#310: Brad Hoos — What 50,000 influencer campaigns tell us about what brands really care about

Brad Hoos is the CEO of Outloud Group, one of the top influencer marketing agencies in the United States. His clients include AG1, Chomps, KitchenAid, and Whirlpool, and he’s managed campaigns across tens of thousands of creator partnerships. Jay found Brad while researching for his book proposal on trust, trying to track down the agency behind AG1’s dominance in podcast advertising. In this episode, we talk about: Why the creators who say no the most often are actually the most valuable to brands The difference between brand voice and brand advocacy, and why getting this wrong kills campaigns What Outloud learned running AG1’s campaigns across tens of thousands of creators The data across 50,000 campaigns showing no meaningful correlation between CPM and performance By the end of this episode, you will think differently about how brands choose creators and how creators should position themselves for long-term partnership success. Outloud Group Full transcript and show notes *** TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Introduction (01:10) What brands actually want when they hire an agency (06:20) The two things brands need to understand before a campaign starts (07:09) Brand voice vs. brand advocacy: why the difference matters (10:18) How trust changes what brands allow creators to do (15:48) What running AG1’s campaigns taught Brad about influencer marketing (20:39) How creators can position themselves to attract brand deals (22:52) Why entertaining your audience beats being the “perfect” brand advocate (27:24) Why the creators who say no most often perform best (39:10) The data: no meaningful correlation between CPM and creator performance (42:47) What Brad believes is true but can’t yet prove with data (44:09) If you could only pick two platforms right now *** RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE #179: Justin Moore – A step-by-step strategy to get anyone sponsored, regardless of audience size *** ASK CREATOR SCIENCE Submit your question here *** WHEN YOU’RE READY 💬 Creator Science Newsletter 🚀 Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system) 🧪 Join The Lab (private membership community) 🧞‍♂️ Get a Personalized Offer *** CONNECT 🐦 Connect on Twitter 📸 Connect on Instagram 💼 Connect on LinkedIn 📹 Subscribe on YouTube *** SPONSORS 💼 View all sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices