In an industry built on speed and virality, Jamaican influencers are pushing back against the demand for instant return on investment (ROI) from brands, urging businesses to build relationships and have a longer term view of their partnerships.

“I think brands give us baskets to carry water,” prominent lifestyle content creator Rushane “RushCam” Campbell said.

“You’re out there and you’re just like ‘I have to make sure 15 sodas sell right after Rush post the video’, and it doesn’t really work like that.”

Campbell made the point during a panel discussion Thursday at the IMPACT x Mystique marketing conference being held at the AC Hotel, Kingston.

Khadine “Miss Kitty” Wilkinson, the popular media personality who has partnered with a number of brands over a career that has spanned more than two decades, shared similar sentiments.

“It’s not one size fits all. You can leverage the metrics because you have to take it into consideration, but that should not be the only line of demarcation … when thinking about whether or not you got value for money,” Wilkinson said.

“There are other ways that things are moving and influence, and also, influence takes time sometimes. It may not be today. It might not be next month. It might be later on in the year. It might be next year,” Wilkinson continued. “So everything is not just a microwave, instant gratification. Now, now, now, now, now, and if I don’t see a hundred thousand move off, the campaign failed.”

Singer-turned-content creator Tami Chin Mitchell supported the stance of the influencers by noting the “Marketing Rule of 7” which suggests a prospect typically interacts with a product or brand approximately seven times before purchasing.

“And with Jamaicans, [that’s] 17,” Chin Mitchell said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Personal branding coach and trainer Naomi Garrick, who moderated the panel discussion, said she frequently gets requests from local brands that “want a quick fix”.

“So, they want a one-time thing or [the campaign] spans over two weeks and I always hit back with, ‘guys you’re going to waste your money; yes you may have the impact but what happens after that?” Garrick said.

“I do think having longer engagements with your influencers matter and that’s where you really get to see the results and you can really look at the metrics because it’s over a wider window of time than just quick hits,” Garrick, who heads Garrick Communications, said.

Campbell shared a personal example of a long term partnership that worked effectively – him and other influencers partnering with organisers of the Crop Over festival celebrations in Barbados.

“I was invited to Crop Over in 2022. They invited us again in 2023. In 2024, they were booked out, sold out. They saw the direct benefit of doing a brand trip, which included people from the Caribbean, Europe, America etc,” he said.

Emphasing that brands must be patient to see meaningful results, Campbell added: “Trust time, work with people over a period of time, people who have access to great communities, build deeper roots and trust, and know that, with collaboration, it will in fact work out; don’t expect it to work in one go… things just nah fly off the shelf.”

The two-day marketing conference, which concludes on Friday, is being hosted by Mystique Integrated, in partnership with Main Event Entertainment Group and iPrint Group and M-One Productions.

Hundreds of senior marketers, creators, executives, founders and media-decision makers have convened for the event.