The Sociable Society (TSS) is an influencer management and marketing agency that aims to safeguard creators from the industry’s pitfalls while maximizing their potential.

Founded by couple Jay Kent-Hume and Emily Fonda, TSS operates beyond traditional metrics, emphasizing long-term growth and sustainable success for its clients. 

Jay’s career path took several turns before leading him to this venture. He started in advertising and marketing. After stints in Sydney, London, and Vancouver, he transitioned to tech recruiting and consulting, building digital social media teams for various companies.

The idea for TSS came from Emily, a former actress with experience in PR and communications. Her work with bloggers led to a realization: creators needed representation. 

“We wanted to create an agency built on protecting creators and ensuring that they are looked after,” Jay explains.

TSS operates two divisions: creator management and brand partnerships. The creator management arm focuses on talent representation, while the brand partnerships division is a traditional influencer marketing agency.

With a roster of over 200 creators and plans to more than double that number in the next two years, TSS is quickly becoming a major player in the industry.

The unregulated nature of the influencer industry presents both opportunities and challenges.

The company’s commitment to transparency and creator advocacy involves clear contracts, comprehensive reporting, and personalized growth strategies.

“If we can do anything on our side to make it a better place, help people who align themselves with us, have a fruitful career, not get screwed over, not sign their life away, then let’s see where we can take this,” Jay states.

Hence, Jay shares his in-depth take on the company’s founding principles, success stories, and future vision.

What TSS Offers Creators

Jay notes that the industry’s low barriers to entry can attract “vultures and sharks and people that don’t necessarily have their best interest at heart.”

TSS offers a range of services to both creators and brands. For creators, the company provides “full 360 management,” including revenue generation through brand partnerships, strategic insights, and channel growth. 

“We’re currently in the process of building out a new division called the Creator Growth Division, which is primarily there to help manage, facilitate, and build affiliate programs for the creators,” Jay reveals.

On the brand side, TSS manages influencer marketing programs, event activations, and seeding and gifting initiatives.

Jay believes TSS’s commitment to transparency distinguishes it from competitors. 

“Contracts are very clean, very clear line of sight, line of communication,” he explains. “Creators have a line of sight in terms of where everything’s at from their bookings and billings, how, and what the construct of those bookings and deals are like breaking those down.”

Beyond Basic Metrics in Influencer Marketing

TSS takes a nuanced approach to measuring the success of influencer marketing campaigns, looking beyond traditional metrics like reach and engagement. 

“It really depends on the brand’s objectives,” Jay explains. “When it all boils down to it, it comes down to how much content was created, how much awareness was garnered from that content, and the return.”

For some clients, the focus is primarily on ROI: “dollars in, dollars out.” Others take a more holistic view, considering conversation drivers, audience location, and content quality.

TSS’s comprehensive reports include awareness metrics, impressions, social narrative analysis, and return on ad spend. “Every brand is trying to achieve… more sales,” Jay notes. “You’re not working with influencers to not drive more sales.”

According to him, the key metrics brands should focus on vary depending on the company’s lifecycle stage and product maturity. Established brands like Nike or Adidas focus on maintaining brand relevance with new generations, while startups prioritize brand establishment and awareness.

Jay advises considering target audience, reach, social conversation, and the ability to drive either foot traffic or clicks, depending on the brand’s sales channels.

On the creator side, TSS stresses the importance of data understanding. “The rise of affiliate marketing has helped creators understand the importance of knowing their data and what’s important from a brand perspective,” Jay states.

Getting Results

TSS has been pivotal in numerous successful influencer marketing campaigns for brands and individual creators. Jay shares two notable success stories highlighting the company’s impact.

On the brand side, the entrepreneur points to TSS’s collaboration with Tangle Teezer, a UK-based company aiming to expand in North America. 

“Within a couple of years, North America was their biggest market,” Jay reports. “Socials had grown exponentially, and budget spending within the influencer space had continued to increase.” He adds that TSS also helped raise awareness for underrepresented communities in the creative space through this partnership.

From the creator’s perspective, Jay highlights the journey of Deanna Giulietti, a Broadway actress who turned to social media during the pandemic. 

“We started working with her when [she] must have been around 40,000 followers,” he recalls. Under TSS’s guidance, Giulietti’s following grew exponentially, now boasting “a few million on TikTok, over 300 thousand on Instagram.”

Jay points out the behind-the-scenes impact: “Helping her career and the success that she’s had. Whether it’s building out some products that she’s… coming out with, or just the financial success that we’ve been able to be a part of her, buying her first house, renovating it, or helping her parents out.”

These success stories validate TSS’s approach. As Jay puts it, “When our suggestions and guidance come to fruition… it’s like, ‘Okay, we know what we’re talking about here.’”

Nurturing Brands and Creators for Mutual Success

TSS faces the challenge of catering to brands and creators in influencer marketing.

“Internally, it’s how we work and think as a team and how we’re structured and set up,” Jay explains. He frequently invokes the phrase “a rising tide lifts all ships” to highlight the interconnected nature of success within the agency.

For creators, TSS focuses on understanding their journeys and aligning management strategies with specific goals. 

“We do take a much broader, longer-term view with creators here as well, working with them, not just from a transactional standpoint,” Jay notes.

The agency empowers its managers to build their rosters under leadership guidance, fostering a sense of personal investment in each creator’s success. This approach naturally cultivates care and dedication from managers towards their talent.

Jay likens TSS’s structure to a soccer team to illustrate the agency’s commitment to nurturing talent at various stages of development: “You have your first eleven, and then you have your academy.”

Recognizing that some creators may eventually outgrow TSS, Jay maintains a realistic perspective: “Inevitably some decide, ‘Okay, I’m done with the creator space, or I need bigger support, I’m going to do it myself, take it in-house, or I want a different style of agency.’”

Future Focus

TSS aims to expand its Creative Growth Division and increase its presence in the event space. 

“We’re looking to bring in someone to help run events,” Jay reveals, hinting at intimate networking environments for ideas and content creation.

The company’s growth trajectory is impressive, with Jay noting, “We’ll probably do 2.2 times or two and a half times growth this year to last year. The previous year was 100% growth.” He aspires to increase TSS’s creator roster from 200 to 500 within two years.

Jay and Emily are passionate about bringing consistency to creator contracts. 

“The type of contracts that some agencies try to enact is absurd,” he states, highlighting the need for industry-wide education on the distinctions between agents and managers.

Reflecting on the industry’s current state, Jay observes, “We’re still in our teenage years. There’s so much still to come and figure out, which I think is awesome.” He views this as an opportunity, noting, “It’s not, been around for 100 years with stuffy, traditional aspects to it.”

Jay advises new creators and brands to be flexible, patient, and comfortable with change. “If you’re truly in it, give it time,” he recommends.