Open Influence vs Cloutboost

Why brands weigh influencer agency choices

Brands sorting through influencer partners often land on Open Influence and Cloutboost. Both specialize in connecting companies with creators, but they feel different in scale, style, and the kind of campaigns they usually run.

If you are trying to stretch a budget, hit clear sales goals, and avoid messy creator issues, that difference really matters.

What influencer campaign services really cover

The primary phrase here is influencer campaign services, because that is what you are actually buying. You are not just paying for names on a list. You are paying for process, taste, and execution.

At a basic level, both agencies help with four big jobs: planning, creator selection, content delivery, and reporting after the campaign ends.

Where they vary is how deep they go into each step, how much they control, and how much day to day work stays on your plate versus theirs.

What each agency is known for

These two influencer partners are not identical. One operates more like a global creative shop wrapped around creators. The other has stronger roots in performance driven and gaming focused campaigns.

Understanding that difference up front will save a lot of time on discovery calls and pitch decks.

What Open Influence is known for

Open Influence is widely recognized as a larger, full service influencer marketing agency. It tends to lean into branded storytelling, polished creative, and cross channel social campaigns.

You will often see it attached to well known consumer brands and bigger platform partners like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

What Cloutboost is known for

Cloutboost is best known for influencer marketing with a strong gaming and live streaming angle. Think YouTube gamers, Twitch streamers, and gaming friendly social channels.

Its work often skews toward direct response, installs, signups, or measurable in game actions, especially for gaming and tech products.

Inside Open Influence

Open Influence positions itself as a creative focused influencer partner that works across many social platforms and verticals. It usually suits brands looking for both reach and brand polish.

Services you can expect

From public information and case studies, Open Influence typically offers a broad service mix, often including:

• Influencer discovery and vetting across major platforms
• Campaign concepting, creative ideas, and storytelling
• End to end campaign management and scheduling
• Contracting, approvals, and brand safety checks
• Content usage rights and whitelisting support
• Reporting and insights after campaigns wrap

The exact mix will depend on your scope, budget, and how much internal support you already have.

How Open Influence typically runs campaigns

Campaigns from this agency often feel like mini brand productions. You will usually see coordinated waves of content across creators, rather than one off posts.

They may help craft central creative themes, hashtags, and campaign slogans, then roll them out through a mix of micro, mid tier, and sometimes celebrity creators.

Creator relationships and talent style

Open Influence works with creators across lifestyle, fashion, beauty, food, travel, family, and more niche segments. This breadth is a big part of its appeal for broad consumer brands.

Its process usually includes checking audience quality, engagement rates, and brand fit, then narrowing a list for your review and approvals.

Typical client fit for Open Influence

This agency tends to be a match when:

• You are a mid sized or enterprise brand planning multi channel campaigns
• You care about polished creative and brand storytelling, not only clicks
• You like having a team that can work with your internal marketing or agency of record
• You are open to custom budgets, not rigid packages

Inside Cloutboost

Cloutboost focuses more narrowly on gaming, tech, and entertainment driven influencer work, particularly on YouTube and streaming platforms. That focus can be powerful if your product matches that audience.

Services you can expect

Based on public information, Cloutboost generally offers services such as:

• Creator sourcing with a strong gaming and streaming emphasis
• Campaign planning around launches, updates, or seasonal events
• Negotiation of rates, terms, and deliverables
• Coordination of sponsored videos, livestream segments, and integrations
• Tracking performance metrics like views, clicks, and installs

For game publishers or gaming adjacent brands, this level of category depth can shorten the learning curve.

How Cloutboost usually runs campaigns

Cloutboost often structures campaigns around game launches, new seasons, DLC, or big in game events. It may recommend creators who can stream your game, create reviews, or build challenge videos.

The focus tends to lean toward practical outcomes: installs, playtime, traffic, and sales, alongside reach.

Creator relationships and talent style

This agency concentrates on creators whose audiences are already used to sponsored gaming content. Think streamers, esports personalities, and gaming YouTubers.

These creators are often comfortable weaving sponsorship messages into gameplay, making campaigns feel like natural extensions of regular content.

Typical client fit for Cloutboost

Cloutboost can be a strong option if:

• You are a game developer or publisher, indie or big studio
• You sell gaming hardware, peripherals, or adjacent tech
• Your target audience watches streams or gaming videos regularly
• You care a lot about trackable performance, not just impressions

How these agencies truly differ

Although both operate as influencer marketing agencies, they diverge in how they show up day to day and in the results they naturally lean toward.

Brand storytelling versus category depth

One core difference is emphasis. Open Influence leans into broader brand storytelling that can sit alongside TV, paid social, and PR.

