In what could have also been submitted for the pretty dormant for a time 'Job Titles of the Future' series, the latest in Talent Management trends is apparently centered around a phenomenon known as 'The Cute Dogs of Instagram.'
Check this from a recent piece on Yahoo Finance titled 'Working like a dog: Instagram's popular pups bank up to $3,000 per post:
Instagram’s superstar dogs have their own talent agency, which is helping their owners rake in big money via the photo-sharing app.
We already know that the likes of Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid can be paid big bucks for just one Instagram post, but it seems that a host of cute canines are out to steal their thunder.
It’s all thanks to The Dog Agency, a relatively new enterprise from Loni Edwards, whose own French bulldog Chloe boasts over 125,000 Instagram followers. Edwards has fashioned her business as a “talent management firm geared specifically for canines and their “parents,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
With her help, the likes of The Dogist, one of Instagram’s biggest accounts dedicated to NYC pups, has secured advertising deals with Google and Merck. Edwards focuses on connecting her clients with marketers looking to promote their products on the app.
Nice gig I think for the manager of talent that prefers their 'talent' to be more or less pleased with a few snacks and maybe a nice belly rub now and again. (It's the dog 'parents' that are negotiating hard for the $3,000 per pop, trust me on that).
I wrote recently on how size and scale and our weird desire to amass and attempt to interact with hundreds if not thousands of other folks on social platforms eventually leads to a deterioration in the quality and even level of engagement on these networks. Ask yourself really honestly - do you enjoy using sites like Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn more now that they have amassed hundreds of millions of users more than you did back in the day when they were just starting out/scaling up?
I am pretty sure that I need to add one more observation on the decline of the value and quality of any social platform, apart from the crashing up against Dunbar's number and it is this:
When celebrity dogs are able to pull down major cash and score branding deals on a social platform, it is a sign the end is nigh.
Good on you, Chloe and the rest of you, thanks for reminding all of us it's truly a dog-eat-social network out there.