Factor analysis has traditionally been one of the building tools of the fashion industry in both cognitive and affective domains. However, the findings of factors analysis need to be supported and triangulated with other methods. The reliance and randomness in so many current theories feels intuitively suspect when we consider the beauty and complexity of social media. Why are we persuaded to go down this road?
In a word, the menswear fashion world prides itself with modern design, advanced creativity and influential models to set its brands on the right trajectory path due north. But even so, there are certain undeniable facts that help launch a brand. You see, models are powerful visually, yet, it is important to realize that reality transcends all models in these modern social and technological times. In other words, models are responsible for the complexity and richness of the way a brand is perceived. Nowadays, Celebrity models are now followed on social media in tremendous numbers. As interest in online grows, digital intelligence is strongly suggesting that menswear influencer pages are growing proportionately upward. More importantly, menswear CEO's and marketing VP's are allocating advertising budget dollars in that direction. As a result, model influencers who maintain steady engagement, just became much more desirable to luxury brands. Be mindful, as interest in menswear grows, so does its influencers.
Though many people are terrified by the impact of social media, it helps to realize that everything about reality that gets formulated into mathematics also exists as a concept. If you grasp the concept you often go straight to the heart of what the math is trying to say. Social media is really a condensed, universal language that allows descriptions of so-called physical processes, or better, descriptions of our interactions with nature.
The evidence of an early social media platform inflating with remarkable speed comes from various clues. One is the near uniformity of followers that emerged during social media's big bang and continues to pervade the developed platform today. Another is the flatness of space. Flatness is a technical term in physics that refers to the curvature of the universe and the distribution of matter and energy in it. The greater the energy, the more powerful effect it will have on the viewer.
Now then, a menswear fashion influencer is a personality that creates fashion and style content while having the power to influence the opinion and purchase behavior of followers with their recommendations, brand endorsements and often simply by displaying their interesting life to hundreds of thousands of followers. They are the new celebrity endorsers because they have a closer relationship with their audience contrary to the distant celebrities had in the past. In short, the daily interactions across multiple channels, through photos, Instagram stories or even live sessions, develop into an interactive and tangible trust with the followers, which has the 350 billon dollar fashion marketing business paying very close attention to these days.
To take you back in time, about 20 years ago, fashion blogs were nothing more than a mere hobby for fashion enthusiasts. By 2010 however, fashion bloggers soon learned not only how to monetize their content but rather develop them into noteworthy marketing tools. Moving forward to 2017, Instagram became the platform with the highest reach for fashion Influencers. *Our very own Forbes had estimated that the top ten fashion influencers generated a reach of 23.3 million on Instagram. Moreover, the fashion industry had the highest shares on influencer marketing. At present, the fashion industry spends about 1 billion on sponsored Instagram posts per year.
You see, the number of followers, demographics, and engagement rate quite often measures the economic value of a fashion influencer and the right fit between the influencer and the fashion brands organic culture. Although most followers look to an influencer for their special personality and great style, model influencers must be able to identify the brand convincingly without seeming as if they are promoting the brand simply for the earned income.
Talk to Forbes in detail about how you started your career in Modeling?
Tobias Sorensen: I first pursued the idea of modeling when I was about 14 or 15 years old. Sadly though, I got off to a very slow start. In fact, I was turned down by every agency in (my country) Denmark. To be honest, pursuing a career as a model hadn’t been a passion of mine. Nevertheless, I tried my luck just like many other kids at that time. I recall having asked my older sister if she could help me take some photos. Subsequently, I emailed the images out to more than 10 different agencies to give it my best shot. Six agencies rejected me, three agencies hadn’t even responded, while only one asked me to come in for what the industry refers to as a sit down. From the ages 15-18, I was working for minimum wage, doing everything from packing groceries, washing dishes to serving food, while studying at the same time. So the idea of earning better income as a model had me quite psyched. A week had gone by before I met with the agency for the sit down. I remember having a conversation about the industry as well as my facial scars before they would take Polaroid’s. They explained to me in a polite way, that I had been called in because they liked my look, but needed to see the scars in person as they unfortunately thought it could be a disadvantage for a model and result in high editing costs. With that said, I left the agency hoping for the best but knowing not to keep my expectations high. A week later I received an email saying something in the lines of: “We like your look and your personality but unfortunately we have decided not to sign you as we have difficulty finding a place for you in our portfolio“. My whole life growing up, I’ve always been a popular kid at school who didn’t get bullied, but at the same time I always had other kids point fingers at my scars asking me “what happened to your face?” “Why do you have those weird scars?” “Those scars are ugly, you should get them removed” etc. Therefore, I won’t lie and say that the 10th rejection was any easier.
