prAna uses Aspire to simplify influencer campaigning from end to end

prAna was founded in a California garage in 1992 to create the perfect clothing for rock climbers and yogis. Thirty years later, the outdoor active lifestyle brand is just as connected to its principles as ever: power, freedom, and community.

prAna wanted an influencer platform for strategic end-to-end support

Hannah Spangenberg, Social Media Program Manager at prAna, says her company was looking to streamline its influencer marketing campaigns by eliminating manual search. 

Her team needed a solution that would help them manage content approvals and provide visibility into their entire influencer marketing program. They were also looking for: 

1. Streamlined influencer communication: Hannah spent a lot of time approving content via email, and she wanted a way to route content to her team for approval — the ideal platform would also allow them to give feedback to creators and pay them faster. 
2. Strategic end-to-end campaign support: prAna operates with a lean marketing team, so they were looking for a partner with industry knowledge who could consistently benchmark the evolution and success of their influencer strategy. 

To solve these challenges, they turned to Aspire. 

“We were looking for a solution where we could seek out influencer partners on a platform. We also wanted a hub where we could keep track of all of our brand’s content.”

prAna immediately began seeing the benefits of hosting all of its channel content and organic influencer campaigns on Aspire. 

Benefit #1: Aspire’s industry know-how keeps campaigns running smoothly

Aspire paired prAna with Vi Nguyen, one of its customer success managers, to help the team set campaign goals, gain industry insights, and optimize Aspire functionalities. Vi monitors the performance of the campaigns to ensure prAna is on track and converting within the team’s targets. 

Vi’s expert insights helped prAna overhaul its influencer-athlete strategy for 2024. She identified areas where prAna could get additional value out of partnerships and discover creators who had sway with the brand’s target audience. 

With Aspire’s Creator Marketplace handling campaign applications, the prAna team could focus on the reach of their content. They also had more time to optimize gifting by seeding products on social and white-labeling paid ads for influencer channels. 

Hannah says working with Vi is like having an additional team member with up-to-date industry know-how.

Benefit #2: Aspire’s tools streamline asset management and influencer relationships

Aspire’s platform centralizes every aspect of the process — from content creation to influencer payments — so that no communication gets lost. Here’s how that works:

• Creator communication: Aspire simplifies the influencer outreach process from end to end. Hannah sends out customized welcome emails in just a few clicks, browses the Creator Marketplace for influencers, and shares content briefs with creators to kick off partnerships quickly. Her team also uses the platform to share feedback and approve content easily. 
• Campaign landing pages: To apply to influence with prAna, creators scan a QR code that takes them to a custom landing page created with Aspire. Previously, prAna would’ve created pages themselves. Using Aspire makes finding influencers far more accessible for prAna’s small team. 
• Payment processing: With Aspire, prAna processes payments through PayPal in just a few days, cutting out days of communication between accounting teams and eliminating messy paperwork. Streamlining this process builds positive relationships between prAna and the talented influencers they’d like to keep working with.

“Aspire increases our talent sourcing efficiency and helps us track sales and new opportunities. Their platform reconciles everything in one place and often does the work for us.”

Aspire saves prAna 40 hours per influencer campaign

Aspire’s notification system is prAna’s most significant time-saver. It gives each person in the content review process three days for review and auto-approves pieces after that time period. This forces the entire team to review pieces promptly. The fact that creators submit content through Aspire is also a far cleaner and quicker process, as Hannah no longer wastes time creating different Dropboxes and ensuring assets stay organized.  

Since partnering with Aspire, prAna’s engagement rate has increased significantly. Aspire’s detailed engagement tracking also shows prAna the residual awareness that some creator content has built around their clothing, helping them determine which content and creators they should lean into. 

Take a look at the results:

• 40 hours saved per campaign with Aspire’s auto-approval feature
• 3% engagement rate — much higher for 2023 than previous years
• increase in impressions for content managed with Aspire

With Aspire consistently broadcasting ways for her team to leverage the platform and optimize campaigns, Hannah says she looks forward to the continued partnership. She plans to keep leveraging Aspire’s wealth of knowledge to grow prAna’s influencer marketing program. 

“As prAna looks to reach new audiences, Aspire has presented the right opportunities to us in terms of sourcing influencers with Creator Search and developing landing pages that drive awareness for our brand.”

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