AiMCO Awards: Five things we learnt about the creator economy on Thursday night
The annual AiMCO Awards were held last Thursday night at the NIDA Theatres in Kensington. More than 300 people attended what was, in many ways, a landmark event for Australia's $900 million influencer industry.
Here are some of the main takeaways from the night:
- AAMA Board Chair and CEO of Zenith, Jason Tonelli, challenged the industry and trade media to take influencer marketing seriously
"I must underscore the importance of AiMCO's work in fostering support and transparency within the influencer marketing space," Tonelli told the room. "Tonight presents an unparalleled opportunity to recognise the influence everyone in this room has in elevating brands. I urge the trade press – of which a few of you are here tonight – and to not only celebrate tonight but collaborate with us in sharing success stories and promoting the integration of influencer marketing into every marketing strategy."
- A cat, Princess Honeybelle, won 'Most Influential Creator' (but not everyone was happy about this)
Where to begin ... Well, firstly, yes, a cat influencer won the 'Most Influential Creator' award, and that might have raised some eyebrows across the industry this week. Some found it awesome and/or hilarious, while others were frustrated about what it signified about the industry.
The real question here is: did Princess Honeybelle meet the criteria for what was essentially the creator Grand Prix of the evening? I suspect the answer here is likely yes.
@princesshoneybellex Pay transparency is so important, especially in social media where creators are still accepting gifts as payment. You deserve more & you are worth more! 💖 Our income is majority brand deals and merch sales, we don’t have access to TikTok creator program or any other bonuses, and this income does NOT include anything that was gifted to us (we don’t accept gifts as payment). We also only work with brands and products that we really like or use ourselves, or think our audience would enjoy. This means we turn down the majority of deals, and usually only do an average of 2 ads per month. We are grateful to be in this position to be able to choose which deals we do, and it took us many hours of hard work and investing in ourselves to get here. Here’s to a bigger and better 2023, and to more transparency in the creator community! 💖 #paytransparency #contentcreator #petinfluencer #socialmediamarketing #influencerpay #influencer #catinfluencer #whatimadein2022 #ugccreator
♬ The Months of the Year - The Kiboomers
It's worth calling out that Nicole Wade, the woman behind the account, is one of Australia's top pet creators (and she's not currently represented by an agency or talent manager). It is natural to debate a power list or most influential award, but Princess Honeybelle and her owner Wade have clearly built a highly successful online following (see our AiMCO award profile of her here).
In an Instagram post following the award wins Wade noted: "For us pet creators, it can be difficult getting recognition and being taken seriously in this industry.
"We are often overlooked and don’t get as many opportunities as other content creators in niches such as fashion, beauty, or lifestyle. I’m hoping that with these wins, it proves that pet creators deserve a chance and serve as an important (excuse me, ‘impawtant’) part of the content creation industry.
"A quick Google search shows that the Aussie pet industry in 2021 was worth more than $14 billion with over 29 million pets in 61% of Aussie households. There’s clear value in featuring pets in all types of campaigns, and not just ones that are pet product focused. (For example, we’ve worked with HelloFresh, Oatly, Ferrero Rocher, Oppo, LG, and AfterPay to name a few ‘non-pet’ products).
3. Hello, Social Soup, and also Mushroom Connect, were the big agency winners of the night
Two of Australia's biggest influencer agencies dominated, with Social Soup taking out three brand awards for Best family/parenting/pets, Best business/finance/insurance/telco, and best gifting campaign.
Newly rebranded full-service agency Hello also took out five awards and got two highly commended recognitions.
On the talent management side, Mushroom Connect also did well with three of their creators taking out Best Creator category wins, with Best Up & Coming Creator going to comedy duo Granny Flat, Best Food and Beverage going to Lily Huynh, and a very excited Ginger & Carman taking out the Best Beauty, Fashion, Style Creator category.
4. Fabulate won Best Influencer Marketing Technology again
Toby Kennett, CEO of Fabulate said: “This is the second year in a row in which we have taken out this prestigious industry award. It’s gratifying that the hard work and dedication of the entire team in making our product truly world-class has been recognised again.
“I am extremely proud of the work we have done this year to improve analytics in the space, lift the bar on brand safety, and in the coming months we will also make it easier to transact and for brands to pay creators. All of this is about unlocking the potential of an influencer marketing space that in Australia is worth more than $800m and growing rapidly.” (Disclosure)*
- Taz and Alessia and We Got The Chocolates both received positive feedback for their MCing
Keeping the room in check is always a challenge at industry awards, but both duos did well. Taz and Alessia also won Best Creator in the Business and Finance Creator category.
*Fabulate is the sponsor of The Social Hook, and the author consults for them on PR and communications
