Axel Gekiere is the co-founder of the Belgian influencer marketing agency Adshot, which leverages technology to bridge the gap between brands and content creators. 

Founded in 2017, Adshot aims to streamline influencer marketing campaigns while ensuring fair compensation for creators. 

“Our baseline since we started was to allow creators to turn their passion into their profession. We always vouch for paying influencers fairly and really listening to their ideas,” Axel says in an exclusive with Net Influencer. “We consider them the experts.”

Axel’s journey into influencer marketing began his career working as a Google marketing consultant where he noticed a challenge in reaching younger audiences through traditional channels. 

“Every time we had to market to younger people, I noticed that it was really difficult to find the right people or to make an impact for the campaign,” he explains. 

Drawing from his own experience as a YouTuber in 2007, Axel saw an opportunity to connect brands with influential content creators. 

Adshot has since developed a proprietary platform hosting 8,000 registered influencers worldwide, which forms the backbone of its hybrid agency model. 

“We rely on technology to make better decisions for our campaigns and streamline the whole process, which kind of leads to a better quality as well,” Axel states.

Adshot primarily serves major international brands and government entities in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. The agency focuses on video and live streaming content, moving beyond traditional Instagram posts. 

Notably, Adshot is one of the first Belgian agencies to become a TikTok creative exchange partner, creating assets for brands on the platform.

From Pitch to Play: Creating Winning Influencer Campaigns

Adshot’s process begins with a broad pitch to brands, outlining creative ideas, suggested channels, and influencer personas. 

“We propose relevant profiles. But we explicitly say that these profiles are for indicative purposes,” Axel tells us. This approach allows brands to provide initial feedback without prematurely engaging influencers.

Once a campaign is approved, Adshot leverages its technology platform to identify suitable influencers. “We have 250 plus data touchpoints,” Axel notes, emphasizing the depth of their selection process. 

The platform also allows for additional screening questions during the influencer application phase.

Axel highlights a recent award-winning campaign for Proximus, a Belgian telecom company, as an example of Adshot’s innovative approach. 

The campaign, aimed at promoting high-speed fiber internet, targeted young professionals and gamers. “We created a whole custom world in Fortnite, which was really Proximus branded,” he says. 

The campaign featured influencer-led TikTok content and Twitch livestreams, centered around speedrun tournaments in the custom Fortnite world. 

(5)advertentie @proximus Neem NU deel aan het tweede toernooi! #twitchbe… | TikTok

The results were impressive: “There were nearly 40,000 unique players in Belgium who played,” Axel reports. “The average playtime was 45 minutes.” 

Axel  views this as a significant achievement in marketing: “That’s a bit of the dream for every marketer, to have that amount of people for that duration in a world that is completely about your brand, about your identity.”

Balancing Data and Creativity in Influencer Campaigns

Axel highlights the importance of balancing quantitative and qualitative data in influencer marketing campaigns. 

The company’s proprietary technology platform, accessible only to influencers, forms the backbone of their approach.

“We don’t put it open to brands, they don’t have access to our platform, only influencers can access,” he explains. This strategy allows Adshot to maintain a flexible, agency-driven approach for brands while providing a structured workflow for creators.

The platform guides influencers through campaign stages, from preparation to reporting. 

“Every step of the campaign management is embedded in our technology, so that makes it easier for us,” Axel says, “But also for influencers. They can see their deadlines, they can edit their calendar and understand the steps in a campaign. They know how to upload content to the platform and they’ll receive feedback there.”

Regarding data and analytics, Axel stresses that hard metrics alone are insufficient. 

“The hard data, the quantitative data, can never stand by itself,” he states. While reach and follower counts remain relevant, Axel notes a growing emphasis on qualitative factors such as content quality and brand alignment. Adshot’s reporting includes both quantitative metrics and qualitative assessments. 

“For each influencer, we provide a comprehensive report,” he explains. 

