Nick Koka’s Post

Let’s talk about how brands are getting ripped off by influencer agencies. Influencer agencies tell brands they need a budget to pay a group of creators for a campaign - let’s say it’s $100k. Then the agency negotiates with the creators getting as low a rate as possible, especially if they work with more than one client. The actual costs of negotiated creator deals is say $80k - the agency is very pleased because they keep the difference ($20k). This is often in addition to and above the fees influencer agencies charge for their services. In other words, the agency is making a margin on their services and then also taking a cut on the working dollars without explicitly disclosing it. Nearly every influencer agency is doing some version of this and doubling their margins. (It’s even how it worked when I got here a few years ago.) I realize this is similar to how a production model works, but influencers have reach that is more like media, and I personally think this lack of transparency is not good for brands and even worse for creators. Of course it is expected for an agency to charge a fee for influencer services, but these fees should be clear and transparent. The brand should be able to benefit from the agency negotiating on their behalf- that’s what they’re being paid to do. 🤝 Since I joined Narrative I have asked our influencer group to track all negotiated influencer costs - if there’s money left over we put it toward hiring more creators or other services. We do not simply keep the difference. Sorry if you hate me for sharing this industry secret 🤫! HMU if you have questions about what to ask your agency to avoid it. 🤙

Is anyone brave enough to try this? If your agency is being consumed by meetings, try this: 1. Make the default for a meeting 15 min (You need to justify if you want to make it longer) 2. Every meeting must have an agenda or it gets deleted 3. Every agenda must specify what the desired outcome is from the meeting 4. Participants can deliver on that outcome and then skip/delete the meeting 5. Anyone can challenge the need for a meeting Your business model is selling time. Too many meetings reduce the hours you have available to sell, or you're charging clients for one-hour meetings that could have been 15 min (or an email). Either way, taking a strong and deliberate stance on meetings is critical to improving profitability, efficiency, and quality of work. The only people who will hate this are the ones who like to hide in 'busyness'.

Today, we launch the brand of the new FIFA Club World Cup, which is set to be the start of a new era in club football. 32 of the best clubs from all corners of the world will be competing in the United States in June and July 2025. They are at the heart of the tournament. And everyone at FIFA, myself included, cannot wait! 32 of the best clubs globally will meet on the world stage, where only one will be crowned the world champion!

Food for thought… #influencermanagement #publicity #influencermarketing

The FIFA Club World Cup 2025: everything you need to know! ℹ️ Next year, a new era for club football will commence with the FIFA Club World Cup. Commencing on 15 June 2025 in the USA, the 32-team format will feature 63 matches over 29 days with the final taking place on 13 July 2025. A group stage composed of eight groups of four teams will play against each other, with the top two teams per group progressing into the knockout rounds. Find out more:

Meetings are so fascinating. Almost every one of them is way too long for what is needed! For everyone who runs a company, make this the year where you put pressure on meetings and their length. Sometimes a long meeting is actually needed - but many times it's not. People tend to fill the time the time they have. If you give them 30 minutes they'll take 30, if you give them 15 minutes they'll take 15. I love 7-minute meetings that are normally booked for 30 minutes. I love 27-minute meetings when they are normally booked for an hour. People are always complaining that they don’t have enough time when in fact they just had 9 meetings on that day that all were wasted by filling the time they scheduled and thus wasting 2-4 hours!