Building Lyca Mobile's Global Influencer Program

The Opportunity: Building a New Growth Channel

The best ads are the ones that don't feel like ads. But great creative is only half the equation. The customer journey after the click matters just as much.

At Lyca Mobile, I identified an opportunity to connect authentic creator storytelling with two measurable business objectives: growing the brand organically and acquiring customers through paid media.

I spent weeks researching telecom competitors and performance-driven brands, studying their creator strategies, audience targeting, creative hooks, content formats and conversion journeys.

I turned that research into a comprehensive proposal for leadership, outlining an independently managed influencer program with distinct organic and paid objectives, a controlled testing budget and a framework for measuring performance.

The proposal was approved, giving me the opportunity to build and test the program from the ground up.

The Strategy: Audience Intelligence Meets Authentic Creative

A creator's follower count tells you their potential reach. Their audience data tells you whether that reach is relevant.

Before investing in partnerships, I evaluated each creator's audience demographics, top cities, leading countries, domestic and international audience distribution, engagement quality and content style. This research helped align creators with Lyca's priority customer segments and geographic markets.

For organic campaigns, I focused on culturally relevant storytelling, brand awareness, engagement and sustainable follower growth. Diaspora creators played an important role in reaching communities through content that felt natural rather than promotional.

For paid campaigns, I developed a conversion-focused approach connecting the creator, opening hook, messaging, offer and audience targeting with the experience after the click. I also helped design dedicated landing pages for individual creators, tailoring messaging and user journeys to their audiences and our acquisition objectives.

The goal was to make every touchpoint feel connected, from the first three seconds of a video to the final purchase decision.

The Execution: From Pilot to International Expansion

I managed the program end to end, including creator sourcing, audience analysis, outreach, negotiations, creative direction, campaign briefs, content approvals, paid boosting, landing-page collaboration, optimization and performance reporting. I partnered with Legal to finalize agreements.

The first month served as a controlled experiment. I used organic performance and paid acquisition results to evaluate creator effectiveness, refine campaign decisions and identify opportunities for further investment.

Following the successful pilot, leadership increased the budget and expanded my responsibilities across five markets: the U.S., France, Netherlands, Portugal and UK. While the U.S. remained my primary market, I adapted the creator strategy to the audiences and commercial priorities of each international market.

Independent sourcing also allowed me to build direct relationships with creators, negotiate more cost-efficient agreements and establish longer-term, multi-video partnerships.

The Partnerships: Different Audiences, Different Objectives

The program supported more than traditional influencer placements.

• Diaspora Creator Campaigns connected Lyca with culturally relevant communities through audience-led storytelling and targeted distribution.

• West Ham United activations brought together social content, in-person experiences and giveaways to strengthen brand visibility and engagement.

• PUBG-related initiatives supported Lyca's exploration of gaming audiences and helped inform potential opportunities for future brand investment.

Each activation had its own audience, creative approach and performance objective, supported by a consistent strategic framework.

The Impact: Four Months of Growth

Within four months, the program progressed from an independently proposed experiment into an international creator marketing operation with increased leadership investment.

Creator-led paid campaigns generated more than twice the customer orders reported for in-house paid media initiatives. Exact acquisition figures remain confidential.

Beyond campaign performance, the program established a repeatable approach to creator qualification, audience targeting, content development, tailored landing pages, paid optimization and performance measurement.

The Takeaway

I didn't set out to build a collection of influencer campaigns. I set out to build a growth channel.

What began as a research-backed proposal became an international program with expanded investment and measurable commercial impact.

The experience reinforced my approach to social strategy: authentic creative earns attention, audience intelligence makes it relevant, and a thoughtful customer journey turns it into action.

Performance figures reflect campaign reporting through October 2026.