These are usually models, actors or well-known influencers, but more and more companies are choosing to give non-celebrity Dutch people the opportunity to review a product for a fee. The idea is that it’s cheaper and looks more realistic.
Loïs Groen has created many videos like this for companies. “It’s so broad that you can apply to any company.” He was looking for a job while on vacation and saw this phenomenon. “I mostly saw American YouTubers because they are just starting out here in the Netherlands. Then I saw TikTok videos of girls explaining how to get started.
It started with creating a portfolio. “I took all kinds of products from the house, pretended to buy it from the company and told them a little about it.” Groen now receives two to three orders a day. “Only and Rituals recently asked me this question. So these are real jobs. “The market is so big you can really do anything.”
DDMA, the trade organization for influencers, says the use of unknown Dutch personalities is a new trend. “The great thing about influencer marketing is that it feels like a friend is promoting something,” says Naomi van der Louw, a lawyer at DDMA. “The younger someone is on social networks, the more trust they inspire.” The organization does not have any figures.
No need for studio anymore
CEO Joran Iedema says using unknown Dutchmen for advertising has significantly changed the way Dyme’s digital home budget works. “This is received positively by people. “We started with high-quality production on social media, but it costs a lot of money and feels so wrong.” Dyme says it’s now much cheaper.
Videos fall under the umbrella term user-generated content. “Users” are people who record this content themselves and create their own scenarios around the product. There is no director, no professional lighting. And it works, says Iedema. He believes that unlike a model, actor or influencer, these people are more sincere and therefore appear more trustworthy. He sees app downloads increasing after such a video.
University of Amsterdam marketing professor Joris Demmers agrees. “When normal people advertise, it can be effective because then people are not as careful. “So the message is received with less distrust.” Consumers perceive ads merely as an annoying interruption to what they’re watching on television, Demmers says. “But in this case the advertising radar is not on.”
For this reason, influencers were also very popular among companies a few years ago. “These were boys and girls who could also be your neighbors. But now the influencers themselves have become a kind of celebrity.” The influence of the “normal” consumer is no longer valid.
Lisan Wagenaar was one of the first to implement this form of marketing in the Netherlands. She completed two courses with American companies operating in this field. “All marketing departments were already familiar with this. This was not the case at all in Europe. Companies immediately thought I was impressive. Actually, I had to explain this. “That was just a year ago.”
Wagenaar now has a course company where he shares his experiences with others who want to do the same. “Companies tell us what they’re looking for, how many videos they’re looking for and what kind of products they’re looking for. Whether it is advertising or organic content. Sometimes you can pitch your creative idea, but other times they provide a script with all the takes you need and the lines you need to say.
Sometimes he gets recognized in a commercial and gets news about it. “I found it a little strange at first, but now I enjoy it.”
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
