Welcome to influencer-first marketing
I see a lot of buses with those White Fox ads around Sydney, and I've always wondered who came up with such a dreadful ad. It’s just the words White Fox and maybe a couple of girls in trendy but cheaply made fast fashion. There’s no website, no call to action—just White Fox and a girl or two. I never quite got the point of it all until I realised how big they are on social media. They’ve got heaps of influencers marketing their stuff, turning it into some sort of must-have item.
I know this because my daughter, who’s in Year Five, keeps going on about White Fox and how she wants one of their jumpers. Then I started noticing more young girls in the eastern suburbs wearing oversized White Fox jumpers. It dawned on me that the bus ads aren’t really there to sell anything directly; they’re more like reminders. White Fox has nailed the influencer marketing game, probably pouring most of their budget into it. The bus ads are just the cherry on top, saying, “Look, we’re everywhere.”
It’s interesting how marketing works these days. You can’t just look at one ad in isolation; everything’s interconnected. White Fox has likely invested heavily in digital and influencer marketing, with the bus ads serving as a subtle reinforcement. It’s all about creating an omnipresent brand image.
This whole thing got me thinking about how advertising has changed. What used to be above the line—print ads, bus shelter ads, TV commercials—is now almost secondary to digital efforts. Influencers are doing most of the heavy lifting, getting people to wear and talk about their clothes. The print ad on the bus is just a complement to what’s really driving sales.
It’s clear that being digitally savvy is crucial these days. The traditional lines between different types of advertising are blurring, and campaigns are becoming more integrated than ever before.
Footnotes Cover image created using Freepik’s image AI generator using Flux 1.0. Prompt: 3 happy young influencers taking selfies with phones, wearing oversized hoodies, bus floating in the air in the background. Green hues. #illustratedpop