• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, December 3, 2015

The two faces of vloggers are reflected by today's marketing headlines. On the one hand we have an agency offering to help brands, including Unilever and TalkTalk, identify and work with vloggers to promote their products and services. On the other, we have Lego pointing out that it is looking at vlogging, but the major hurdle is remaining authentic.

There have already been some high-profile cases of well-known vloggers with huge followings promoting items without acknowledging a commercial relationship. Oreo has been the brand most closely associated with the problem, prompting the ASA to publish guidelines so brands and bloggers can stay on the right side of the law. Effectively, brands and vloggers were reminded it is their responsibility to acknowledge, through text on the screen, that a commercial relationship has been entered into when a product or service is discussed by a vlogger.

The summer intervention from ASA was very welcome because at least it ensured that brands -- and more importantly, vloggers -- can no longer say they were not explicitly made aware that commercial partnerships have to be disclosed.

Therein lies the rub. Vloggers typically have young, impressionable Millennials and Gen Z'ers watching their tips on makeup, relationships and quirky observations on life. My daughter and I have talked about her favourite vloggers -- topped by Phil and Dan, whoever they are -- and she had always suspected that some of them were probably taking money from companies they talk about. Now that this must be declared she is quite surprised at how many vloggers are simply out there to pass on advertisers' messages. When the warnings weren't there, it was a suspicion. Now that they are, it's confirmation.

It's an eye-opener that maybe -- just maybe -- those guys on the other side of the lens aren't big brothers or sisters passing on benevolent tips from their bedroom, but instead millionaires who would sell their grandma for a lucrative product to promote.

So Lego is right to be very cautious. Perhaps an agency becoming involved and lining up vloggers for the likes of Unilever and TalkTalk is just what the channel needs -- grownups who know the rules and will ensure transparency.

The point is that when left to their own devices, vloggers were there own worst enemy -- riding roughshod over rules and perhaps unwittingly, damaging the trust between them and their typically young audience. There is a massive opportunity out there still for vloggers who are adept at building loyal followings, but they must remember their fame and popularity is attributed to people wanting to see what they are up to next.

Keep the editorial to a high quality and always the first priority, into which promotional messages can be occasionally added, and they will do alright. Viewing the channel as a get-rich-quick scheme to say how much you like different products and a young audience that now understands the economics of vlogging will soon turn off. If the past is anything to go by, vloggers need saving from themselves.