Influencer Gifting Platform Octoly Strengthens Executive Leadership with Appointment of CEO Eli Curetti, Names Founder Thomas Owadenko President
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Octoly, an influencer marketing platform connecting brands to beauty and fashion influencers through a scalable product gifting model, today announced the appointment of Eli Curetti as Chief Executive Officer. Curetti, the former co-founder and CEO of mobile couponing and promotion service Shopmium, will work hand-in-hand with founder and president Thomas Owadenko to continue to strengthen Octoly's presence across the globe.
Celebrating its third anniversary this year, the leading gifting marketplace worldwide has empowered its 12,000+ influencer community to share reviews on more than 350,000 products from 300+ brands to an audience of 700 million followers (and growing). For its brand partners, Octoly contributes to more than 50% of all Instagram and YouTube posts.
"It's become harder than ever for brands to reach consumers directly--the influencer landscape is highly fragmented and scaling programs is often challenging. Gifting is the basis of any good influencer marketing strategy today and, by offering a turnkey solution that generates hundreds of reviews in a very short amount of time, we are solving a problem that still has not been addressed broadly by the market," explained Owadenko. "Our continued global growth, and year-one success in the US market, speaks to how well our authentic, gifting model works. I'm thrilled to now work alongside Eli to further expand Octoly's presence across the globe and foster a more authentic and trustworthy relationship between brands and influencers."
Octoly enables brands to discover and work with a community of verified influencer talent (predominantly micro-influencers, those with a following of less than 100,000) from within a singular platform--accessible via desktop or the Octoly app for iPhone and Android. In exchange for the product at hand, influencers have at least a 21-day window in which to share reviews on either Instagram or YouTube with their audiences. With data showing 68% of millennials trust online reviews, influencer marketing is a critical strategy for brands looking to make meaningful audience impacts today.
In 2017, Octoly opened in New York and has since doubled the office size. More than 5,000 US influencers now participate on the platform and have generated 140,000 product reviews for 145 brands like skincare line Kate Somerville, indie cosmetics brand Scentbird, and Sexy Hair, who generated an 11x earned media ROI through campaigns run on Octoly.
Added Owadenko: "There is no denying how much fraud surrounds this industry lately, so it's more critical than ever brands work with partners they can trust to build authentic relationships with creators, and that's where Octoly comes in. We are one of the only platforms to have a built-in compliance tool, and we take a lot of pride in ensuring the content we're facilitating for brands is FTC compliant and comes from qualified, authentic creators who have been carefully vetted by our team."
More than a brand partner or a platform, Octoly is focused on building a unique community of influencers and arming these creators with the tools and knowledge to pursue their professional passions and dreams. Among other educational opportunities, the company offers workshops and online classes through Octoly Academy, designed to help influencers elevate their content. The company also runs Octoly Tour across the US, allowing creators to meet each other and brands through informative sessions and events.
"You can liken Octoly to an Amazon-like free marketplace for influencers--we make it easy for them to get access to the best products," added Owadenko. "We have thrived in helping thousands of influencers find their social voice and grow their audience by sharing honest opinions and stories about products. To date, no one else other than YouTube and Instagram has succeeded in fostering such strong relationships with today's social creators as we have."
Doubling down on its commitment to innovation and quality assurance, Octoly announced a partnership with InfluencerDB earlier this year to more stringently verify influencers' social media reach. The company continues to roll out product launches--the fashion vertical recently launched in the US with brands like INDIGENOUS, a 20+ year pioneer in organic and fair trade clothing design--and expand more resources for its influencer network, like the debut of Octoly Maps, which allows creators to populate events in their cities to meet other creators offline.
In addition to a robust education resources for influencers, Octoly also releases a monthly ranking of the 25 highest performing beauty and fashion brands on Instagram and YouTube across the US, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. In August, companies like Anastasia Beverly Hills, Too Faced, Revolve, PrettyLittleThing and Fashion Nova topped the list. To learn more about how Octoly is transforming the influencer marketing space via its unique scalable platform for brands and educational opportunities for influencers, visit http://www.octoly.com.
About Octoly
The leading influencer marketplace worldwide with more than 350,000 products reviewed, Octoly launched in the US in 2017. Octoly's unique product-gifting model enables brands to discover and work with a community of 12,000+ verified influencer talent on a singular platform, bring authenticity to their influencer marketing initiatives and scale programs. In return for receiving a product, the influencers share authentic content/posts with their audiences, thus changing the way brands are looking at marketing and consumer engagement. Octoly operates in 5 countries (France, United States, Germany, Spain and Italy) with flagship offices in Paris and New York. For more information: http://www.octoly.com.
SOURCE Octoly
