PRODU, along with Quaker and Beiersdorf, reveals how influencers become catalysts for insights and conversion

On the opening day of Social Media Week Mexico 2025, PRODU led the panel “Influencer-Driven Product Testing in Real Time,” a key event that addressed how social media has established itself as testing grounds for brands. The conversation, moderated by Maye Albornoz, PRODU’s Digital and Awards Director, brought together two industry leaders: Cristina Álvarez Méndez, Quaker’s Senior Brand Manager for Latin America at PepsiCo, and Emilia Reyes, Integrated Media and Communications Leader for Central America and Mexico at Beiersdorf.

During her presentation, Cristina Álvarez shared key learnings from Quaker’s digital transformation process, focusing on the active role of content creators and the evolution of post-pandemic consumer habits.

“During the pandemic, people enthusiastically turned to cooking, which allowed us to generate content and recipes. But then, those habits changed, and we had to rethink our strategy,” she explained.

The brand detected a shift toward more practical consumption and authentic messages, which led it to abandon traditional branded content and focus on genuine collaborations with influencers. “It’s about giving complete creative freedom. As long as the message is delivered and doesn’t generate uncomfortable behavior, we trust that the creator knows their community better than anyone. The big shift is moving from marketing with influencers to building influencers with marketing,” she mentioned.

She also acknowledged the risks involved in delegating a brand’s narrative, emphasizing: “Little is said about the risk of putting your brand in the hands of someone else. We experienced this with a case at Doritos, where an influencer’s old post generated a global backlash. Since then, we have a rigorous selection and background review process,” she commented.

Quaker emphasized that the key is building long-term relationships with creators, not one-off messages: “Consistency creates loyalty. Even if the creator collaborates with others, that connection allows you to influence audience behavior,” she explained.