con- nect with New Zealanders.
Born Bred recently took Australian comedy duo The Inspired Unemployed to shoot con- tent for an Uber campaign using key New Zealand figures such as the All Blacks and music band Six60. The Inspired Unemployed landed on every major 6pm news bulletin while they were in New Zealand, proving the demand for fresh talent is “huge” in the mar- ket, says Winterbourn.
However, she warns that brands can’t simply take their Australian content and repurpose it for New Zealand.
“While there are some very clear similarities between the two countries, humour is differ- ent in Australia and New Zealand,” says Winterbourn.
“You have to approach the markets as two different markets but depending on the brand, there is a lot of crossover and syn- ergy when you’re a brand
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