#influencer-marketing

#influencer-marketing

Even in 2019, influencer campaigns were still seen as a nice-to-have, somewhere to allocate the leftover budget in support of the 'actual campaign'. We're living in a very different world today. Whether you're looking to spend millions of dollars to speak to tens of millions of fans via Christiano Ronaldo or Kylie Jenner, or tap into vast grassroots networks of nano-influencers who reach a few thousand consumers at a time, influencer marketing is an integral part of any modern communication strategy.

Age really is just a number when it comes to social media, as new research from Ampere Analysis shows that more than half of users ages 55 to 64 now watch influencer content every week. This number is up by 10 percentage points since 2020. In the U.K., the figure has also risen over the past five years, from 30% to 38%. TikTok and YouTube, in particular, are behind the growth-proof that Boomers' social media presence is no longer limited to Facebook. "The biggest surprise in our latest data wasn't how popular influencer videos have become, it is how rapidly this trend has extended to older audiences," Annabel Yeomans, senior research manager at Ampere Analysis, said in a statement on December 1.

Social media, for many people, can be a way to stay in touch with friends, an ego exercise, or a vehicle to argue with strangers. But for some especially focused users, it can be a side hustle with income potential. Converting your feed into something that generates cash isn't the easiest side hustle-and it takes time. But if you can build a large enough following, it can be a lucrative side business.

Filed on September 16 in Los Angeles Superior Court, the lawsuit involves five anonymous contestants from MrBeast's reality competition show, Beast Games, which premiered on Amazon Prime in March 2024. Inspired by the extreme challenges for which MrBeast is famous, the show features over 1,000 participants competing for a $5m cash prize through various endurance and problem-solving tasks. It aims to be one of the largest and most ambitious reality competitions ever produced, per a report by We Got This Covered.

MemeHouse Productions is set to launch the 2025 Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend with a TikTok-sponsored creator campaign designed to connect younger viewers with the sport. The campaign is set to bring more than 20 influencers to the Strip as part of a brand trip organised around the TikTok Lounge. Creators are set to stream content live from the TikTok Clubhouse and promote F1 to a Gen Z audience across platforms.

AriZona Beverages founder Don Vultaggio touted the company's newest drink collaboration with a young TikTok star as being more successful than its inimitable Arnold Palmer on "The Claman Countdown" Thursday. "We've teamed up with a nine-year-old and we hit the marketplace, and we've seen tremendous success," Vultaggio told FOX Business anchor Liz Claman. "Candidly more so than we ever saw in Arnold Palmer at the beginning," the founder added.

Microsoft Corp., eager to boost downloads of its Copilot chatbot, has recruited some of the most popular influencers in America to push a message to young consumers that might be summed up as: Our AI assistant is as cool as ChatGPT. Microsoft could use the help. The company recently said its family of Copilot assistants attracts 150 million active users each month. But OpenAI's ChatGPT claims 800 million weekly active users, and Google's Gemini boasts 650 million a month.

Despite the AI boom, influencer brand deals are largely being written without clauses related to AI, intellectual property and copyright, which could leave creators and brands exposed, IP lawyers say. At least five creators (ranging in follower size and content type) Digiday spoke with confirmed no such clauses have been added to their brand deals this year. Those clauses could include usage rights limiting a brand's ability to use a creator's synthetic name, image and likeness, or curbing creators' AI tool usage in creative assets without disclosing use.

I've been deeply involved in influencer marketing since 2011, back when "influencer" wasn't even part of most marketing vocabularies. At the time, I was finishing a master's thesis on fashion bloggers while working as a media planner, and I noticed something that would shape the next decade of my career: Storytelling consistently outperformed traditional ads. People trusted creators more than banner ads, and authentic content built a type of connection that traditional media simply couldn't replicate.

Why it matters: It's a cliché, but it's still true: People trust people. And employees who perform these jobs day in and day out have the real stories, expertise and insight to make content stand out. Even if your organization isn't quite ready to encourage employees to post on their personal accounts about work, it's still worthwhile to identify a group of workers with winning personalities, interesting jobs and some camera skills to take footage for you to then process and post on your brand pages.

"As the definition of talent continues to evolve, so must the systems that support it," said Andrew Ruf, Managing Partner at Paradigm. "Reign Maker Group has built a scalable process that meets creators where they are, with an eye towards where they're going. By combining our global reach with their innovative infrastructure, we're able to accelerate opportunities for a new generation of talent and the professionals who represent them."

It's a perfect recipe for complacency at a time when luxury brands are laser-focused on appealing to wealthy consumers. But Sarah Ball, who took over as editor-in-chief of WSJ. in the summer of 2023, succeeding longtime editor Kristina O'Neill, said she wants to broaden the definition of who her reader is. The magazine is profiling more Millennial and Gen-Z movers and shakers, like actress Sydney Sweeney, "Call Her Daddy" podcast host Alex Cooper and TikTokker extraordinaire Alix Earle.

But this year, I couldn't help but cringe at the interviews. Stylist Law Roach and fashion journalist Zanna Rassi hosted the pink carpet pre-show. However, their interview techniques and overall questions were markedly different. On one side, you had Rassi, who is an experienced journalist, fashion editor, and entrepreneur, conducting professional interviews that were to the point. On the other hand, you had Law Roach, a celebrity stylist, whose interviews were awkward and difficult to watch.

Influencers now sit at the center of fashion because they translate style into daily life with unusual speed and relatability. People find outfits through try-ons, GRWMs, and street photos that feel instantly wearable rather than waiting for seasonal campaigns. Due to the ease of access to price checks, size notes, and links, the journey from inspiration to purchase is shortened.

Rhode, Hailey Bieber's mega-viral skin care and makeup brand, has been intentional about advertising the "on the go" capabilities of its newest product, and its consumer base has responded in kind. Rhode has over 5 million combined followers across Instagram and TikTok-and a successful marketing strategy that encourages both influencers and niche creators to create content around its products. There are nearly 400,000 videos under #Rhode on TikTok alone.

Welcome back to another week of The Curvy Fashionista's Plus Influencer Spotlight, our series celebrating the boundary breakers, tastemakers, and changemakers redefining plus size fashion and culture, like Latoya of The Fat Girl of Fashion. Each feature in this series highlights a voice that's helping shape the future of plus size fashion, one unapologetic look, one powerful post, and one bold statement at a time.