Today Starbucks announced it will close more than 8,000 stores on May 29 for racial bias training. This is in response to backlash stemming from a viral video in which two African-American customers were arrested for trespassing as they awaited a colleague. Stefania Pomponi, CLEVER founder and president, is quoted in Adweek making the point that Starbucks should be very worried about financial repercussions resulting from this incident. African-American spending power exceeds $1 trillion, and … Read Full Post »

AdWeek tapped CLEVER CEO, Cat Lincoln, to share her thoughts about the Erin Johnson WPP settlement and what that means for the ad industry  going forward. Read on to find out Cat’s opinion on what needs to change in order to prevent these situations from happening in the first place.

https://clvr.li/2uX7PiQ

#womeninbusiness #womenCEOs #womenleaders… Read Full Post »

Our founder Kristy Sammis shares her professional expertise in TheStreet on why brand values matter to all users not just those who are paying for it. Social commentary is easier than ever and brands should expect to hear feedback from everyone at all times. Mistakes cannot be buried in Terms & Conditions any longer.

https://clvr.li/2udSERT

#influencermarketing #contentmarketing #CLEVERmarketing #snapchat… Read Full Post »

Dear Industry Insiders,

At CLEVER, our mission is to #KeepItReal. (Our tagline is Real. At Scale. Because that is what influencer marketing is all about.)

This means we are constantly fighting misconceptions propagated by other vendors, especially when it comes to measurement tactics and industry analytics. But when I recently spoke to an analytics provider who purposely misled me about their data, we decided enough is enough.

Here’s what happened:

“Actual Impressions” is a very … Read Full Post »

Our founder and president, Stefania Pomponi. had the opportunity to share her opinion regarding brands and the NRA with a journalist from The Drum this week. Please check out her full thoughts (expanded from the quote included in the article), and the entire article below!

“Consumer trust in brands is at an all-time low. More than ever consumers want to know if companies and their executives share their values. Brands need to be transparent … Read Full Post »

A recent New York Times article surfaced a practice that has concerned us since we started CLEVER almost nine years ago: influencers paying for social media followers.

This is one of the most discussed topics when we meet with clients. My co-founders and I have been in this industry for 15 years now–we helped to build it as we know it–and in terms of bought (or bot!) followers, we have seen it all. This is … Read Full Post »

You may have seen the news today that private information from over 12,000 prominent social media influencers across various social media platforms were exposed last month by a data breach at a marketing firm that pairs influencers with brands.

We want you to know we take security very seriously at CLEVER.

These days, every organization faces a constant barrage of security challenges from hackers and bugs, but an under-discussed area of data security is people. … Read Full Post »

We’re proud to share that CLEVER CEO, Cat Lincoln, is one of eight women leaders chosen by Forbes to share her perspective on mentoring. Find out how working closely with our VP of Client Services, Edita Rodriguez, changed Cat’s perspective on mentorship and how that makes her a better CEO. http://clvr.li/2DSIjLI

#womeninbusiness #womenCEOs #womenleaders #runitlikeagirl #trustwomen… Read Full Post »

Facebook algorithm changes have you confused? Don’t worry! #influencers are well-positioned to benefit from these changes! Brands can leverage their trust and engagement to help get their key messaging out, build brand awareness, and drive sales. See what @realclever Founder and Chief Innovation officer has to say in this Business Insider article.

http://clvr.li/2DXQSbo… Read Full Post »

As we begin the new year, every advertising and marketing decision-maker is looking into what’s next: What’s the newest, hottest tech or trend to jump on in 2018? While we’re bound to see new product and service launches that’ll shake our industry, as long as social media reigns supreme, content marketing, targeted advertising, and influencer marketing will need to keep up with finicky and vocal consumer sentiment. This must inform how we do business.

Here … Read Full Post »