Klarna’s Influencer Council releases guide for influencers and brands to advertise online responsibly

Global payments and shopping service Klarna has released an Influencer Marketing Whitepaper to serve as a guide for influencers and brands to advertise online responsibly.

The Influencer Council, formed in March 2021, was established to provide greater clarity on influencer marketing guidelines following research which revealed that only 27% of UK consumers understood the use of advertising in influencers’ posts.

The Council, chaired by Christian Howes, brought together brands, influencers, psychotherapists, policy members and the Committee of Advertising Practice to provide a well-rounded perspective from across the industry.

Other panel members include retailer ​PrettyLittleThing​; ​Rupa Shah​, Founder & Director of Hashtag Ad Consulting; ​Joel Gladwin​, Head of Policy at Coadec; Lian Hirst​, Founder of PR & Digital agency TRACE Publicity and ​AJ Coyne, ​Head of Marketing at Klarna.

Over the course of several months, the Council created a dedicated set of guidelines for influencers and brands to follow when posting, which go further than any materials and guidance available today - allowing for better protection of brands, consumers and influencers.

Accompanying the Whitepaper, Klarna has also released a toolkit which will include branded stickers, Instagram story templates and badges to clearly illustrate the nature of a post, whether it’s an advert, part of an affiliate agreement or gifted.

AJ Coyne, Head of UK Marketing at Klarna said: “By launching the Influencer Council, we set out to learn more about how brands, influencers and consumers interact with posts on social media and to create more clarity amongst online advertising guidelines. Each session has sparked fascinating discussions on responsibility, terminology and transparency and I believe that we’ve created guidance that is clear, easy to adopt and, most importantly, drives change for the better.

“We would like to thank all our Council members for their involvement and hope that our Whitepaper will encourage brands and influencers alike to work together to create a transparent community.”

Influencer Council Chair, Christian Howes, added: “The industry is constantly evolving and so we will continue our meetings bi-annually to ensure that our guidelines keep up with the latest trends and are applicable across all platforms.”

The Council was held under Chatham House rules to ensure that discussion was open but all information was anonymously contributed. The Council will aim to meet twice a year, with the first follow-up meeting to be scheduled for November 2021.