Influencer marketing platform, Pearpop, has launched a new campaign, “Pearpop Drops,” using its creator community to promote 20 fake products to demonstrate the power of influencers in the social commerce space. Pearpop’s community of nearly 225,000 creators will promote products such as green lipstick, a pear-shaped speaker and a “Pearpop Deluxe” fast food meal through tongue-in-cheek recommendations on social media. The campaign plays off the massive growth of the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend, which recently crossed 50 billion views, highlighting the ability of influencers to generate buzz around a brand or product and directly impact sales.
Fake Products. Real Results.
As part of the campaign, Pearpop’s landing page reads “Fake Products. Real Results,” and anyone who attempts to view more information about one of the fake products or purchase it will be taken to the campaign’s landing page, underscoring the power of influencers in directing consumers to a brand’s website or online store.
Throughout the day, hundreds of creators will upload content across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Twitch, talking about and reviewing the collection of fake items. However, the goal of the content is not to convince people that the products are real. Instead, participating influencers are encouraged to focus on Pearpop itself and treat the fake items as gifted products from “a brand they already love: Pearpop,” according to Alex Morrison, chief marketing officer at Pearpop.
Setting Pearpop apart from other influencer marketing platforms
Pearpop acts as a “two-sided marketplace,” allowing creators to access paid opportunities to collaborate with brands on social media content and providing brands scaled and “on-demand influence” when creators choose to submit social media content to them through Pearpop. Though over 200 brands—including Netflix, Chipotle and Amazon—have already run campaigns on the platform, Pearpop has prioritized courting creators rather than brands over the past two years.
Pearpop Drops is the platform’s “first significant marketing effort as a brand” and reflects a new focus on setting itself apart from other influencer marketing platforms in the eyes of brands, Morrison said. Pearpop partnered with agency DDB Chicago to develop the campaign’s core concept of influencers peddling imaginary products and to design the 20-product lineup.
Creating a Matrix of Things That Matter
The 20-product lineup includes physical versions of the five products that represent key product categories in influencer marketing: beauty, food and beverage, technology, consumer packaged goods and music. Pearpop tapped one-to-two creators across each of these five categories to kick off the campaign with these physical versions of the products.
Each product is labeled with clever, self-referential descriptions—for example, the fast food bag containing a hamburger meal reads, “Fame-grilled to perfection, now with 30% more influential impressions,” while the Pearpop energy drink is emblazoned with the tagline, “Made with the sweet taste of fame and influence.”
Offline opportunities to try the fake products
The campaign will extend offline in the coming weeks with in-person opportunities for people to try the five fake products turned into physical items for themselves, Morrison said. Along with social media content from Pearpop creators, people who attempt to search for the fake products on Google will come across ads that direct them to the campaign landing page.
“Between the influencers, the paid components, and the PR we’re doing around the campaign, we really want this to feel like something that everyone’s kind of bumping into at least once,” Morrison said. “It’s one thing to see one creator post about a product, but if you see it in your feed twice or three times, it starts to feel like people are really talking about this thing. And that really emulates what we do for brands that use
