That’s Amore!
Metrics. Data. Analytics. Insights. Benchmarks. Bench presses. Ok, not bench presses, but you get the idea.
Have I lost you? Probably. But then again, did I ever really have you? (And to the handful of ex-boyfriends reading this because you can only snoop on me via marketing essays on LinkedIn: I am absolutely not referring to you. Kindly move along.)
Gifting campaigns! My favorite famous quote about gifts is easily: "Wow, this _____ tastes/feels/looks better because it was free!" — me, as I carry around a tote bag with five free Recess sodas for seven hours because someone handed them to me at a trade show. Confirming they do taste better than if I had paid for them. #Blessed.
So, I, clad in a Zara blouse and overdrawn lip, disperse these presents to influencers like a slightly less rotund and far less jolly Santa.
And, in true humblebrag fashion (duh, I’m a PR person) these gifts are frequently shared with the world at no cost to the brand. This is where metrics become critical says me in any meeting ever, highlighting what the brand is gaining: Earned Media Value (EMV). EMV reflects the estimated cost the brand would incur for the exposure received (aka this would have cost you a lot am I your hero now??). And anyone who engages with the content becomes part of the brand’s marketing funnel. These impressions are particularly valuable because they come from a 'trusted source' (because what is more trusted than an a social media algorithm in the year 2024, come on!).
Then there’s the flood effect: when your feed is suddenly awash with influencers all talking about the same thing at once. This is how I discover most of my book recommendations and milkmaid dresses. And results can again be tied back to backend analytics, tracking traffic surges to websites and social engagement/sales around the time the products are promoted.
Finally, and arguably most importantly, there’s what can’t really be tracked, which I call the "Amanda Rubino Pasta Dress Effect" (or 'Affect,' depending on the sentence).
Last year I learned about a brand from an Influencer called Lisa Says Gah. Someone cute was wearing (not sure who, because they’re all cute). Then, the Amanda Rubino Pasta Dress Effect begins. First, I look at the brands ig: OMG! Love this! Then I go to the website. I am obsessed! I can’t believe how cute this is! Then I spend between 6-9 months thinking about the dress. During this time I tell my Mom about the brand via multiple screenshots, endless, relentless/borderline harassing texts about my sizing. Naturally, I still don’t purchase the dress, but annoyingly SHE buys it within 24 hours of seeing at, and being that she is very cute and trendy, she wears it everywhere and gets a ton of compliments and people fawn all over her telling her how much they love the dress. Yet still, I don’t purchase the dress, but often lament about how I want to buy it. I
By this point, I’d long been "sunsetted" in email campaigns. Lisa Says Gah probably considered me a lost cause, a looky-loo. But I emerged victorious, many months later, with not one, but two styles of pasta dresses—plus the two my mom bought (note: we absolutely cannot wear them at the same time, or we’ll look like we’re auditioning for an Olive Garden biopic).
Is this extreme? Maybe. Do I need some new hobbies? Mind your business. But I’m not alone. According to Retail TouchPoints, 76% of consumers have bought a product they saw on social media, with 44% purchasing online later and 21% buying in a physical store after seeing a social post. How much time is “later”? In my case, a while. For others, probably less.
When considering a gifting campaign for a brand, the math is simple. You determine how many packages you’re willing to send and what the landed cost is. I, with my professional experience and mathematical prowess (circa that one time I didn’t bomb a math test in college), tell you the percentage of open rates we can expect. Then, you compare the cost of goods sold (COGS) to the EMV.
And that is the science, art, and drama behind gifting campaigns. It’s a balance between data-driven strategy and the occasional "Pasta Dress Effect"—the waiting, the obsessing, the ultimate swoon-worthy purchase months down the line. Sure, we can quantify EMV, impressions, and traffic surges, but sometimes the real magic is in the slow burn: the often un-trackable lag between when you first see that dress (or soda, or moisturizer) and when it finally lands in your shopping cart. And the overwhelming joy
As they say in Italian: “Chi la dura la vince!" – "Who perseveres, wins!"