A free product to an influencer is an #ad: AiMCO updates Code to include gifting

News 11 Aug 2021 - 2 min read

A free product to an influencer is an #ad: AiMCO updates Code to include gifting

By Sam Buckingham-Jones - Senior Writer

"AiMCO will continue to work with our community to execute an agenda of strengthening confidence in the category for marketers, creators and the general public," Detch Singh from HypeTap says.

Market Voice 3 min read

Retail media: Key lessons to avoid repeating programmatic ‘gold rush’ mistakes, hollowing out brand budgets

By Rory Heffernan - Chief Executive Officer, Atomic 212º | Partner Content

Retail media’s rise comes as marketers are being told to do even more with even less, says Atomic 212º Chief Executive Officer, Rory Heffernan, and puts brand budgets under further pressure.

Market Voice 4 min read

Airports are back bigger and better: why they are the next frontier for incredibly human brand connection

By Jemma Enright - General Manager, Airport, JCDecaux ANZ | Partner Content

In the next 5 years, brands will be reaching 85m passengers a year in the transformed terminals of Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth airports. That’s a massive opportunity to engage an emotionally charged audience in a context of curiosity and discovery, says JCDecaux’s Jemma Enright.

Market Voice 3 min read

The best relationships are personal – regional strategies should be too

By Phil Leyshon - Director of Digital, ACM | Partner Content

Mi3 sat down with ACM Director of Digital Phil Leyshon to discuss how first party data and enriched targeting is bringing brands closer to the regions – and notching upwards of 30 per cent growth.

Tags: Australian Influencer Marketing Council AiMCO influencer marketing Detch Singh AANA

The Australian Taxation Office counts gifts as income and so, now, should influencers. The Australian Influencer Marketing Council says its updated guidelines make it clear content creators should clearly disclose when a product has been gifted.

What you need to know:

The Australian Influencer Marketing Council has released new guidelines for gift giving and ads.
Gifts clearly count as income, AiMCO says, and should be acknowledged as a commercial relationship.
Ad Standards has been looking closely at influencer marketing, making several rulings against specific brands and influencers since February this year.

Influencers should clearly disclose any gifts or value-in-kind products as they mean there is a commercial relationship between them and a brand, the Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) says in an update to its Influencer Marketing Code of Practice.

Launched in July last year, the Code aims to give an industry-accepted guide to how brands, agencies and creators can align with the Australian Association of National Advertiser (AANA)’s Code of Ethics.

Ad Standards has been cracking down on influencer marketing that does not clearly state it is an ad. The post can either use a hashtag like #ad, state the relationship in the caption, badge the relationship with the platform’s in-built labels, or have the creator acknowledge the post is sponsored verbally.

Ad Standards has recently named Unilever for failing to state its relationship with an influencer, and last month made its first ruling relating to an ad on TikTok.

As gifts are deemed income by the Australian Taxation Office, AiMCO said it is important influencers disclose the relationship clearly and in a way that is immediately visible.

“It’s important to note that ad disclosure is not just required where money changes hands – gifts, free products or value-in-kind products or services are equivalent to payment and indicate a commercial relationship that should be disclosed,” AiMCO said in its Guide to Gifting and Ad Disclosure.

“When determining complaints about influencer content, the Ad Standards Community Panel have noted that it is not necessary for the brand to have creative control over the material created by the influencer, or a written contract or brief in place with the influencer, for the brand to be considered to have a reasonable degree of control.”

AiMCO has grown to 60 members since its launch in late 2019.