Meet a new crop of Coach-approved influencers: the Coach store associates

We're all familiar by now that social media is a hotbed of personalities who purport to be key opinion leaders (KOLs) on certain topics. Whether it's fashion, beauty or even travel, they're the ones we look to at times for the latest and the greatest, all through their highly curated feeds. And the best do so with their own brand of personality.

American brand Coach is making it a point to develop its own brand-approved KOLs, and who better to be the face of the brand on Instagram than those who actually work for the brand and are a customer's first point-of-contact. That's right. Coach Singapore has turned a selected crop of store associates into the brand's very own influencers.

The Coach store KOL programme is a Singapore-led initiative and is a rather intensive one. The programme provides specialised alternative tracks to develop Coach's store teams. Aside from being the face of the brand and creating content surrounding its collections and pieces, the programme provides training that are designed to help both the internal and external exposure of the store associates. These include KOL 101 lessons, public speaking, styling, creative artistry, as well as leadership skills that will be useful as they take on a more active role in promoting the brand through virtual and live-streaming events.

The hope is that the initiative will help Coach develop a closer direct relationship with its clientele, especially with Coach VIPs. After all, the brand's very own KOLs will be privy to exclusive in-store launches and collaborations, and following them on Instagram will allow for better interactions beyond the usual text messages every now and then.

Scroll through the gallery above for the first batch of Coach Singapore's trusted and approved store KOLs.