Only three percent of people in Australia trust advertising as their primary source of shopping information. In a recent Add to Cart podcast episode, Adam Furness (Managing Director, impact.com APAC) and Roger Lee (Head of Performance Marketing, Brand Collective) explored how leading brands adapt to this reality through customer advocacy and strategic partnerships.
Their discussion uncovered why trusted recommendations matter more than ever—and how brands can build stronger partnerships by understanding this shift.
Key takeaways from this blog
- Gen Z and millennials are shifting from Google to social platforms for product research
- User-generated content and authentic reviews outperform traditional advertising, with only 3 percent trusting ads
- Successful brands like Reebok are building tiered partnership programs spanning influencers to customer advocates
- Brand Collective’s 15 percent mutual referral program drives repeat visits and new customer acquisition
- Customer advocacy transforms the traditional marketing funnel into a continuous loop
Adam Furness – Managing Director, APJ, impact.com and Roger Lee – Head of Performance Marketing, Brand Collective
Why traditional marketing fails to reach modern consumers
Trust has become the defining factor in modern marketing. Young consumers actively avoid traditional advertising, instead seeking authentic recommendations from trusted sources.
Adam Furness explains this shift: “Gen Z and millennials don’t trust advertising. So to get them to listen, you need to reach them via trusted sources: their friends, family, content creators, influencers they’re following, and those publications they regularly engage with.”
This change extends to how consumers discover products. Rather than casting wide nets through traditional channels, brands must adapt to new search behaviors:
“Think about search marketing and search advertising. These younger generations don’t search on Google anymore. They’ll go straight into TikTok, straight into Instagram, and type in their search terms. There’s the video and content straight away.
Maybe, they’re traveling through Singapore at the moment. They’ll search for top restaurants and scroll through videos instantly. TikTok and Instagram are becoming their new search engine.”
The data confirms this behavior shift. According to impact.com’s Australian Customer Referral Marketing Report:
- Only 3 percent see ads as trusted information sources
- Over 50 percent don’t consider ads important for purchase decisions
Building authentic customer connections through partnerships
Forward-thinking brands must adapt their outreach strategies to meet customers where they are. Roger Lee from Brand Collective highlights this evolution:
“Think about the unprofessionalization of marketing. We’re trending towards user generated content with a reliance on influencers and content creators. We’re moving away from polished ad campaigns and—with platforms like TikTok going from strength to strength—what resonates now is the UGC feel.”
Success in this new landscape requires a diverse partnership approach:
- User-generated reviews and content
- Strategic influencer collaborations
- Brand-to-brand partnerships
Size isn’t everything in creator partnerships. Lee Besser, Creator Marketing Specialist, explains:
“It’s all about matching the right creator with the right tactic. If a client needs star appeal for a launch, celebrity or big-name creators are usually a good play. But if we want to extend a campaign’s lifespan, smaller or emerging creators are a cost-effective choice.”
Creating strategic brand partnerships that drive value
Strategic brand collaborations amplify reach and enhance customer experience. Adam Furness illustrates this with a key example:
“Brands working with other brands can be a great consumer experience. For example, Spotify and Ticketmaster working together. If you’re a music lover, you’re probably listening to Spotify. And, you’re most likely buying tickets to live events and concerts for your favorite artists through Ticketmaster.
Bringing them together using impact.com’s platform in the background was just a seamless customer experience in that world. That kind of brand-to-brand partnership, that’s gonna continue to grow.”
Putting these principles into action, an athletic brand could build an authentic community by:
- Running customer fitness challenges and sharing journey milestones
- Partnering with fitness influencers who embody brand values
- Creating mutually beneficial gym collaborations
This approach creates organic growth through genuine community engagement rather than traditional advertising.
Turning customers into your most powerful marketing asset
Today’s brands face a key challenge: traditional ads have lost consumer trust. The solution lies in customer advocacy through strategic referral programs.
Adam Furness explains how this transforms the traditional marketing funnel:
“Marketers used to see things through the lens of discovery, research, engagement, conversion, then (hopefully) customer retention. But, this is moving. When you introduce advocacy, the funnel flips and returns to that discovery stage.”
This shift creates a self-sustaining cycle:
- Satisfied customers become brand advocates
- Advocates refer new customers
- New customers convert and join the advocacy loop
The result: a continuous cycle of acquisition and growth driven by authentic recommendations rather than traditional marketing.
Building effective referral programs: Lessons from Brand Collective
Brand Collective’s Reebok program demonstrates a strategic three-tier approach:
“Working with one of our brands (Reebok), we’ve built their creator platform into three tiers. At the top end, we’ve got famous influencers with massive followings. They’re usually paid flat fees per post.
Then at the base, we’ve got a self-serve model for customer advocates. People who are already going to the gym and already love our products. We offer them a reward link to use and thank them for saying such nice things about our brand. Then we have middle tiers for other partners and creators”
Overcoming referral hesitation:
Recent data shows 49 percent of shoppers worry about annoying friends with recommendations. Brand Collective’s solution, according to Roger Lee:
“We’ve been experimenting with a 15 percent referral program…Customers get a discount, and so do their friends. It’s already driving results, and we’re seeing customers come back more frequently, often bringing new people with them.”
Keys to success:
- Clear reward structure
- Mutual benefits for referrer and referee
- Easy-to-use sharing tools
- Tiered engagement options
Tracking and rewarding the full partnership journey
Modern customer journeys involve multiple touchpoints, not just the final click. Adam Furness explains impact.com’s comprehensive tracking approach:
“We’re tracking every sort of touch point. A deal site or coupon might be the final step of the customer journey—but we need to see who else had influence along the way. You’re not paying someone just for that last touch. We want to compensate whoever initially had the first touch in that journey. Some content creators could have built out valuable content. They deserve spot bonuses and recognition every time.
The impact.com platform looks at the full customer journey and highlights different kinds of touch points—building commercial terms around them and showing where you should double down. That shift in tracking touchpoints stands out to me.”
For efficient partner management, Brand Collective transformed its manual tracking into an automated system. As Roger Lee explains:
“These tools allow brands to track performance, manage relationships, and pay partners based on business outcomes like sales without spending hours on manual processes. Before using impact.com, we were manually tracking everything. Now we’ve streamlined the whole process…It’s saved us so much time and gives us clear insights into what’s working and what’s not.”
Key benefits:
- Full journey attribution
- Automated partner payments
- Performance insights
- Time-saving automation
Transform your marketing with customer advocates
The future of partnership marketing extends beyond traditional boundaries. By turning satisfied customers into brand advocates, you create a self-sustaining cycle of authentic recommendations and growth.
Success comes from:
- Empowering customer advocates
- Building diverse partnership networks
- Leveraging automated tracking
- Creating mutual value
As traditional advertising loses impact, trusted recommendations from real customers become your most powerful marketing tool.
