Multinational brands are increasingly partnering with specialized agencies as influencer marketing budgets continue to rise. The World Federation of Advertisers reports that 54% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets this year. However, searching for the perfect creator match can cost brands thousands of wasted campaign dollars and hours of internal resources. 

Stockholm-based AWISEE is addressing this gap with a dedicated influencer scouting service that separates the discovery process from full campaign execution.

“If I can summarize influencer marketing, it’s just connecting the right influencer to the right audience,” explains Allina Irfan, Senior Influencer Marketing & Account Manager at AWISEE. “Influencer scouting is the biggest part of influencer marketing. For sure, negotiation and deliverables make it flow, but the main part is finding the right influencers.”

AWISEE employs a hybrid methodology, which combines automated tools with manual research. While many platforms offer algorithm-based matching, AWISEE taps specialists with firsthand cultural knowledge to personally review potential creators.

“We are not an agency that uses just some tools to search for influences for companies,” Allina emphasizes. “We do manual searches for our brands and even manual outreaching. We are experts in both ways.”

Founded in 2018 by Gustav, AWISEE has grown from an early influencer marketing agency in Sweden to a global operation with team members across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.

Tailored Discovery Options for Varying Brand Needs

AWISEE structures its scouting service across multiple price points to accommodate different stages of campaign planning. 

Their flat fee service begins at $250, delivering a curated list of 50 fully vetted influencers aligned with specific brand criteria. For ongoing discovery needs, their monthly agency plan, priced at $500, provides access to up to 500 influencers, with volume adjustments made based on market size and requirements. Companies ready to move beyond discovery into execution can opt for campaign-specific packages with customized scopes.

This tiered structure addresses a common industry pattern Allina has observed: “Companies often just want to see a list of influencers because they might be planning campaigns five or six months ahead. They need to test the waters or discuss options with their internal teams before committing to full execution.”

The discovery process begins with detailed client consultations to understand brand requirements. “We have a lot of calls with our clients to understand their needs and to realign and align with them on the goals,” Allina explains. “We really focus on getting the best for them.” 

Once requirements are established, AWISEE’s team combines database searches with manual prospecting, checking each creator against the brand’s criteria before delivering their recommendations.

Cultural Intelligence Through Global Operations

AWISEE’s discovery capabilities are enhanced by its distributed global team structure. Instead of centralizing operations in a single location, the company’s team members live and work in their native regions.

“The diversity is not that we are living in one country and coming from different backgrounds, but that we’re living in our own countries, experiencing the conditions of those countries, having firsthand experiences, and still working together,” Allina notes. 

As an Economics and Management graduate from the University of Siena, based in Italy, Allina herself operates in Europe, while colleagues contribute specialized knowledge from Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.

According to her, this distributed approach proves valuable when scouting creators in markets with unique platforms and cultural contexts. “Sourcing influencers from the Americas or Europe is something everyone can do,” Allina explains. “But some countries in the APEC region, or China or Russia—they may not even have the same platforms that we think are famous.”

Rather than claiming universal expertise, AWISEE partners with local agencies in specialized markets. “We don’t just say we’re the best in everything,” Allina acknowledges. “We partner with influencer marketing agencies from these regions to deliver wonderful results.”

Qualitative Creator Evaluation

While follower counts and engagement rates provide baseline metrics, AWISEE’s scouting process incorporates a deeper, qualitative evaluation that algorithm-only approaches often miss. 

The team examines content quality, brand alignment, audience demographics, and creator professionalism—factors that affect campaign outcomes but require human judgment.

Success for AWISEE isn’t measured by list size but by brand adoption rate. “When the brand approves the creators, that’s how we know we’ve done a great job,” Allina explains. “If we’ve presented them with 20 creators and they’re working with six to eight, that shows we’ve understood their needs.” 

When brands require refinements based on specific engagement metrics or audience demographics, AWISEE quickly adjusts its recommendations through ongoing consultation.

This human-centered approach also extends to understanding creator preferences. “Many brands want to promote something like gaming platforms, and this situation can happen where you take the product to the influencer and they decline,” Allina notes. “We actually respect that and find other influencers who are genuinely enthusiastic about the category, like Twitch streamers who are happy to promote gaming content.”

Client Success and Future Direction

AWISEE’s approach to creator discovery has attracted clients such as TikTok and Alibaba, as well as brands spanning the lifestyle, beauty, fintech, and real estate sectors.

Looking ahead, Allina identifies an opportunity for improvement in audience verification capabilities. “We already get useful insights into influencer audiences, and things are only getting better. As tools improve, we’ll have even clearer data to help match brands with the right creators and drive stronger results.”

As the company grows, it plans to move beyond digital services to include logistics management for physical products and creator events. “At the moment, we’re not focusing on product shipping or creator tours, as our priority is managing the high demand for digital campaigns,” Allina reveals.

As creator-brand partnerships mature, AWISEE’s scouting service addresses the ongoing challenge of finding genuine talent matches in a divided creator market.

“Every time you see LinkedIn posts claiming ‘influencer marketing is dead,’ we see the opposite reality,” Allina concludes. “We’re flourishing because we fill the gap between what brands need and what generic platforms provide. Marketing isn’t just something anyone can do—it requires strategy, creative thinking, and specialized expertise to deliver results worth investing in.”