Paquita Salas was looking for the 360 actress, the one who was capable of going beyond acting skills. In the famous Netflix series Los Javis, the representative of actors and actresses tries to gain a foothold in the world of representation. Also in Madrid but in a completely different reality, Sergio Barreda is looking for the 360 influencer and, a few years after starting in the industry, he has turned his influencer marketing and advertising agency into one of the most important in Spain.
Barreda, CEO and founder of Keep The Key, represents some of today’s most followed celebrities and content creators. Like Henar Álvarez, Carolina Iglesias, Xuso Jones or Noemí Casquet. he talks to hypertextual on what is behind this profession. The backstage what we see on Instagram.
Caroline Iglesiasalso known as Percebes y Grelos, has risen to fame with the podcast Stretching the gum, in which she sits next to Victoria Martín to talk about everything that outrages them about this society. It has been a long road to get to this point. 6 years in which he has worked side by side with Sergio Barreda. The representative acknowledges that the comedian is already part of his life due to the process they have lived together in these years. “That evolution has been incredible,” he tells hypertextual. Beyond the work related to advertising, the publicist emphasizes the importance of personal relationship that is created with its represented. He states that, in addition to representatives, he also plays “psychologist and father”.
Always next to your influencers
Emotional support for influencers is very important and depends on the profile. There are some who need more support than others because they are already successful and work is more psychological. “There are some in which the connection on a personal level is vital. Because we spend so much time together that if we are not connected it is complicated,” she says in an interview with this medium. Sergio Barreda’s relationship with his clients ranges from the personal to the business. With the influencer Xuso Jones he has created the brand Jaspao Homededicated to home and beauty products.
Sergio Barreda did not think that the business would reach this point when he started the project of Keep The Key. He started the agency when he realized there was a problem within the influencer marketing industry. In this then-nascent business, brands and content creators didn’t understand each other. Some because they did not know how to identify the value of the creators and these because they did not know how to see the value of creating content for a brand. “I saw that there was a need for training on both sides, for someone to act as an intermediary,” he explains.
“That’s where Keep the key came from and it was born focused on the part of microinfluencers, those who are in the first stage, especially because it was the niche part where there was more opportunity at that time. We found a market niche within the micros and we started working with campaigns for brands and representing them. All this has evolved and today we are already part of the top influencer agencies in Spain with a turnover of more than 3 million euros and a team of more than 18 people” .
Sergio Barreda
The influencer ‘360’
Keep The Key’s client base continues to grow. Some contact the agency directly because they need help managing their networks and collaborations, sometimes it’s the other way around and it is the agency workers who “sign” some of them. There are influencers of all colors -and more every day- but What do you take into account to differentiate between those with potential and those without? For Sergio, more than the number of followers, what matters to him is the projection of the profile. If he sees that he can have organic and long-term growth, he continues, not only in networks but also as a communicator. “As a representative, the line I follow is entertainment but also communication. That they can do a podcast but also present an event. I perceive that the content and the person are 360 and have a long-term projection“, he highlights.
It is not easy to succeed at a time when it seems that influencers are emerging from under the rocks. The competition is increasing, but the new profiles are also a breath of fresh air. “That is also necessary because sometimes it seems that we are always working with the same names,” says Sergio Barreda. The sector has grown a lot in recent years but there are things that remain.
Like the prejudice of many people that being an influencer is an easy job that everyone could do. The CEO of Keep The Key understands that it can be perceived as something simple, but highlights the importance of everything behind it. “The creators do not disconnect, it is a continuous stress and behind a publication there are the contracts, the negotiations, the timings, creative work…”, says Barreda. “Everything that happens on a psychological level is not perceived”, concludes.
Haters always show up
The pace of work in this sector is crazy. For both the representative and the content creator. Barreda explains that we live in an absolute immediacy that often generates anxiety and complicated rhythms. The important thing, as in other demanding professions, is to feel passion for the profession.
“On a day-to-day basis, an influencer is like an independent advertising agency, they receive proposals, analyze them, and create content based on what the client is asking of them. They act as disseminators of that content and In the end, we end up making a report on the results. They are small creative processes that influencers carry out independently and we accompany them in the most bureaucratic part of contracts, negotiations, timings, agenda…”.
Edward Barred
Sometimes this work seems to take a backseat when content creators receive messages from haters. In the end, the agency tries to downplay it by claiming that the opinion of a person who does not even put his name should not be taken into account. That person would never tell you face to face. However, the representative of influencers recognizes that we are people and that it is normal that insulting comments do not go unnoticed. “The haters have to be in the background, although it is inevitable that it does not affect you,” he says.
Regulation reaches the influencer world
Influencers have, as their name suggests, a great influence on their followers. That can sometimes have a downside. Despite the fact that more and more people are betting on showing the most real face of their daily lives, there are still many content creators who they seem to live a perfect life. Beyond luxury, in the case of women above all, they sell a perfect body and image. Especially for teenagers, this type of content can be harmful. “Here the parent education part is very important to teach that not everything that comes out on networks is 100% real,” recalls Sergio Barreda. “The creators do not have the absolute truth and it’s better to unfollow someone rather than trying to be like them and failing. I understand that this generates frustration in the people”.
On the other hand, sometimes they are controversial for aspects such as health recommendations. From unhealthy diets to recent cases like that of Marina Gers, who said on her social media that she had gone to the Amazon to cure her liver with the secretions of a frog. Barreda insists that influencers do not have the absolute truth, but she also highlights important needs in the sector such as a legislation according to the importance of digital creators in the business sector. Today, it is not considered to be a profession as such and the regulation is being set by the actors in the sector themselves.
This may be about to change. The Audiovisual Law will include for the first time the activity of “vloggers or new audiovisual agents who use and disseminate their content through video sharing platforms” according to the official name of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC). Within the new conditions, content creators will have to abide by the rules from, for example, television networks. That means you will have a editorial responsibility for its contents and failure to comply with the rules will lead to the imposition of sanctions.
A sector that does not stop growing
From the Keep The Key agency they support the existence of legislation so that all the weight does not fall on the influencers. Despite the lack of regulation, the CEO and founder of the agency values the professionalization of the sector in recent years. “We have been building as we thought we had to build. And surely we’ve been wrong many times but it is normal that there have been errors because it was a new sector. But we will continue to evolve. (…) We have built the foundations of the sector of influence “, he underlines.
Sergio Barreda’s is not the only influencer agency in Spain. With the increase in content creators, many companies like Keep The Key have been born. It is the way to keep up to date, to evolve and to have healthy competition between agencies, says the representative. One of his keys is to have a personal relationship with the people with whom he collaborates but, above all, whose work you trust.
Barreda has also worked as a representative for actors and actresses. She acknowledges that the rhythm is very different compared to influencers. An actor can be involved in a project for months, for example if he works on a series. He then he can be months without working. “That does not happen with influencers, because today we are working with a brand and the next day we are at an event or making synergies with a client. The process is more dynamic but that too generates more intense work rhythms“, recognizes hypertextual.
An intense work rhythm that encourages relationships to go beyond work. And that, as Paquita Salas used to do, she keeps the bag for Mariona Terés while she gives a speech at the Goya Awards. Or to do everything possible so that hers represented have the dress you need to pose on the red carpet.