What happened to brand ambassadors? Going from actors to influencers.

Being a brand ambassador ain’t what it used to be. Ten years ago, anyone could dress up to hand out products to people IRL. Today, brand ambassadorship exists predominantly online, driven by Instagram influencers and actors paid to pose with products in transactional sponsored #ads.As brand ambassadorship has become increasingly digitized, the authenticity of advocacy has been called into question, leaving us to wonder: What even happened to brand ambassadors? Although the job seems more popular than ever, ZoomInfo data shows the title peaked in popularity in 2017 before suffering a sudden decline.To find out how brand ambassadorship has evolved over the last 10 years we talked with Kristal Mallookis, the CEO and founder of Mustard Lane, a brand ambassador staffing agency that has built a community of thousands of brand ambassadors across the country.