Kindred was launched by angel investor and founder of Quintessentially, Aaron Simpson and enables its users to share the products they like and make recommendations on their social channels whilst promoting savings on some of the world’s leading brands and local shops. It links the purchase of a product directly to a recommendation. As people accept advocates’ recommendations, a percentage of the sales goes to the advocate, who can decide to give an amount to a charity. No longer will influence be measured in terms of follower numbers – brands only pay for performance as influence is rewarded via a direct and measurable sale. In turn, it hopes to erase the fake followers within the system as the only payment comes from a direct purchase. “We’ve flipped the influencer business model on its head. The market is on a busted flush and everyone and their dog can now claim to be an influencer – but they just don’t have the metrics. The real metric is influencing someone to buy something. Kindred is about real influence and real sales,” said founder Aaron Simpson.The platform is free to join and already has 2,500 brands including Disney, Mothercare and Ted Baker, and its audience size is already 1.4 billion. The Kindred team is around 50 people and has more than 50,000 products in its marketplace. Within the next 24 months, the marketplace hopes to secure £50 million per quarter for charities.
Hear more about Kindred and meet the team at this year’s Influencer Marketing Show, taking place on 22nd and 23rd October at Old Billingsgate in London. Kindred’s session is Day 2 at 2pm.
