The Rise of User-Generated Content Marketing in the Netherlands: How Regular Dutch People are Revolutionizing Advertising

NOS

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 19:07

Normally they are models, actors or well-known influencers, but more and more companies are choosing to allow Dutch people without fame to review a product for a fee. The idea is that it is cheaper and comes across more real.

Loïs Groen has already made many of these types of videos for companies. “It’s so broad, you can approach any company.” During a holiday she was looking for a job and saw the phenomenon. “I mainly saw American creators, because it is only now starting to happen here in the Netherlands. Then I saw TikTok videos of girls explaining how to get started.”

It started with creating a portfolio. “I grabbed all kinds of products in my house, pretended I got them from the company and told them a little about them.” Groen now receives two or three assignments a day. “I was also recently asked by Only and Rituals. So they are really shops. The market is so big, you can really do anything.”

The trade organization for influencers, the DDMA, calls using unknown Dutch people a new trend. “The whole thing about influencer marketing is that you feel like a friend is promoting something,” says Naomi van der Louw, lawyer at DDMA. “The smaller someone is on social, the more trust it inspires.” The organization does not have figures.

No need for a studio anymore

Using unknown Dutch people for advertising has significantly changed the way Dyme digital household budget works, says CEO Joran Iedema. “This is catching on with people. We started with high-quality productions on social media, but that costs a lot of money and it feels very fake.” Dyme says it is now a lot cheaper.

The videos fall under the umbrella term user generated content. The ‘users’ are people who record this content themselves and come up with their own script around the product. No director, no professional lighting. And that works, says Iedema. Unlike a model or actor or influencer, he believes these people are more sincere and therefore appear more credible. He sees the downloads of his app increase after such a video.

If ordinary people advertise, it can be effective, because then people are not so wary.

Joris Demmers, associate professor of marketing at the University of Amsterdam

Joris Demmers, associate professor of marketing at the University of Amsterdam, agrees. “If ordinary people advertise, it can be effective, because then people are not so on their guard. The message then comes in with less suspicion.” Consumers only find commercials to be an annoying interruption of what they are watching, says Demmers. “But in this case the advertising radar is not on.”

This was why a few years ago influencers also became very popular among companies. “These were guys and girls who could also be your neighbors. But now the influencers have become somewhat celebrities themselves.” The effect of the ‘ordinary’ consumer no longer applies.

Advertising rules

When advertising, it must always be stated that it is advertising or that someone has received money for talking about a product, says Demmers. “It should always be transparent.” Since last year, influencers with more than 500,000 followers have been bound by the media law. “The Advertising Code Committee applies to everything that falls under this. It cannot impose fines and does not have enough people to check all social media.”

Lisan Wagenaar was one of the first in the Netherlands to start this form of marketing. She took two courses at American companies that are active in this field. “All the marketing departments were already familiar with it. In Europe that was not the case at all. Companies immediately thought I was an influencer. I really had to explain it. This was only a year ago.”

Now Wagenaar has a course company where she shares her experiences with others who also want to do this. “Companies tell us what they are looking for, how many videos and what kind of products. Whether it is for advertisements or organic content. Sometimes you can put in your creative idea, but sometimes they provide a script with all the shots you need. and texts that you have to say.”

Sometimes she is recognized in an advertisement and receives messages about it. “At first I thought it was a bit strange sometimes, but now I find it fun.”

2023-11-11 18:07:20
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