In an innovative influencer marketing play, global technology company Lenovo worked with talent agency MANA Group to collaborate with over 50 creators in the niche but passionate ASMR community on YouTube. The campaign centered around having ASMR video stars organically integrate the Lenovo Tab P12 and Lenovo Tab Extreme tablets into their relaxing, sensory-focused content.

An open-ended creative brief from Lenovo enabled the influencers to feature the tablets authentically within their videos rather than providing a prescriptive script. “If you give a creator a script, that’s not going to get the most out of creators when you’re just telling them what to say,” explained Samuel DiMascio, MANA’s Head of Brand Partnerships.

He tells us that the campaign has amassed over 11 million views to date and exceeded Lenovo’s engagement goals. 

Samuel DiMascio

Unpacking the MANA-Lenovo ASMR Partnership

Instead of competing with ads from major brands, Lenovo saw an opportunity in the niche world of ASMR videos and content creators. The company reached out to influencer marketing agency MANA Talent Group to collaborate with some of their popular ASMR artists.

“They proactively reached out to us, and they had taken an interest in our ASMR talent specifically,” says Samuel. “Shortly after, [we] quickly got connected and started discussing how we could make a partnership happen.”

What initially attracted Lenovo was the dedicated fan base that ASMR creators had cultivated and how the community promotes relaxation through peace and tranquility. Samuel explains, “Lenovo is very tuned into the cultural passion points of their target audience, and they understood there was an opportunity to support the community and become first movers… This untapped genre of creators hasn’t worked with this size of brand at scale, so it was really interesting to them.”

One key goal was to maximize reach within the ASMR community. “We work with personalities in the ASMR space, and we’re not just folks that necessarily are creating ASMR content,” Samuel states. “That’s what a lot of brands are doing – they take that style of content [instead of] working [with] personalities in that space. So, we have pretty dedicated audiences in that regard. The goal was to reach within that community and the engagement there.”

Crafting an Open-Ended Creator Brief

When briefing the ASMR creators, Lenovo took a collaborative approach that gave the influencers ample creative freedom. “They were open-minded to our perspective but also came in with an understanding that they did not want to create something that’s very prescriptive to creators,” Samuel explains. “If you give a creator a script that’s not ideal, that’s not going to get the most out of creators when you’re just telling them what to say. You need to let them be creative and trust them.”

Lenovo provided just enough background information and must-have requirements that are authentic to their brand while leaving room for the creators’ own interpretation. “Lenovo did a great job of supplying as much information as possible without being overwhelming,” says Samuel. “For tech products, making sure we have all the necessary spec information [is key]… if the ASMR creators don’t want to dive deep into details, we need to provide the most important information not to mislead.”

Sarah Lavander

In selecting the 52 ASMR creators, Samuel aimed for breadth rather than hyper-targeting. “It was more about targeting the community itself,” he states. “The goal was to get to as many of those content creators that made sense from just a quick brand safety check.” The campaign leveraged the “horizontal frequency” of hitting many creator voices within the niche. “If a dozen of your friends tell you to check out this restaurant…you’re much more likely to [go] than if one person tells you,” Samuel analogizes. “That’s the power of tapping into this community of creators.”

The Seamless Integration of Tech Into ASMR Worlds

According to Samuel, the key goal in sending the Lenovo Tab P12 and Lenovo Tab Extreme tablets to creators was enabling authentic integrations. “If you can’t really speak to the tablet, it’s hard to engage your audience,” the manager notes. “It was less about the creative process and more about bringing your experience from that product. That’s when creators can actually speak to it.” Tablets can play an important role in relaxation. They have a bigger screen, can stand on their own for hands-free viewing, and can deliver high-quality audio for soothing sounds.

Raffy Taphy

Creators took varied approaches to featuring the tablets. “We’ve had some creators integrate the tablet throughout the entire video, like for drawing,” Samuel describes. “One I liked particularly was Gibi ASMR – she has these characters she does for her YouTube videos.” Rather than overtly showcasing the device, Gibi organically worked it into her character’s universe at a specific moment. “She didn’t bring the Lenovo tablet out from the very start…it was a more natural fit in how she used it within the video, which I thought was awesome.”

Gibi

Maintaining consistency across 52 creators presented challenges, but Samuel says strong communication helped them avoid major issues. “We were fortunate to have such strong relationships with our creators,” he says. “Everyone was able to follow the guidelines… Lenovo’s a dream brand partner. They respected the community and were consistently great at communicating back and forth with us as well.”

As Samuel reveals, the campaign exceeded viewership goals, amassing over 11 million views from a mix of micro and macro creators. “That’s exciting about working with YouTube influencers – these partnerships are evergreen, and the value will continue to go up over time,” he states, adding that both creators and Lenovo have provided positive feedback on tapping into the passionate ASMR community.

Goodnight Moon

Key Performance Metrics

While Samuel didn’t provide specific engagement numbers, he notes, “The engagement numbers were above where I wanted to be…looking at likes and comments.” More importantly, Lenovo reached a community in an authentic way. “Based on our conversations during the wrap-up, I know they were happy with how everything went and met their goals.”

Bolstering Brand Affinity

Beyond the number of views, the campaign positively impacted Lenovo’s brand perception among ASMR fans. Samuel recalls “pulling a number of comments that illuminate the fact—’ Hey, I’m already a Lenovo user’ whether they have a tablet, laptop, or computer.” Others mentioned that the campaign persuaded them to consider Lenovo seriously when making their next device purchase.

For Samuel, seeing comments like “I saw Lenovo was also on X creator’s video. That’s awesome” accumulating over time highlighted the effort’s success in raising brand awareness and affinity within this niche community. While relaxation was the primary focus, he notes an interesting organic tie-in to Lenovo’s productivity positioning:

“One of my favorite things many creators did was show themselves watching a video of another ASMR creator…as it happens to be part of this campaign. It was cool to see them watch each other during their videos because we want to show this as an ASMR companion.