Influencer marketing is not a paradigm shift. At best it’s an over-inflated investment (in the billions), at worst it’s serving up false credibility to audiences, masked as ‘trust’. And yet, it’s all that seemed to be on the agenda at Cannes this year, and is being heavily weighted in the marketing media mix by marketers that should know better. Is marketing through influencers, or content creators, a waste of money then? Ramanathan Vythilingam says no - if it’s intentionally used. Ram has been researching the effectiveness of influencer campaigns, following two decades behind the scenes at Unilever. He says the name of the game now is to get savvy and more protective of brand assets and marketing dollars, especially in this marketing era of abundance and clutter.