Elevating the game, CEO and co-founder of Influencer Ben Jeffries discusses the significance of personal branding and the power of authenticity.

In a world where brands increasingly rely on influencers to connect with consumers, have you ever wondered how this phenomenon began? Meet Ben Jeffries, the CEO and co-founder of Influencer, one of the pioneering global influencer marketing agencies established by creators for creators. Partnering with YouTube sensation Caspar Lee in 2017, Ben set out to empower creators to forge a new media landscape that elevates brands and enhances their presence on social platforms. Fast forward to 2024, and Influencer stands at the forefront of its industry, recognised as a powerhouse that uniquely bridges the gap between brands and influencers.

 

What started as a personal project to promote Ben’s clothing line through youth footballers on Twitter evolved into an innovative strategy: leveraging micro-influencers—those with smaller but fiercely loyal followings—to create authentic connections. Ben recognised a shift in audience expectations as traditional advertising waned; people craved genuine voices that resonated with their experiences. Swiftly these micro-influencers became the answer.

 

Under Ben’s leadership, Influencer has expanded globally, with offices in North America, Europe, and the Middle East, collaborating with major brands like Google, Nike, and Coca-Cola. Yet, Ben’s true emphasis lies in cultivating meaningful relationships. Whether through crafting compelling narratives or creating synergy between brands and influencers, Influencer breathes life into authentic connections, creating captivating interactions that resonate and inspire.

 

By nurturing a sense of community and trust in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, Ben has positioned Influencer as a leader in the marketing industry, and the trajectory is only upward. From collaborating with TikTok to study human behaviour to unravelling the secrets of creating scroll-stopping content, we catch up with Ben to explore all things creative. Sharing his personal tips and tricks, below he talks about the importance of authenticity, personal branding and more.

How did Influencer come to be?

The idea of Influencer came from this clothing brand I had at the time. I thought about how I could make the clothing brand the next big thing. Now, everyone knows that if celebrities wear your clothes, that can help grow the brand. I’m a massive Chelsea FC fan, so I reached out to some main team players who ignored me, then I reached out to youth team players who had around 10,000 to 20,000 followers at the time on Twitter, and I got lots of creative responses from them, saying that they’d be happy to receive my clothes and post tweets wearing them. That made me see that there’s a gap in the market for other people of that size that I can connect to, micro-influencers now, so to speak.

 

After doing that I went to Bath University to study Business. I ended up dropping out because I was really inspired by someone called Ajaz Ahmed, who founded a company called AKQA, which he sold to WPP for £300 million and dropped out. I told myself I was going to build and grow this con Influencer out and see if I can make it one of the largest global influencer marketing businesses, and when I dropped out, I met my co-founder, Caspar Lee.

Can you tell us the story of how you and Caspar met?

I met Caspar, I guess, you could say through Tinder. Caspar was dating one of my friends at the time and they met through Tinder. When they were dating, I said to my friend that I must be introduced to him. He was on every billboard around London as the future of entertainment, the future of YouTube. She set me up with a 30-minute coffee and said it was up to me to impress him and see if I could build something up. We met up and instantly vibed. At the time Caspar was at this juncture where 90% of the money that he was making was coming from brand partnerships. He was going through the motions of not just wanting to be a creator and influencer, but an entrepreneur as well. Caspar understood the creator industry like nobody else. I thought if we can come together, we can drive Influencer together.

You mention that reaching out to footballers was the moment when you noticed the power of micro-influencers. Can you tell us more about that realisation?

Footballers were my relatability to the world of influencing, as I was such a big football fan, I related to them. I only knew about the youth team players with around 10,000 followers because I was a big Chelsea fan, whereas there are many other people who have the same amount of following because they post about a different niche. Food bloggers and fitness bloggers all had the same similar-sized audiences and told their own story.

You believe that “creators are the future of advertising”. How have the brands that you worked with benefitted from working with creators to showcase their brand?

When we first started, influencer marketing was a PR afterthought. Then about three, or four years ago, it became its own line item in the media plan, where people were seeing the benefits of using influencers for their reach. Now what’s happening is the industry’s moved so far forward that it’s not just about influencers as a media buy, it’s also about using influencers as a creative buy.  So, can influencers be used in other forms of media? Can influencers be used on billboards? TV adverts? On online display adverts?

 

A really cool example of this is the Nike Air Max launch in North America. Creators produced content for us on TikTok and put them on billboards around Times Square. It was part of TikTok’s new initiative called TikTok Out of Phone, obviously a play on out of home. It showed the blend of having creators originally posting for their reach on social but then their content going onto billboards. The creators were proud and were looking around New York to find their billboards, whilst their followers were also part on the search of the billboards.

Of course, we have multiple different social media platforms suited to best for what creators want to achieve. Tell me a bit about what platforms are best for creatives to achieve their goals

If there’s one platform right now that every advertiser has to be on, it’s TikTok. TikTok is where the attention lies. They have changed the game in terms of attention, the attention is the creators, and the consumers are able to create content that goes viral. I’m sure you’ve spent hours on your For You Page, and it’s because the algorithm enables you to see similar content that you’ll be engaged within.

 

Instagram has its strength in multiple content formats. You’ve got stories, feed posts, reels. Creators have different opportunities to tell different stories to the same audience. Brands can tap into that and reinsert messages at multiple touchpoints and deliver that brand awareness. Ultimately, every platform can work for awareness. It ultimately depends on the influencer strategy that you’re building out.

How would you recommend a creative creating scroll-stopping content?  Is it about tapping into micro trends or?

You want to be making sure you’re on the trend at the start rather than at the end. Trends have become communities because when others see people engaging in trends, they feel like they’re all part of something really exciting. So, for creators to create scroll-stopping content it’s about them being on trend, but also them adding their own authentic touch. No one wants to see the same content again and again, without something relatable.

We’ve had this prioritisation for authenticity within creators recently. How have you noticed this want for authenticity impacting brands decisions for choosing creators?

Now, in terms of actual authenticity, it’s such a big buzzword because it means so many different things. Right now, Snapchat are saying that the app is there for you to be the ‘real you’. They’re indicating that the content you’re creating on other platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, is polished and how you want to appear. Whereas on Snapchat, you can just be yourself because it’s not so much about discoverability. It’s people who’ve chosen to follow you and your friends.

 

Authenticity can be about posting on multiple content formats on those other platforms, where you’re giving someone a full 360-degree view of yourself. So, authenticity is kind of defined differently per platform.

What are some tips you would give to kind of up-and-coming creatives looking to or just starting to build their personal brand?

I think, first and foremost, create as much content as possible. It’s a content game, especially when you’re trying to find your voice. You need to be putting as much content out as possible to see what resonates with audiences. The more content you drive out, the more it can get seen by different audiences, and that can help shape your future narrative. You also need to make the content varied. Collaboration is also key. Collaborating with other creators or brands can help you tap into their audiences to help share their stories.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?

It may not be advice but a quote that really stuck with me is from Gordon Ramsay: ‘Never fear a storm, learn to dance in the rain’. It stuck with me as it’s typical when you’re starting out that a storm happens and suddenly you want to panic and change track. But it’s how you often react to those situations that define your next steps. So, the whole element of learning to dance in the rain is much about persevering through. So, if any block comes, I just take a minute, pause and think about how I can get through it.