Follow the Leader: Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now and Contemporary Influencer Marketing

Abstract

This paper explores the historical connection between influencer marketing and Edward R. Murrow. Influencer marketing is the use of an individual that has significant influence over their marketplace’s decision-making. The academic literature positions influencer marketing as an entirely new marketing practice. I argue that journalist Edward R. Murrow, the most widely known and revered news anchor of the 1950s, and his show See It Now used similar “influencer” strategies. I explore the categories of social ranking, trust, and peer-to-peer connection. For instance, during the 1950s, television programming had sponsorships from companies in exchange of promotion in the programming, and these sponsorships used Murrow’s celebrity to target specific audiences, much like modern-day influencers. Seeing the historical thread in See It Now helps us understand the origin of contemporary marketing practices as well as the ways in which new media technologies have changed influencer marketing practices.