The new influencer and marketing platform Scope Caribbean should give rise to a formal industry in the Caribbean, according to one of THE ANALYSTS on Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds.

Scope Caribbean was recently incorporated as The LAB’s 100 per cent owned subsidiary to tap into the growing influencer market.

The LAB manages some of the region’s largest brand campaigns. It said Scope will launch and host an online platform, through which producers and agencies worldwide will have access to existing and emerging talent across the region for production campaigns.

CEO of The LAB, Kimala Bennett, said the company was designed to help influencers and brands co-exist and earn together.

Speaking on Taking Stock recently, business writer at the Jamaica Observer, David Rose, said the new platform will help the region catch up to other parts of the world that have already been pushing influencer marketing as a key part of economic growth.

“It creates an opportunity to monetise the current space in the region because in China they actually have schools where they teach you how to be an influencer. In the region we don’t necessarily have that organised space to capitalise on this market, so The LAB coming with Scope benefits the overall market because you can actually find influencers now and actually manage talent easier. It’s a good thing for creating value and formalising this system within the region,” said Rose.

In executing the strategic imperatives of Scope, The LAB has partnered with public relations brand strategist and Garrick Communications founder Naomi Garrick. According to Garrick, the global influencer marketing industry is now valued at a billion dollars and growing. With Scope, she said they will be able to provide opportunities for all the players involved in the Caribbean space.

“For a long time, local and regional players in the space have had many challenges…including not being able to find opportunities for jobs, struggling to choose the right influencer for campaigns and overall, a lack of resources to really track and measure analytics and ROI in real time. This is where Scope Caribbean comes in,” she said.

Investment analyst at Proven Wealth, Julian Morrison, added on Taking Stock that the new platform will also enable The LAB to help brands save money while providing added value to clients.

“The audience that a specific influencer can reach might not be the audience that a specific brand might be able to reach at the same cost. The company might have to spend a lot more if they didn’t have the influencer to get that same audience so there could be significant advantages in terms of customer acquisition costs,” reasoned Morrison.

Meanwhile, investment research & sovereign risk analyst at JMMB Group, Leovaughni Dillion, said it’s too early to speculate how much of an impact the new company will have on The LAB’s future performance.

“It’s going to be difficult to say how much money is in there without a lot more data to look at. I have to reserve any real deep look into it until I have more numbers to work with to see how it can change the company’s bottom line,” he said.

Scope Caribbean is now aggressively recruiting and encouraging influencers across the region to join its community at www.scopecaribbean.com for opportunities to be selected for upcoming projects and brand activations.

Sometime later local and international producers will gain access to Scope’s database to allow them to select talent from across the region for casting opportunities.

Catch THE ANALYSTS in Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds. New episodes premiere Tuesdays at 7pm on YouTube and kalilahreynolds.com