Cloutboost leans into category depth within gaming and performance oriented campaigns that feel natively “YouTube and Twitch.”

Platform coverage and channel mix

Open Influence frequently works across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other social networks, tailoring content for each channel.

Cloutboost concentrates more heavily on YouTube and streaming platforms, with additional use of other channels where it fits gaming culture.

Scale and creative feel

Campaigns from Open Influence may include global scope, multi country rollouts, and brand videos tailored for different markets.

Cloutboost’s work is often narrower but deeper, focusing on the right gaming creators and communities rather than covering every platform equally.

Client experience and involvement

With Open Influence, you may feel like you have a creative partner helping shape your broader social presence around a campaign idea.

With Cloutboost, you may feel you have a performance minded gaming partner making sure each creator slot delivers value for launch windows and KPIs.

Pricing approach and engagement style

Neither of these influencer specialists publishes rigid price sheets like software tools do. Pricing is usually custom and tied to campaign scope and talent costs.

How budgets usually form

Expect both agencies to ask about your goals, timeline, and target markets, then back into a budget range. That range comes from creator fees, agency time, and any paid usage of content afterward.

Your overall media mix and internal resources will also affect the final number.

Common pricing structures

Most influencer agencies work with a mix of models:

• Single campaign projects for launches or seasonal pushes
• Ongoing retainers covering multiple waves of activity each quarter
• Hybrid setups with a base fee plus variable creator costs

Both Open Influence and Cloutboost generally tailor terms to your needs rather than push one standard plan.

What tends to drive costs up

There are recurring cost drivers regardless of agency:

• Big name celebrity creators or top tier streamers
• Exclusive content rights and whitelisting for paid ads
• Multi country localization and translation
• Complex content formats like long form scripted videos

*Many brands are surprised by how much creator rights and usage add to the final bill.*

Strengths and limitations to keep in mind

Every agency has tradeoffs. Understanding them early helps you choose a partner with eyes wide open instead of relying solely on polished pitch decks.

Strengths of Open Influence

• Broad category experience across many consumer verticals
• Ability to craft creative concepts, not just book creators
• Comfort handling larger, multi market campaigns
• Strong fit for brands that care about visual polish and storytelling

Limitations of Open Influence

• Full service scope may feel heavy for very small budgets
• Creative layers can slow things down if you need quick tests
• Broad focus may feel less specialized for pure gaming or niche subcultures

Strengths of Cloutboost

• Deep familiarity with gaming creators and streaming culture
• Comfort with performance driven goals like installs and in app actions
• Ability to plug into launch calendars and seasonal game beats
• Campaigns that often feel authentic to gamer audiences

Limitations of Cloutboost

• Narrower category range, less ideal for non gaming lifestyle brands
• Heavier focus on YouTube and streaming may not fit every objective
• Creative may feel more “native gamer content” than polished brand film

Who each agency is best for

Thinking about your own company, the right choice depends on what you sell, where your audience spends time, and how you measure success.

When Open Influence is usually a strong fit

• Consumer brands in beauty, fashion, CPG, travel, food, or lifestyle
• Marketing teams wanting integrated social storytelling across channels
• Companies with brand guidelines that need careful creative handling
• Teams happy to invest in strategy, not just short burst promotions

When Cloutboost is usually a strong fit

• Game studios planning launches, betas, or new seasons
• Developers seeking streamers to drive installs and playtime
• Hardware and accessory brands serving gamers and PC builders
• Teams that care deeply about measurable installs, clicks, and signups

Questions to ask yourself before choosing

• Is my audience more likely on Instagram and TikTok or on Twitch and YouTube?
• Do I want cinematic brand content or gameplay centered integrations?
• Is this a global brand push or a focused campaign for a niche crowd?
• How strictly do I need to control creative compared with letting creators lead?

When a platform like Flinque may work better

Sometimes you do not need full service help. You might just want better tools to manage creators while keeping strategy in house.

What a platform based alternative looks like

Flinque, for example, is built as a platform rather than an agency. It is designed so brands can discover creators, manage outreach, run campaigns, and track performance without long term retainers.

This can be appealing if you already have social or influencer managers on your team.

When a platform can beat an agency

• You want to test influencer marketing with smaller budgets before scaling
• You prefer owning relationships with creators directly
• You are comfortable handling briefs, contracts, and approvals yourself
• You want flexibility to run many small campaigns instead of a few large ones

When an agency still makes more sense

If your internal team is stretched thin, or you need polished creative direction, a full service agency still earns its keep. Agencies can shield you from day to day back and forth with creators and solve issues quickly.