Welcome to Ad Age’s influencer marketing news roundup. Each week, we’ll be highlighting the latest developments at the intersection between brands and the creator economy, including new partnerships between brands and creators, notable new features across social media platforms and the growth of creator-led businesses.
Have tips or news to share about influencer marketing and the creator economy? Email Gillian Follett at [email protected].
Winky Lux, Teleties and Bama Morgan: “Bama Rush,” the nickname for the University of Alabama’s extravagant sorority recruitment process, has evolved into an annual event that many TikTok users, and brands, eagerly await. Several girls each year typically emerge as TikTok favorites as they share “get ready with me videos” ahead of recruitment events—and one standout this year was “Bama Morgan,” or Morgan Cadenhead, who amassed over 175,000 followers for her “relatable” take on Bama Rush content.
Two brands were quick to establish relationships with the breakout Bama Rush star: hair accessory brand Teleties, and Winky Lux, a makeup and skincare brand. Both brands reached out to Cadenhead on TikTok after she featured them in her “outfit of the day” videos, with Teleties gifting her several of the brand’s hair ties and Winky Lux inviting Cadenhead to an event. And earlier this week, when the recruitment process ended and Cadenhead ultimately didn’t receive an offer to join a sorority, Winky Lux CEO Natalie Mackey shared a TikTok video extending an “open invite” to Cadenhead for a future internship with the brand.
Flyana Boss and Peloton: Rap duo Folayan Kunerede and Bobbi Tyler, also known as Flyana Boss, have spent the past month flaunting “all the brand deals that [they’ve] been swimming in” as their song “You Wish” has skyrocketed to virality on TikTok. After initially partnering with Google, Chipotle and even TikTok itself to incorporate the brands into their characteristic video style of running toward the camera while mouthing along to their song’s lyrics, Kunerede and Tyler last week partnered with Peloton to film a fitness-themed TikTok video at the brand’s New York studio.
“The crossover I didn’t know I needed,” one user commented, which Peloton then included in a behind-the-scenes video of the partnership.
Brodie the Goldendoodle and Tru By Hilton: Brodie, a Goldendoodle with more than 6.5 million TikTok followers and another 1 million on Instagram, is setting off on a Hilton-sponsored journey across the U.S. On Monday, Brodie’s owner, Cliff Brush, announced he and Brodie are partnering with Tru By Hilton, a subsidiary of Hilton Worldwide, to “show off the dog-friendly amenities Hilton offers” to travelers by sharing videos of their stays at various Tru By Hilton locations.
TikTok expands search ads: With more than 40% of Gen Z now turning to TikTok as a search engine over Google, TikTok is allowing brands to get in front of those young consumers by expanding its search ads program to all advertisers. Advertisers that opt into the program by flipping the “Search Ads Toggle” in TikTok’s ad manager will have their ads automatically pop up in the results of users’ “relevant queries.”
See also: TikTok opens search ads to all advertisers
More news: Gen Z favors social media for CPG searches
Meta launches an archive for influencers’ sponsored content: One of the first things a marketer looks to when determining whether to sponsor a creator’s social media post is any of their past brand partnerships—and Meta is now streamlining that process. The company has implemented a new “Branded Content” tab in its larger ad library platform, which will allow marketers to search for any sponsored Facebook or Instagram content associated with a specific creator. Lindsey Gamble, associate director of influencer innovation at influencer marketing platform Mavrck, shared a demo of the Branded Content tool on X, formerly Twitter.
LinkedIn introduces a ‘brand partnership’ post label: Posting as a LinkedIn influencer—or establishing a partnership with one—just became a bit easier. The platform this week unveiled a new “brand partnership” label that users can include on a post to disclose that it’s sponsored. Social media consultant Matt Navarra shared screenshots of the new feature, which show the “brand partnership” label appears beneath a user’s name next to their job title, and that users can add the label to their post by simply flipping a toggle while creating the post.
Threads for desktop is (almost) here: In the weeks since the July 5 launch of Threads, users have frequently requested a web version of the Meta-owned app—and it seems that Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg have heard the pleas. On Tuesday, both Mosseri and Zuckerberg shared Threads posts announcing that a web version of the platform will be rolling out later this week, finally allowing users to create Threads content on their desktops rather than only through the app.
Hailey Beiber’s Rhode partners with Krispy Kreme: While brands have long been partnering with creators, a brand collaborating with a creator-led brand is a newer phenomenon. But on Monday, model and influencer Hailey Beiber’s skincare brand Rhode announced a new partnership with Krispy Kreme that includes a strawberry-inspired lip treatment from Rhode and the return of a strawberry glazed doughnut flavor at Krispy Kreme.
The collaboration effectively functions as an influencer partnership with Beiber herself, too, as Rhode’s Instagram content promoting the collab has heavily featured Beiber, often accompanied by a Krispy Kreme box. (Anyone remember Justin Beiber’s TimBiebs and cold brew collabs with Tim Hortons?)
The D’Amelio family expands its brand empire to food: TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio—and their parents, Marc and Heidi D’Amelio—last Thursday announced they’re preparing to launch D’Amelio Foods. The snack brand, backed by a new $5 million investment from Fifth Growth Fund, will fall under the larger D’Amelio Brands company, which already includes D’Amelio Footwear. The family will be “intimately involved” in the marketing of the new brand, according to a press release. The has a built-in audience of 200 million just through Charli and Dixie D’Amelio’s TikTok accounts.
Comedy creator turned agency founder: Comedy creator Druski, whose real name is Drew Desbordes, is making the jump from comedy to sports with the launch of sports agency 4Lifers. The agency has already signed its first client—Princely Umanmielen of the University of Florida Gators—and Desbordes will leverage his relationships with brands that he has partnered with as a creator, including Nike, Google and Raising Cane’s, to connect athletes to NIL opportunities, he told Sports Illustrated.
If you’re somehow still skeptical of the sheer power of K-pop fans, look no further than the wild success of Calvin Klein’s TikTok video featuring Jeon Jung-kook, also known as Jungkook, of K-pop group BTS. The short video simply features Jung-kook, a brand ambassador for Calvin Klein, modeling a few different outfits, but TikTok users have flooded the post with nearly 5 million likes, 563,000 saves and nearly 340,000 shares.
American Eagle was an early adopter of Threads and has built up a following of nearly 200,000 followers on the platform. But when the brand took a week-long break from Threads, it wasn’t necessarily surprising, as several other brands have backed away from the platform following the slumping engagement there. Yesterday the brand shared a new post announcing its return to Threads after the temporary break, indicating it will likely continue to include the platform in its social strategy.
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