Influencers such as bloggers and new media leaders have a strong following that many brands would like to tap into. It can be hard to silence the chatter of competing brands at times, but a few agency brands are paving the way for one-on-one influencer appeal. Back in December, Factory 360 partnered with PayPal and Uber at Le Web in Paris to do just this.

The event marketing campaign called “Pitch In Style” was designed to promote the PayPal’s new partnership with Le Web while helping Uber generate new users in the Paris market. The concept was to offer a selected group of startup the opportunity to pitch their concepts to featured keynotes at Le Web while driving in a chauffeured Mercedez-Benz Sprinter van through Paris. The keynote speakers were high-demand with little time to catch up one-on-one with each company. The activation gave each winner at least 15 minutes, so the offer had an enormous weight.

Since then, other brands have created activations that leverage influencer relationships to brands.

Back in January, Mercedez-Benz took 17 international journalists and bloggers on a five-day, 1,400-mile caravan of luxury Mercedez vehicles. The entourage started the journey at the company’s production plant in Tuscaloosa, AL and drove to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit where the 2015 C-Class was premiered

The entire trip was tricked out with MiFi units in each car and walkie-talkies so the influencers could talk back and forth. However, they tended to use mobile apps like WhatsApp to coordinate stops, which we’re not shocked about. We haven’t seen a walkie-talkie since Tommy Boy.

Another brand looking at capturing some influencer time to make waves is Amtrak. In early March, Amtrak boarded 32 bloggers and new media influencers onto Texas Eagle train from Los Angeles to SXSW in Austin. Amtrak director of social media, Julia Quinn said, “The coverage helped Amtrak expose to an audience that they might have otherwise been able to reach at a relatively low cost.”

We agree.

These brands understand how things work online – new media influence is centered in building an organic experience so the sharing of the content is seamless for every audience.