Starting with the March ‘Influencer Issue’ in which the awards were launched, the COSMO team built a campaign that disseminated relevant, engaging content-marketing collateral across all platforms – social media, print, YouTube and the COSMO website – to build interest and participation in the COSMO Influencer Awards event, and to achieve valuable promotion and association for the sponsor, Bernini.
The ground-breaking March 2019 Influencer Issue featured SA YouTube sensations Nadia Jaftha, Mihlali Ndamase and Jessica Van Heerden, shot selfie-style, on the cover. Inside, content included tips on how to become an Instagram influencer and launched the COSMO Influencer Awards 2019 with their online entry mechanism.
The edition marked a collaboration with YouTube, which saw the cover stars and the editor speaking on a panel at the Google South Africa Women Will International Women’s Day event on 8 March.
At the end of June, the winners were announced at the Cosmopolitan Influencer Awards in association with Bernini in the following categories:
- Best Beauty Influencer
- Best Style Influencer
- Best Travel Influencer
- Best Lifestyle Influencer
- Best Health and Wellness Influencer
- Best Celebrity Influencer
- Best Disruptor Influencer
- Best Newcomer Influencer
- Influencer of the Year Sparkle Award
The main reason for initialisation was to celebrate the most influential players in the South African social media space, as there are no existing SA awards for influencers.
The COSMOPOLITAN Influencer 2019 campaign sponsored by Bernini reached a phenomenal 4 549 544 people.
