How Do Influencer Marketing Agencies Work With Sustainability As .

1.1 Research problem There are many scientific articles within the field of influencer marketing; the researchers of this paper, however, found a research gap within the field of influencer marketing agencies and how they work with sustainability as intermediaries. Keegan et al. (2017) and Childers, Lemon & Hoy (2019) express that the complexity of the relationship between the agencies and clients has increased as digital and social media marketing continues to grow. For this reason, many companies take advantage of using several different marketing agencies that have developed innovative strategies regarding influencer marketing. The influencer shares their lifestyle, hobbies and trends on social media and can create a strong link between their followers and hold the power of consumers' minds, who are quick to pick up the latest trends. Therefore, it is of great importance how influencers are expressing their communication towards their followers. The influencers may act as the communication intermediate that can both strengthen and influence the relationship between sustainable behaviour. Influencers can influence attitude and morality through conscious and unconscious normalization of sustainability values. Therefore, the messages influencers spread can be a contributing factor to the increased unsustainable messages being communicated today (Johnstone & Lindh, 2018). The problem here lies in the conflict between how the influencing marketing agencies encourage this type of unsustainable messages and advocate a sustainable lifestyle. (Berne-Manero & MarzoNavarro, 2020). The literature on intermediaries' relation to sustainability is also still very limited. In general, the literature focuses on innovation intermediaries, which is a more technical exploration of the concept. There is a lack of clear definitions of intermediaries and their role in their position between two actors. This results in a need for research that exposes relationships and their connections as well as the work of intermediary organizations because they are key players in long-term and complex changes such as when incorporating sustainability. The influencers and intermediary promoting the product or service in a greenwashing manner can affect the company and the influencer in various negative consequences. For example, they might get "punished" in the public eye by consumers not wanting to choose the influencer or the company to work with again, nor consumers supporting the company. Therefore, it’s of great importance how the messages from the company are being used through the intermediary and passed on to the chosen influencer. The problem lies within how influencer marketing 3

agencies promote content to their influencers. The question is if it is for purely monetary purposes or if there is something that the agencies do to incorporate sustainability to prevent greenwashing from occurring. 1.2 Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate how influencer marketing agencies work with sustainability as intermediaries. The authors aim to investigate how the agencies work with the influencers in terms of sustainability, whether the influencer marketing agency has a given strategy for the influencer to communicate sustainably or not. The thesis aims to provide results and show how influencer marketing companies can promote sustainability as an intermediary. 1.3 Research Question R1 “How do influencer marketing agencies work and promote sustainability to their influencers?”. 1.4 Delimitation For this paper, a delimitation was made regarding the perspectives that exist within the relevant subject. Instead of starting from the consumer perspective and how the influencers perceive sustainability, the authors chose to start from influencer marketing agencies and their perspective in relation to the purpose and problem formulation of the research. The reason for this is that influencer marketing agencies possess broadly nuanced knowledge. They work with many clients, and that there is not much previous research in the field from the perspective of these types of marketing agencies. Therefore, the researchers saw this as an opportunity to present how companies that want to implement influencer marketing can act and promote sustainability as an intermediary. 4

2. Theoretical Framework 2.1 Sustainability Sustainability has become an increasingly important issue in recent decades. Whether it is discussed about climate change, loss in biodiversity, poverty or other sustainable issues, sustainability issues are central and affect everyone on earth, including how companies and consumers act today. One of the most frequently used definitions of sustainability was coined by Elkington (2006) that stated the following; “[.] Today's generations have to take responsibility for the future; future generations' ability should not be compromised to meet their own needs as much as individuals on earth need to [.].” Furthermore, the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland's most 68cited definition of sustainable development is: “[.] Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [.]” (Brundtland, 1987). It was not until the late 1990s that the view between the environment and economic growth changed. The two paradigms are now considered to be intertwined in the newly developed term ecological modernization. Ecological modernization does not mean that companies need a balance between economic gain or environmental considerations. It is rather about developing a strategy that results in economic profitability while taking the environment into account (Ottosson & Kotler, 2013). Eklington (2006) illustrated the model “Triple Bottom Line”, which includes environmental, social and economic aspects. These three dimensions are often named profit, planet and people, and the balance between these three dimensions is what creates the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). From a sustainable perspective, companies can base their businesses on the mentioned aspects and can be included to varying degrees within the field of marketing (Kumar, Rahman & Kazmi, 2012; Isaksson, Garvare & Johnson, 2015). Interest in sustainability has increased, and consumers are more conscious of their choices affecting the environment (Chen & Chang, 2013). According to Paul, Modi and Patel (2016), this type of environmental awareness increases consumer intention to buy more sustainable 5

