Stagwell Technologies Launches Koalifyed as Influencer Marketing Booms

This article originally appeared in PR Week and Campaign.

The network says the platform allows users to quickly ink deals with influencers and weed out fraud.

Stagwell Technologies has developed the platform Koalifyed in collaboration with consumer marketing firm MMI Agency that it says offers a unified workspace focused on social media influencer campaigns. 

With brands expected to spend tens of billions of dollars on influencer marketing in the coming years, Stagwell Technologies CTO Charles Hu said the network saw an opportunity to double down on the trend. 

“The options available today simply have not evolved with the needs of our industry and its users,” said Hu.

The product allows brand marketers to identify popular and powerful influencers, draft and execute contracts with them and measure a campaign’s effectiveness, the holding company said. It starts with social media creators joining Koalifyed’s website to get discovered by brands.

Using commercialized government intelligence agency technology, the software identifies and weeds out fraud, with the holding company saying it detects 10 times more bots than competitive services. It also provides an authenticity score to rate online discussions. 

After a brand is ready to hire an influencer, Koalifyed’s secure online feature for contracts allows the review, edit and approval of documents. Stagwell said signing contracts happens five times faster than outside of the platform.

Brands can also obtain data on campaign performance and comply with government requirements, and creators can quickly give brands insights on campaign performance. 

“Brands are looking beyond follower counts to understand how engaged influencers’ audiences are and whether there’s an authentic fit with the creator,” Hu said. He added they want to see shared values, cultures and lifestyles.

Nearly 300 creators are using the platform, such as Houston lifestyle and fashion blogger Jordyn Rush.

Agency holding company Stagwell Group took a strategic investment in Toronto-based technology company Hubub in late 2016 to make it the backbone of Stagwell Technologies.

Stagwell and MDC Partners struck a deal to combine late last year. Former Burson-Marsteller CEO, Microsoft executive and Clinton adviser Mark Penn would be chairman and CEO of the merged network.