SAMY Alliance recently secured the influencer marketing account for all L’Oréal brands in Italy after demonstrating that its proprietary analysis technologies could deliver more precise creator-brand matches than traditional methods. The Madrid-headquartered company now operates in over 55 markets, with 15 offices globally and more than 650 professionals, but it began with a focused vision in 2013.

Founded by three marketing professionals in Madrid—Patricia Ratia, Marta Nicolás, and Juan Sánchez-Herrera—two of whom came directly from brand-side roles—SAMY Alliance emerged to help brands that needed better ways to connect with content creators who could craft genuine, tailored storytelling for specific marketing objectives.

“What clearly sets us apart is the fact that we prioritize data analysis—we really focus on understanding the customer,” explains Sonsoles Piñeiro Kruik, Global Chief Growth Officer at SAMY Alliance. “We harness proprietary natural language processing technology to better identify the audiences, the attitudes, the behaviors, and the cultures. That informs a more confident plan and strategy when it comes to our influencer marketing approach.”

From the beginning, SAMY has employed a systematic approach to creator classification. “It was born as a platform where content creators were sorted into different passions that could go from innovation to beauty, tech, adrenaline, everything that had to do with tech and fashion,” Sonsoles notes. 

This categorization methodology advanced into ShineBuzz, their proprietary algorithm designed to identify talents, select them based on client needs and objectives, and predict campaign performance. “Everything we do from the start, data has always been very much at the heart of our specific work,” she emphasizes.

The company’s growth trajectory included geographic expansion beginning in 2017 with Portugal and the Latin American region, and by 2020, strategic service diversification through key acquisitions. As Sonsoles notes, this development prepared SAMY to compete for major global accounts, such as L’Oréal.

A Long-Term Partnership Expands

The L’Oréal partnership represents the culmination of a relationship built over years of proven performance. “L’Oréal has been a long-standing partner for SAMY. We’ve worked with them in several regions and with several services, from research and intelligence to influencer marketing and social media projects,” Sonsoles explains.

This established relationship created the foundation for the opportunity. “Words get fast if things are done well,” she notes, describing how SAMY’s performance in other markets led to their invitation to participate in the influencer marketing pitch to become L’Oréal’s agency of record for all influencer marketing activations across their divisions and brands in Italy.

According to Sonsoles, the timing proved ideal for both companies. “This is a time where influencer marketing is definitely becoming the cornerstone of much of the digital marketing activity of the group,” she says. “It’s great to be that partner and bring that to life and make it a reality.”

Sonsoles shares that the services SAMY now provides to L’Oréal Italy include a “thorough data-informed influencer marketing solution” that includes “end-to-end data measurement, strategy and innovation management, and creative services.”

To execute this effectively, SAMY has established a cross-division team working from their Milan offices—a location they opened specifically to better serve the Italian market—with support from the agency’s global team members who already work with L’Oréal in other regions.

The Technology Behind the Partnership

SAMY’s methodology goes beyond traditional influencer selection metrics, leveraging their technology stack to create more effective brand-creator matches. The company’s ShineBuzz algorithm, which has improved since its founding, serves as the technological backbone of their approach.

“We work very closely with the different markets, whether with the prospects and clients that we have,” Sonsoles explains, adding that this cross-market intelligence sharing allows SAMY to identify trends and insights that inform campaign development.

When developing a strategy for clients, SAMY begins with a thorough data analysis. “Understanding the voice of the consumer enables us to work on that strategy and creativity, and that fuels the actionable insights that make us work on the campaign and what makes sense,” Sonsoles notes.

She reveals that this deep analytical approach has proven successful across various industries. For Crocs, SAMY identified gaming as a strategic vertical for reaching Gen Z audiences in northern European countries. “We saw that the gaming industry and the gaming vertical were very interesting for Crocs to start positioning themselves there,” Sonsoles says. As she notes, this led to Twitch campaigns and in-platform games that delivered strong results.

For Decathlon Spain, another client where SAMY handles research, influencer marketing, social media, and PR, they created a unique circularity campaign. Working with Barcelona soccer player Pedri, they generated buzz by suggesting he was “going to be back on the market”—leading fans to believe he was leaving the team—before revealing the campaign was actually about giving sporting equipment a second life through Decathlon’s circularity initiative.

Trends Shaping the Partnership

SAMY Alliance’s approach to these partnerships is informed by several key creator economy trends that Sonsoles identifies as key for major brands to understand:

Creator-led commerce: “This is huge and moving very fast,” she notes. “TikTok Shop, YouTube Shopping, the live stream commerce—they’re reshaping how creators drive sales directly and being that full funnel.” This shift transforms influencers from mere media channels into “commerce engines” themselves, creating new opportunities for brands to convert audiences directly through creator partnerships.

The macro-to-micro trust shift: “Trust now continues to shift from celebrities to more niche micro-influencers,” Sonsoles observes. According to her, this trend is driven by the genuineness, credibility, locality of the dialect, and real-time product use that micro-influencers provide. SAMY’s strategy for L’Oréal balances different tiers of influencers based on campaign objectives, finding the right mix for each brand within the beauty conglomerate’s portfolio.

Influencer marketing fatigue: “It’s real,” Sonsoles acknowledges. “That overexposure and repetition can definitely lead to disengagement.” SAMY counters this through “narrative-based content, co-creation with profiles and brands, and long-term collaborations” rather than one-off promotional posts.

Building Valuable Creator Partnerships

For creators interested in working with major brands, Sonsoles offers specific guidance based on what SAMY looks for when building brand partnerships:

“Content quality for consistency,” she emphasizes. “If we work on curated visuals and pair it with the correct posting frequency, this can sometimes outperform the single virals we seek. Brands require consistency, tone alignment, and attention to visual identity.”

Data collaboration is equally important: “Influencers and creators need to understand their performance metrics and be open to feedback loops. We share creative briefings, benchmarks, and brand strategy to align expectations and messaging.”

Perhaps most importantly, SAMY prioritizes long-term value-building over quick hits. “One-offs don’t build social equity,” Sonsoles states. “We need to work with creators who behave as brand ambassadors, brand champions, brand stewards.”

She adds, “We usually try to prioritize multi-month collaborations where the creator can grow with the brand, really sync with it, and become that digital loudspeaker of your group and of your brand.”

The Partnership’s Future Direction

The move into the Italian market represents part of SAMY’s broader strategic growth plan. “We’re committed to accelerating our growth,” Sonsoles shares. “We have a strong presence in the UK, Iberia, and Finland. And now, having recently opened our Milan offices, we’re focusing on delivering excellent work in Italy, as well as continuing to deliver value-added projects in the UK and the U.S.”

While specific future initiatives for L’Oréal brands remain confidential, Sonsoles notes that their work together is progressing well: “We kicked off this project a few months ago, and it’s going in the right direction. We believe the creator economy in Italy and the position of L’Oréal are very interesting.”

Heading further into 2025, she envisions influencer marketing taking an even more central role for major brands. “Influencer marketing is the cornerstone of the digital marketing strategies for these types of groups. So it’s definitely something that will be very much focused on for 2025.”