A year had gone by before I tested the waters again within the industry. This time around however, a friend and I went to an open casting, but once again I was turned down while my friend was actually asked to stay. Interestingly enough, he’s now gone on to become this big tech CEO, and as the fashion industry is infused with more technology, we are now acquiring some opportunities to work together again. After trying my luck at the open casting I decided not to pursue it any further and to be honest modeling never crossed my mind again, until I was 18 or 19 and got signed. At that time, I was working in a clothing store, and as luck would have it, my current agent scouted me on my first day at work. From that point on, things kind of catapulted, and within only a few weeks from getting signed, I was off and running doing fashion weeks in Paris, Milan, London etc. At the same time, I was trying to keep up with my education. You see, for me, education has always been an important factor growing up, therefore, I decided to finish what I had started- before finally making the move to NYC at the age of 21.
TS: As the industry has changed from being all about perfection to being more about personalities, embracing your imperfections etc., I actually believe that my scars are what makes me unique and gives me a signature look. Today, I feel it’s one of the things that most casting directors, designers etc. remembers about me.
As an influencer, more specifically menswear social media influencer, what is your development strategy in building your brand as well as global fashion brands?
Tobias Sorenson: I remain very selective about which brands I partner with for work. When I represent a brand, I’m extending my personal brand to that company and in the current social media landscape; I believe one can only do so many ambassadorships and partnerships before your audience gets fatigued.
In your words, what has been your biggest risk in your career?
TS: As anyone in the modeling world will tell you, there are no guarantees in this business. So diving head first into a modeling career with no safety net - instead of pursuing my business school education further - was a big risk at the time.
In truth, you are a successful entrepreneur; might you have segued into other business ventures as well? If so, what might that be?
TS: For the last couple of years, I’ve believed the next era of social will revolve around greater privacy —and by extension — greater intimacy. I’ve been working on a way to create a more direct line between myself and my top supporters, which I don’t feel currently exists. A way to show appreciation for the people who have followed you and supported you in a much more private and intimate way. In truth, I teamed up with an old friend of mine last year (who happens to be a tech CEO) to develop a beta- that we successfully launched. It was right before the Facebook scandal though, and after the shocking news of Cambridge Analytica, Facebook and IG rolled back a lot of platform API privileges that we were relying on for our business. With over 2 billion users, Facebook obviously continues to cement themselves as the authority in social media, and you can’t build anything in the world of social without considering their motives. I think it’s an interesting development and I continue to diligently read the landscape. A lot of the trends I’ve anticipated, through my personal experiences, are starting to manifest themselves, which is exciting.
Name your top 3 images of your career?
TS: Calvin Klein Eternity fragrance shot by Cass Bird. Davidoff Run wild fragrance shot by Lachlan Bailey & CK underwear shoot shot by Daniel Jackson.
You have amassed millions upon millions of dollars for various brands and greatly increased their revenue streams, in your words, what is the secret to your success?
TS: Being selective about your work is key. You can only do so many things, so you have to pick and choose wisely. All while I am trying to stay humble and stay hungry. Obviously, those principles can be hard to balance. Fortunately, I have a fantastic team of people around me and I rely on them a lot.
How has technology aided your business though social media and social impact?
