This spring, Pernod Ricard SA's Malibu Rum paid American singer Nick Jonas to host a competition in Vietnam that began with 33 Instagram stars battling to catch fake pineapples while flying off a giant waterslide into the sea.
In one month alone, videos and pictures from the "Malibu Games" were viewed 2.4 billion times online, showing the potential for so-called influencer marketing to reach social media-mad consumers that may overlook older, traditional brands.
This kind of advertising, where celebrities and popular bloggers earn money by posting about products, has developed over the past five years on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.