products and the willingness to pay for higher prices. Besides, it also shows that more environmentally educated consumers are more willing to purchase sustainable products. Recent marketing literature has emphasized the importance for businesses to acknowledge sustainability issues and has a strategic plan for incorporating sustainability into their business model. Businesses must adjust their approach to sustainability efforts and adopt a customercentric approach to sustainability marketing (Yalcin et al., 2020). 2.2 Sustainable Marketing Sustainability issues need to be incorporated within companies when choosing marketing campaigns and communication strategies since they are expected to contribute sustainability development in both their business and in relation to what they offer their consumers (Ottosson & Parment, 2016). Sustainable marketing is an area that has been studied by Kotler (2011) and Bridges & Wilhelm (2008), among others, where all researchers agree that marketing practices need to change due to the aspect of sustainability. Gordon, Carrigan and Hastings (2011) explain that sustainable marketing seeks to advertise sustainability in a cautious way by bringing up sustainable factors which subsequently can target a solution. The sustainable factors within sustainable marketing are defined as the integration of environmental, social and economic aspects of companies’ marketing communication, which includes everything from strategy to implementation (Ottosson & Parment, 2016). Grant (2007), however, claims that it could be tricky to use sustainable marketing practices since marketing intends to promote consumption and increase sales while sustainability is about preserving resources. Baldassarre & Campo (2016) also argue that sustainability can be seen as a tool in companies’ marketing, which further opposes the notion that sustainability and marketing function can be incompatible. The incompatibility is yet being challenged by the fact that sustainability in marketing is becoming more widespread and important. Awareness about sustainability among today’s consumers has created a significant value, and for that reason, it is given to companies to emphasize and incorporate sustainability (Baldassarre & Campo, 2016). 6

Kotler (2011) argues that marketing practices need to adapt to the sustainable requirements due to the increased demand for sustainability efforts in businesses. Therefore, applying sustainable marketing could influence consumers to make more conscious buying decisions (Gordon et al., 2011). Furthermore, when consumers are more involved with sustainable issues and concerns, advertisement in which sustainability issues are incorporated is perceived to be a lot more credible and trustworthy, and environmentally themed ads are greater regardless of the degree of sustainable issues in the promotion (Tucker, Rifon, Lee and Reece, 2012). In addition to what is mentioned above, companies cannot rely on outdated strategies when designing sustainable marketing strategies. Instead, it should be crucial to incorporate sustainability in all of their marketing activities, according to Tata, Hart, Sharma and Sarkar (2013), which Yalcin et al. (2020) resemble with. The authors highlight the importance of acknowledging sustainability preferences and creating a strategic plan for incorporating sustainability into their business model when working with sustainable marketing. 2.2.1 Sustainability in Companies Marketing communication Sustainable communication concerns the future development of society, according to Confetto & Covucci (2021), in which they aim to develop a critical awareness of problems of the relationship between human beings and their environment. Sustainability can no longer be seen as an alternative in companies’ marketing communication. It is a requirement for maintaining competitiveness and interest and should be a key component of a marketing strategy (Kumar et al., 2012). Baldassarre et al. (2016) further emphasize the importance of communicating sustainability in the marketing strategy. Implementing sustainable marketing communication could further also build trust in the minds of those in society. Spreading knowledge about sustainability to people nowadays can increase ecological sustainability. (McDonagh, 1998). It is highlighted that it is of great importance to start thinking beyond business performance towards strategies that preserve the world for future generations (Yalcin et al., 2020). Kapoor, Balaji & Jiang (2021) argues from another perspective that sustainable communication is challenging, but an important note worth mentioning is that marketing messages that incorporate notable environmental or sustainable messages can overperform traditional 7

marketing communications. The authors also claim that the way in which sustainability has to be communicated must evolve in terms of digital platforms, such as the web and social media. Social media has, in fact, shown the potential of impacting attitude formation and change (Confetto & Covucci, 2021). Marketers have, however, also recognized the potential for influencing the content created and shared by influencers (Yalcin et al., 2020). 2.2.2 Green Washing Many companies are striving to improve their environmental positions by presenting their environmental efforts. Hence, to do so, marketing strategies need to be applied in order to gain a competitive advantage and appeal to sustainability-conscious consumers. However, not all marketing strategies accurately reflect companies' environmental conduct and can therefore instead be viewed as greenwashing (Szabo & Webster, 2020). McKinley (2021) further explains the concept of greenwashing, where companies claim to be sustainable in some way and that it has arisen through marketing efforts towards a sustainable approach. The underlying reason for this is to create an image of responsibility (McKinley, 2021). A common tactic in the field of greenwashing applied by companies is, for instance, spending more money on advertising environmental achievements than actually taking real actions in this field (Marciniak, 2009). 2.3 Influencer Marketing According to Veirman et al. (2017), social media influencers are opinion leaders captivating the internet and impacting people. Influencers create a strong link between their followers by sharing their lifestyles, hobbies and trends. Glucksman (2017) implies that influencer marketing is a new phenomenon within social media because of the continuously growing and changing market. The author claims that there is a lack of scholarly research in this area since this is a popular and modern topic discussed widely in the media. There is, however, little to no scholarly research on how influencer marketing agencies operate today (Glucksman, 2017). Influencers are individuals who possess the power to affect their followers or other people’s purchase decisions because of their position, authority, knowledge, or relationship with their audience. They are marketing tools and social relationship assets in which companies can collaborate to achieve successful marketing goals (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2021). Influencers typically generate greater interaction in brand-related messaging in a more powerful and personal way than companies do (Cambell & Farell, 2020). 8

