The global influencer marketing space has long prioritized speed and viral performance, but a group of top Jamaican content creators and industry professionals are challenging the dominant expectation of immediate return on investment (ROI) from brand collaborations. At a recent major regional marketing conference, they called on local and international brands working with Caribbean creators to shift from quick, one-off campaigns to relationship-driven, long-term partnership strategies.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the IMPACT x Mystique marketing conference held Thursday at Kingston’s AC Hotel, prominent Jamaican lifestyle creator Rushane “RushCam” Campbell drew a sharp analogy to criticize brands’ rushed expectations. He compared the pressure to deliver instant sales to being asked to carry water in a basket, noting that the common demand to move dozens of product units immediately after a single post does not align with how influencer marketing actually works.
Campbell’s perspective was echoed by Khadine “Miss Kitty” Wilkinson, a veteran media personality with more than 20 years of experience partnering with leading brands. Wilkinson pushed back against the idea that one-size-fits-all metrics should be the only benchmark to determine whether a campaign delivers value for money. She emphasized that organic influence builds gradually, noting that audience trust and purchasing decisions often take months or even years to mature, rather than delivering instant results like a microwave meal. Too many brands write off a campaign as a failure if they do not see a massive immediate sales jump, she argued, ignoring the slower, more sustainable impact of consistent influencer alignment.
Singer-turned-content creator Tami Chin Mitchell reinforced the panel’s shared stance by referencing the well-known Marketing Rule of 7, which holds that potential customers need an average of seven interactions with a brand before making a purchase. Quipping that for Jamaican consumers the number is closer to 17, she drew laughter from the audience while underscoring the need for extended brand exposure to drive conversions.
Panel moderator Naomi Garrick, a personal branding coach and the head of Garrick Communications, added that local Jamaican brands regularly come to her seeking quick marketing fixes, often requesting one-off posts or two-week short campaigns. Garrick said she consistently warns these brands that such rushed strategies are ultimately a waste of money. While short campaigns may generate temporary buzz, they fail to deliver sustained results, she explained. Meaningful impact and accurate performance measurement only come from longer-term collaborations that allow influence to develop over a broader time frame, rather than quick, superficial hits, she added.
Campbell shared a concrete example of how long-term collaboration delivers results, pointing to his multi-year partnership with organizers of Barbados’ popular Crop Over festival. After hosting Campbell and other influencers in 2022 and inviting the group back again in 2023, the festival sold out completely in 2024, with attendance drawing visitors from across the Caribbean, Europe, North America and beyond. The multi-year investment in influencer relationships directly drove that sell-out outcome, he noted.
“Trust time, work with people over a period of time, people who have access to great communities, build deeper roots and trust, and know that, with collaboration, it will in fact work out; don’t expect it to work in one go… things just nah fly off the shelf,” Campbell said, stressing that patience is key to unlocking meaningful, long-term returns.
The two-day IMPACT x Mystique marketing conference, hosted by Mystique Integrated in partnership with Main Event Entertainment Group, iPrint Group and M-One Productions, concludes Friday. The event has drawn hundreds of senior marketers, content creators, C-suite executives, startup founders and media decision-makers from across the region to discuss emerging trends in marketing and influencer collaboration.