TS: I actually feel super lucky to have grown up in a time where tech has gone from something a small niche of people in the valley could understand to being applied in a more mainstream capacity and across an array of industries. Specifically, I am referring to the exponential adoption of mobile technology over the past 10 years, which has really fueled social media. For me, it’s been particularly interesting, because it coincided at the same time I had been developing my career, and has given me a chance to be an early adopter of every app and social media service. If I were 10 years younger, my origin story could have been as a fitness influencer and not necessarily a fashion model. Essentially, I’ve been part of this change for the last decade. Since social media was in its infancy, when I started using it, there was no playbook, and I had to figure it out as I went along, which I’ve learned a lot from doing so. I remember some of the people on my team thinking I was crazy when I tweeted for the first time, asking me why I would publicly share something personal. In fact, that’s how many people perceived social when it first became a thing. But I believed in the movement (already, back then) and continued to build my following, slowly but steadily.
Name 3 adjectives that describe Tobias?
TS: Honest, persistent and probably impatient:).
You are one of the most sought-after male models in the world, what is the one campaign or one photographer that you would like to shoot?
TS: I have always been a big admirer of Tom Ford and his designs as well as the photographer Steven Klein whom I have yet had the opportunity to work with.
What has been your greatest achievement during your career thus far?
TS: It’s difficult for me to choose only one job, however, CK was definitely one of the most iconic campaigns I’ve done. I had always wanted to shoot CK fragrance, and it was a very satisfying feeling when I finally got selected for the global advertising campaign. Not only is Calvin Klein a worldwide known brand but in addition, I had the opportunity to work with some amazing people whom I had always wanted to work with for a campaign. Another great shoot was my recent Davidoff Run wild fragrance campaign. We spent 6 days in Slovenia and Croatia. It was a tremendous production with somewhere between 100-200 people. Fashion photographer Lachlan Bailey was amazing to work for that shoot. Moreover, the whole experience as well as the nature was absolutely surreal. I can’t wait for everyone to see it!
As a macro influencer with 173K followers on Instagram, what message are you conveying to your viewers?
TS: I’m very aware of the responsibility that comes with having such a large following. Having the means to be able to reach such a large audience (in the blink of an eye), means you can’t always give into spontaneous instincts — you have to make sure to set a good example. A big theme for my IG content has been telling my heartfelt story of rejection upon rejection, especially early on in my career, I had to keep my head high and keep moving forward. I remember Barry Sternlich of Starwood Capital saying his favorite quote is “perseverance is genius in disguise.” That’s as true in finance as it is in fashion, and I couldn’t agree more with that statement.
How do you utilize your spare time?
TS: Obviously I spend a lot of time in the gym. I never know when I may get a gig so I need to stay in shape all year around. It’s a bit like being a ball player in a free agency. You never know when you may get that call, and as a model, you need to be ready. Modeling is different from acting in the sense that actors tend to have at least three months notice prior to shooting, allowing them time to get in shape. On the contrary, as a model, you sometimes have less than a week’s notice to shoot for a fashion editorial or an advertising job. It’s sort of the equivalent of an actor having to stay in super hero shape all year long; and that takes time and a lot of hard work. In addition, I spend a lot of my time with my family and friends. Living in NYC, I am 7 hours away, while having 6 hours time difference- has not always been easy. It’s important to me that I keep a good relationship with not only my family but also my friends and business contacts back home. On top of that, I have my lovely dog Lucy who requires a lot of attention as well as playtime -not to mention all the time an energy that I’ve been putting towards my new business ventures that I’m currently involved with – stay tuned!
Do you have a social impact charity or cause that you support?
TS: I currently do not have a charity that I solely support. But I tend to give back as much as I can and I believe what goes around comes around.
Is there a Hollywood acting career on the horizon? If so, what type of role do you see yourself playing?
TS: I had taken a few acting classes a couple of years ago. Acting is definitely something that I could see myself pursuing moving forward. At this time, I’m focusing on my modeling as well as my other business ventures.
What is your growth strategy - long term plan for your entrepreneurial path?
TS: I’m a quality over quantity type of person. That’s always been the case in every aspect of life. It remains true for my brand and by extension my social media presence. I’m still tinkering with a number of projects, including the aforementioned social media project around creating a more private, genuine way for me to connect with my followers.
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