Fredberg (2010) explains social media influencers as a strategy for brands to connect with consumers directly and more organically. Social media influencers sponsor brands through their personal lives, making themselves relatable to the regular consumer on a daily basis. Therefore, the influencers create a strong connection between the brand and the consumers, which creates a more credible relationship and brand loyalty (Buyer, 2016). In addition, the influencer has the capability to target their niche market and is a vital marketing strategy for brands which Forbes (2018) also resembles with. Cambell and Farrell (2020) explain that there is a range between influencers from celebrity influencers, mega influencers, macro-influencers, micro-influencers and nano influencers. These categories are formed not only based on the number of followers but also through perceived authenticity, accessibility, experience and cultural capital. Enke & Borchers (2019) implies that strategic social media influencer communication is an important topic in strategic communication. Businesses today have found social media influencers important to intermediaries since they may target the “hard-to-reach stakeholders”, such as young adult consumers and special interest groups. Social media influencers have therefore gained a strong influential position in the organisation’s goals and objectives. Enke & Borchers (2019) constructed Figure 1 to illustrate how social media influencer marketing works in practice. In addition, the researchers of this paper have constructed a Figure presented in Chapter 3.2 Research design to clarify what areas this paper focuses on. Figure 1: Enker & Borchers (2019) Social media influencer marketing 9

2.3.1 Influencer Marketing Agencies Several new companies have developed in recent years to bind influencers and brands. These entrepreneurs, known as intermediaries, provide a wide range of products and services to both influencers and brands (Stoldt, Wellman, Ekdale & Tully, 2019). For example, Abidin & Ots (2016) claim that influencers can enter financial and contractual relationships with advertisers and product brands, directly or indirectly, through intermediary agencies. In addition, Keegan et al. (2017) highlight the importance of the relationship between the agency and their clients, which consists of both contractual and relational aspects. The two parts work together to create a successful campaign outcome. However, the complexity of the relationship between the agencies and clients has increased as digital and social media marketing continues to grow in terms of usage as well as expenditures on online promotional activities. Therefore, many companies use several different marketing agencies, which have been forced to develop innovative strategies, such as influencer marketing (Keegan et al., 2017; Childers et al., 2018). Influencer marketing agencies can capture the attention of brand consumers and promote relevant and relatable content to clients. In these types of public relations, social media has shaped the success in social media influencer marketing; it has changed the strategy that brands interact with consumers on a daily basis. Social media is highly central in an average consumer's life and has become more valuable in communication strategies. According to Gilin (2008), social media influencers enhance relationships with key markets to spread the reputation of the business being promoted, making customers aware of their online activities, providing customers feedback and comments. Brown & Hayes (2008) expresses that when a product is marketed with influencer marketing, it is essential to determine what result is to be achieved in connection with the collaboration. First and foremost, preparatory work is required to determine which potential target groups are of importance to the company. After that, the influencer's target group in question is mapped in order for the company behind the collaboration to maximize their message. The next step is to establish strategies for the collaborations they initiate with influencers, using different approaches depending on the area of interest in which the influencer is active. Based on these, companies can then choose their strategies to convey their message with the greatest effect. Other aspects that can be considered when selecting a strategy, whether the goal is to create 10

awareness about the brand or to directly influence direct purchasing decisions (Brown & Hayes, 2008). Hörnfeldt (2018) describes collaborations as partnerships between companies and influencers where the influencer is paid to show the company's products on their social media. The format can be varied endlessly, and the influencer is usually given free hands, with guidelines from the company, to personify their posts. Stoldt et al. (2019) express that through partnerships created in structured flexibility, influencers are contractually guaranteed to produce specific content while given the liberty to provide "on-brand" content. Having the freedom to decide on what matches their audiences' interests leads influencers to create more favourable content for brands as well as creating posts in a positive sense. Structured flexibility is formalized agreements where a brand provides an organizational scheme designed to suit the influencers campaign goals yet open enough for influencers to satisfy their unique needs on their pages. The method is flexible and allows influencers the power to form content that reflects their brands while also making the most influencers' existing relationship with their consumers. A collaboration must meet the four Ms; make, manage, monitor and measure, and similarly to advertising tools, clear goals and results presented in statistics are needed for successful collaboration (Brown & Fiorella 2013). 2.3.2 The important role influencer marketing agencies have as an intermediary Edelman (2014) claims in Harvard Business Review that intermediaries often provide valuable benefits such as facilitating the process for buyers to find what they need and improving standards, efficiency and keeping markets operating easily. The article also expresses that most companies feel that they have no choice but to "put up with intermediaries'' with their rules and fees, which is not the case. Intermediaries usually have a strong awareness of the customer market and insight into establishing customer relationships; intermediari

The influencer marketing agencies are the central and vital force of knowledge and experience within the influencer marketing area, working in order to ensure that campaigns are as successful and valuable as possible (Mediakix, 2021). Therefore, the influencer marketing agencies might become a driving force in how