New Stance is a creative-first social and influencer marketing agency, specialising in the lifestyle, entertainment, and sports sectors that uses a strategic and data-led approach. This approach has resulted in highly successful campaigns for global clients such as Spotify, Sky and Paramount+.
To learn more about this unique agency, we spoke to CEO Mark Keisner.
How was your company born and where are you based?
My background is in talent marketing in sports specifically, working with some of the biggest talent and football clubs, brand managing and activating commercial partnerships via social content.
From that, I spotted an opportunity for a specialist, insight-led talent marketing agency more focused on influencer marketing to better service the development of content and social media activity.
The potential in this space was spotted by Miroma Group with whom we went on to build New Stance, and being part of an innovative, entrepreneurially-driven network of global agencies benefits us hugely in terms of teams, resource and servicing clients across multiple verticals.
We are currently based out of the Miroma Group HQ in Fitzrovia and to be surrounded by so many varied media and marketing companies - and very often their founders - offers endless inspiration.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?
One of my ongoing bugbears about the attitude towards influencer marketing is that so many people still consider it a bolt on to their wider marketing rather than a media channel in its own right.
We work with several clients, such as Spotify, Paramount, Blondies Kitchen, for whom an influencer campaign is a core part of their strategy but for other businesses it’s not unusual that we’re asked to produce a campaign at the eleventh hour when all other creative has been well underway for months.
Now this isn’t necessarily challenging the growth of our company - we can and do deliver, but I can’t help but think the sector itself could thrive even more if it was given the appropriate consideration.
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
Being appointed agency of record for a major, blue chip brand like Spotify was a big moment. It gave us the confidence to really push the boundaries of creativity working with a brand that is renowned for innovation and the energy of their communication.
No sector has deeper roots in influencer-led marketing than music - it predates radio, never mind the internet - so to be in a position to drive that forward in its modern guise is a huge privilege.
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
We think that influencer-powered marketing activity has so much potential for a huge number of brands - it may not seem obvious to those who haven’t embarked on this kind of marketing activity before, but influencer marketing is evolving all the time and there are boundless opportunities to make an impact in a smart, memorable way, irrespective of sector.
The creator economy offers an unrivalled opportunity for brands to build communities within social platforms and the communities and the individuals within them are often hard to reach efficiently through other broadcast and digital channels.
We want to help as many brands as possible make the most of the opportunities that the creator economy offers; we know from our collective expertise and knowledge just how powerful this activity is within the marketing communications mix.
New Stance specialises in culturally led activations within the entertainment industry but we’re always keen to broaden our client base into other verticals as there are so many brands that we want to work with.
Can you explain your team’s strategy / process? What makes it unique?
Everything is rooted in consumer insight and any creative strategy is developed through a social-first lens. As a team we are marketing experts specialising in influencer marketing, and can draw upon our experience working for brands, media agencies, creative agencies and talent agencies to articulate how influencer marketing can best perform within the marketing communications mix.
Plus we’re platform and talent agnostic so can always provide a completely objective solution for clients.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
In order to produce great work and a fantastic level of creativity we need to consume and be inspired by great work and creativity.
We love sharing our experiences of different forms of culture, be it music, food, fashion, entertainment, gaming or literature, and ensure that we consume a wide variety so we are always learning, stimulated and motivated to produce exciting work for the brands we work with.
Plus, sharing a home at Miroma Group with a significant number of other founder-led agencies keeps our mindsets broad, with countless opportunities to swap insights, ideas and contacts as well as opportunities to work on projects we might otherwise never have heard about.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
John Hegarty is a continual inspiration - an advocate of a no-nonsense approach to business and marketing that really resonates with us.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Move quickly when you spot an opportunity. Brands need agility and communication has to be culturally relevant and of the moment to be relatable and resonate with consumers. The adaptability and agility that we can bring to the party for brands is one of our key strengths.
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
Much like any successful influencer that we work with, we are trying to build our business through networking and developing relationships with brands that we admire and want to work with.
But we also find our work and our approach is our CV - much as we long for more lead time, we know it’s not something we’ll always have so we are used to working quickly and clients recognise the quality of work we produce in a short space of time.
There are a lot of pretenders in our line of work who have a ‘how hard can it be’ approach which, ironically, only serves to make the quality campaigns stand out.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
We do not want our industry to become a media metric race to the bottom where cost effective reach is paramount. It is our view that any brand or marketing team considering influencer marketing in this way has fundamentally misunderstood the power of influencers and the creator economy.
We pride ourselves on our work/ creators earning the metrics, not buying them, and anyone who doesn’t subscribe to this approach is doing the industry a massive disservice.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
The E Myth by Michael E Gerber and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini PHD are both must reads for anyone starting their own business or interested in influencer marketing, and books I encourage every member of the New Stance team to have on their bookshelf.
