Anna Callís (Caliui): "Influencers are the equivalent of your friend who recommends things to you"

BarcelonaHeir to one of the most iconic pastry shops in her hometown, Anna Callís (Olot, 1994) – known on social media as Caliui – doesn't exactly have a low profile. Finalist of MasterChef, a journalist by training and a content creator by trade, acknowledges that the word that best defines her professional work for the past two years is influencer, although it "feels a bit like showoff and of cringe". In conversation with ARA, the first distinction he makes is between microinfluencers –“between 30 and 50,000 followers”, the space in which it moves since its first videos went viral– and macroinfluencers, like Maria Pombo, to give a reference example, who create “more general content, which is easier for everyone to like, but won't be loved very much by anyone,” she explains. “Theinfluencers we complement the word-of-mouth of a lifetime. We are the equivalent of your friend who recommends things to you – he adds –. Brands are increasingly betting on micro-influencersbecause, even though we have fewer followers, our target is quite more specific and faithful”.

Uninhibited and thoughtful, Caliui doesn't just doinfluencer of the brands. He often shares life advice –"statements", as she calls them– on various topics, such as the importance of self-knowledge or following one's intuition. They are capsules that convey a boundless vivacity, in which a hyperbolic version of Anna Callís unfolds: “I try to share how I navigate life: reflection, look, the place, the habit, the routine… I suppose there is a point of frivolity, but if I say it, it's because I think it's important”. One of his most characteristic features is that he mixes Catalan and Spanish with English in such a natural and indiscriminate way that his followers surely they must have improved their Anglo-Saxon vocabulary. “I sell my hypes”, presumes. Regarding people who believe that the influencers don't work, Caliui refutes: “It seems like you're not doing anything, but you don't stop. It's a job full-time”, assures.

Aware of his privileges – London, Milan and Madrid are some of the cities where he complemented his journalistic training, with master's degrees in creative hybridizations, fashion and art –, Callís opts for this path because, he says, one can express oneself without canons and talk about whatever one wants from one's own codes. “I'm not yet reaching my potential. I can do much more", he warns. At a time when there is talk of a "hypothetical fall of the influencers, she is clear: “It is the fastest and most effective advertising method today. If you do it well, you can earn more money than with any other job”. Although she confesses that “it is difficult to maintain the freshness and spontaneity” of the beginning, she is already preparing new formats, such as a podcast in which she will interview athletes to discover their more human side. “What interests me most are ways of living. I have always been very humanistic and philosophical, what I like most is to wander and find the most appropriate word for each thing, the most genuine one,” she affirms.

Caliui's videos are formally characterized by brevity and austerity in technical resources. Sometimes he doesn't even need a microphone to get his message across to the public. “The videos that are most successful are the least thought-out, you never know what will go viral. A video I recorded in twelve seconds, with a take where I almost fall, works better than another more polished one.” His originality lies in the fact that he doesn't aim for an absolute level of perfection in the image he projects or in the periodicity of his publications, but rather makes the lack of technical resources an element of proximity. “I'm quite raw and I upload twenty identical photos; whoever doesn't like it, shouldn't look. If you go with too high a level of demand, in the end your body rejects it”. His editorial line can organically fit any message, any product, any event, without his creative enthusiasm being overshadowed. The joy of living is the raw material he works with, and seeking it fills him with satisfaction.