Fohr

A TikTok ban has been in talks again, and the House is likely voting on a bill for it this week. What does that *really* mean this time around? And should you panic? Here’s the TL;DR on all things TikTok ban, and what that means for the future of influencer marketing.

As a firm that doesn’t traffic in physical goods in the course of day-to-day business, we relish the infrequent but potent opportunities we have to manifest our brand in a tangible way.  The most effervescent of these, undoubtedly, is our annual Black Tie Party.  This year - the party’s 10th iteration - as well our founder's own 40th birthday and, coincidentally, our venue, Indochine’s 40th birthday, we were able to do just that. Tiptoeing the line between classic and campy, 2024’s Black Tie exuded a sense of occasion shot through with relaxed elegance, reverence for the New York canon, and the palpable warmth of belonging. Notorious for hosting the city’s creative elite and uptown and downtown luminaries alike, Cindy Crawford described it best as an ideal place to host a “could-only-happen-in-New York type of party.” "What do I want? To plant a fucking flag on the moon. We get one chance at life, this is our moonshot." -James Nord, Chief Executive Officer Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us - we look forward to a great year ahead. 🥂 🖤

THOUGHTS ON A BAN As you are obviously aware, President Biden has signed the TikTok ban into law. Of course, this paves the way to a chaotic year of court cases around the constitutional legality of such a law and the will they/won’t they of the Chinese government interfering in ByteDance’s ability to sell TikTok. In the meantime, we have been keeping our clients up-to-date with thoughts on how we move forward, as well as building increased flexibility into our contracts to account for the potential shutdown of the platform. Today though, I don’t want to talk about tactical advice or next steps as this moves through the judicial branch of the government. I am not going to pontificate on whether a Chinese-owned company should have this much power over American culture. But I AM going to comment on what I see as the great injustice of this law. If ByteDance will not sell TikTok, which they have indicated they will not (or cannot), and if TikTok is actually banned in the United States, it will also mean the end of tens of thousands of small media businesses. Overwhelmingly, full-time creators on TikTok do not have large enough followings on other platforms to support a career and so, for many of them, this ban is an extinction level event. Aside from the closing of businesses mandated - and heavily subsidized - by the government during the pandemic, I cannot think of another time outside Prohibition where legislation will be the direct cause of so many people losing their livelihoods. Mortgages will go unpaid, employees will be laid off and parents will scramble to figure out how to go on supporting their families. Influencer marketing will continue to grow and thrive, but for many creators, the end of TikTok will mean an end to their main source of income. I have to wonder - how loud would the outcry be if this law was forcing the closure of restaurants, barber shops, or other Main Street small businesses? And what support would the government provide? As it is now, there will be no unemployment available for impacted creators; there will be no stimulus checks, no tax credits. Despite spending years building their businesses conscientiously and legally, influencers are facing the sudden closure of their businesses with no lattice of support. Look, I understand that making money on the Internet as a creator is a privilege, and can be a lucrative one at that, but we cannot and should not let that blind us to the injustice that is inherent in this law. Influencers deserve better. As an industry, influencer marketing will continue to grow. But for all America’s small business owners, myself included, we should be able to expect more from our government in what is supposed to be a free — and fair — economy. Cheers, James Nord Founder & CEO

Our founder and CEO James Nord spoke with Ad Age about the current state of Influencer Marketing agencies within the creator economy. With more brands looking to incorporate influencers throughout their marketing, influencer agencies are pivoting to add new capabilities beyond sponsored content. Check out what James had to say in the article: https://lnkd.in/eHkjHjRs

Fohr is honored to be numbered among the 2024 Financial Times' list of Fastest Growing Companies in the Americas! Read more about the rankings here: https://lnkd.in/gDjYw8Qh

Introducing: Chronically Online, a newsletter that confirms all your suspicions: we spend too much time online. We, the chronically online of Fohr, are diseased. The brain worms are in us. Thus, we are conscripted to a death pact with the Internet. And yet? Our loss is your gain. Herein, we commit to bringing you the gems we unearth while spending our collective one precious life scrolling - the pragmatic, the sublime, the things that had us falling out (obviously obviously obviously), and yes, The Freaks and Villains. Why? Because Internet culture is the culture, and though you might have responsibilities and loved ones that require you from abstaining from throwing your body and mind into the proverbial rubbish bin, it is our job to do so and we ABSOLUTELY DO NOT HAVE FAMILIES!! As such, it is our solemn honor to put it all down - for the record and also for you, dear reader, so that you might be prepared to hold a conversation about ALL OF IT. If you made it this far without combusting, and want to sound like you know wtf is happening on the internet in your work meetings, you can subscribe to the Chronically Online newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/exmKkUjR

Want to hire an experienced influencer marketing CEO as your intern for free? We’re very excited to announce our new passion project, Our CEO is Your Intern! Once a month for the rest of this year, we’re loaning our CEO James Nord to intern with brands for the low wage of $0 an hour. James built Fohr over 10 years ago, which as an agency has paid influencers over $150 million dollars, created category-defining technology, and now wants to work for you - shadowing, pitching in, and getting a deeper understanding of your tech needs so that we can better service brands. Great software is built on the foundation of great insights, and that means having a deep and meaningful understanding of problems, pain points and goals of brands of every size and across multiple industries. We are in the midst of completely reimagining our platform, and James is going to use this internship experience to directly guide those changes and innovations. So what will you get out of this? In addition to our gratitude for participating in this experiment, you’ll get James’ vast depth of experience and receive immediate strategic input on your influencer marketing. With more than 15 years of experience, he will give you on the spot insights, creative ideas, and other suggestions for improvement. Ready to apply? Visit our website: https://lnkd.in/eTuaSSFc

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