“This includes the initial questions we asked them and their responses, all the performance metrics, and links to their social media profiles,” he adds. “This gives our clients a complete view of both the quantitative results and qualitative aspects of the collaboration.”  

The agency also tracks conversion metrics when possible, recognizing that influencer marketing can impact various customer journey stages.. 

“We can put ourselves a bit further in the funnel as well,” Axel notes.

Making Influencer Marketing Easier for Brands

Axel outlines the evolution of influencer marketing and his company’s adaptation to industry changes, noting a significant shift in the role of influencer marketing agencies: “In the beginning, influencer marketing agencies were more of a broker.” 

Now, he says, “We’re becoming more of a partner, involved in the strategy part as well.” Axel believes this evolution has led to earlier involvement in campaign planning. 

“We’re getting early in to work on the strategy first, and then, of course, do the whole execution,” he explains. This approach allows Adshot to make more informed decisions from the outset.

However, Axel identifies a persistent challenge in the industry: the time-intensive nature of influencer marketing compared to traditional digital advertising. 

“If you use social media or Google Ads (Previously Google Adwords)s or whatever you want to use, you put something into a system and the marketing campaign is basically launched,” he says. “Here, the outputs are multiple other people.” 

This complexity can be a deterrent for marketers, Axel explains, “The main thing I think that we’re trying to achieve is how can we make it super easy that they get some kind of control room, where they can see everything and make only the important decisions.” 

Adshot is working to streamline the process while maintaining brand involvement in crucial decisions. The goal is to reduce the perceived risk and effort associated with influencer marketing campaigns.

“If they don’t have time, they revert back to the things that they know,” Axel observes, highlighting the importance of making influencer marketing more accessible and manageable for brands.

Looking ahead, Axel predicts further professionalization on both sides of the influencer-brand relationship. 

“If brands are really looking to do long-term stuff and put a lot of effort into it, then of course it needs expertise on board,” he says. 

For influencers, this evolution demands increased professionalism. 

“The ones who really want to succeed in their life as a content creator also need to make sure that they’re super professional in terms of working with people and delivering to deadlines,” Axel states.

Making Brand Campaigns Easier and More Fun

Adshot has recently launched a new version of its platform, representing a significant milestone for the company. 

“We just released a whole new version of our platform, which we worked on for almost a year,” he says. This update aims to streamline content revision, script revision, and reporting processes, “taking some manual work out of our hands.”

Looking ahead, Axel emphasizes two key areas of focus: enhancing brand experience and leveraging technology. 

While Adshot has succeeded in creating engaging marketing content for consumers, Axel aims to improve brand experience. 

“How can we make it an even more fun experience for brands so they really feel like they’re involved in every step, but in a way that they would like to do it?” he asks.

He also envisions developing a “technological cockpit” for brands, allowing them to steer campaigns more efficiently. 

However, Axel maintains that human expertise remains crucial. 

“I still believe there needs to be an agency, or at least a team of experts in between to do all the legwork,” he states, suggesting a balance between automation and human oversight.

Axel sees technology as key to achieving these goals, allowing brands to “trust and leave it a bit on autopilot in a sense.”

Working with Influencers: Trust, Teamwork, and Letting Go

Axel advises brands looking to start or improve their influencer marketing strategies, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and trust. 

He advocates for a co-creation approach between brands and influencers: while brands should provide guidelines, Axel advises against being overly prescriptive and suggests treating influencers as valuable consultants. 

“Really seeing them as social media consultant experts and treating them the same way.” His approach involves being open to influencers’ ideas and feedback throughout the campaign process.

Axel also warns against a common pitfall where brands try to exert too much control. 

“We often see that brands just want to get their thing done, and that’s something that they need to let go of,” he notes. 

Instead, he recommends brands trust in the influencers’ expertise. Highlighting the specialized knowledge influencers bring, 

Axel states, “Influencers are good at creating good content, and creating it on their social media for their audiences.” This recognition of influencers’ unique skills is crucial for successful collaborations.