EP 128: Why CFOs Keep Killing Influencer Budgets

Influencer spend hit $32.55 billion in 2025, and most brands still can't prove it works. In this Prohibition PR webinar, Chris Norton and Will Ockenden break down why influencer marketing keeps losing boardroom arguments, the mistake that turned a Brit Awards influencer activation into a creator revolt, and the six-part framework that turns influencer spend into a revenue channel instead of an awareness line item.

Chris covers the boardroom case for influencer marketing, the Mastercard Brit Awards story, and how HelloFresh beat its own paid acquisition costs on TikTok using creators like Mindy Kaling. Will then walks through a practical framework: choosing influencers for persuasion rather than reach, building long-term partnerships (including Burgess pet food's ongoing deal with Ronnie the Mini Lop), mapping creators to the full buyer journey, feeding top-performing organic content into paid media, using influencers to win AI and social search discovery, and measuring outcomes instead of vanity metrics.

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