Brief:
- Liquid-Plumr is sponsoring a YouTube influencer campaign titled "Will It Clog?" that is racking up millions of views, according to Marketing Daily. The Clorox brand of drain opener partnered with online gift store Vat19 and the HellthyJunkFood cooking channel to create segments that challenge Liquid-Plumr to unclog pipes jammed with outlandish mounds of food.
- Vat19's Jamie Salvatori and Eric Christensen demonstrate Liquid-Plumr with the same quirky sense of humor they bring to product demonstrations and reviews on the Vat19 YouTube channel, which has 5.6 million subscribers. Their video that matches Liquid-Plumr against melted chocolate, bacon and grease or a combination of fast-food had been streamed more than 1.6 million times at press time since going live on Sept. 20.
- A “Will It Clog?” challenge video on HellthyJunkFood, which has 1.9 million subscribers, had generated more than 440,000 views since Sept. 9. The video incorporated a native ad demonstration of Liquid-Plumr clearing a kitchen drain clogged with food, including a chocolate lava cake.
Insight:
Liquid-Plumr's campaign on YouTube shows how a consumer product, even a drain cleaner, can be incorporated into the programming of social influencers with millions of subscribers. The brand has developed a reputation for off-beat campaigns, including its limited-edition ugly Christmas sweaters that showed a fake "plumber’s crack" in the back and TV spots that showed everyday people partially exposing themselves as they unclog drains. Partnering with social influencers known for zany YouTube demonstrations lets both Liquid-Plumbr and the influencers stay true to their brands, which might increase resonance with consumers who are looking for authenticity.
Influencer marketing is becoming more popular among national advertisers who are seeking to cut through the ad clutter and reach audiences of young adults who have shifted their viewing to online and mobile platforms. Three-fourths of advertisers currently run some kind of influencer campaign, and about half (43%) plan to raise spending on it in the next 12 months, per a survey from the Association of National Advertisers. Influencers with followers counts in the single-digit millions — like Vat19 and HellthyJunkFood — are the type of "digital trailblazers" that outperform celebrities and microinfluencers, according to research by Fullscreen and Shareablee.
While YouTube has more than 1.8 billion users worldwide, it is the second-most popular platform for social influencer campaigns after Facebook's Instagram, which has about 1 billion users. Nine out of ten (88.9%) worldwide influencers use Instagram for marketing campaigns more than they did a year ago, according to a study from influencer marketing agency Activate cited by eMarketer. Marketers may spend about $1.6 billion on Instagram influencer marketing campaigns this year, according to influencer marketing firm Mediakix.
