11 ‘granfluencer’ accounts changing influencer marketing

Brands typically prioritize Gen Z influencers when they seek to work with a creator. The goal, of course, is to reach younger consumers, so it would only seem natural to find creators who appeal to that audience. But that narrow definition of an influencer—a woman in her twenties or thirties peddling clothing and beauty products—is evolving, and influencers in older demographics are increasingly striking big brand deals. Many of these so-called “granfluencers,” who range in age from 50 to over 100 years old, are just as successful—if not more so—than their younger creator counterparts. Some have thousands and even millions of followers who regularly tune into their comedy skits, “get ready with me” morning routines, or recipe walkthroughs. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs While Gen Z consumers may be the typical target for brands’ influencer marketing campaigns, those aiming to reach consumers over age 50—who comprise over half of all consumer spending in the U.S.—can partner with granfluencers to connect with these older consumers. An October 2022 survey from Ad Age and The Harris Poll of over 1,000 U.S. consumers, revealed that 12% of consumers over age 58 had made a purchase based on an influencer’s recommendation, and one-third of these consumers cited influencers as at least “somewhat influential” in their purchasing decisions. Here are 11 of the most influential granfluencer accounts working with brands from Amazon to Liquid Death, according to several influencer marketing agencies. Helen Ruth Van Winkle @baddiewinkle View this post on Instagram A post shared by Helen Vanwinkle Honey (@baddiewinkle) Helen Ruth Van Winkle, better known by her Instagram handle @baddiewinkle, is an internet celebrity beloved for her devil-may-care personality and bold, brightly-colored outfits. The 94-year-old first rose to fame in 2015 and has continued to grow her social media following and embody the energy of her “Stealing Ur Mans Since 1928” Instagram bio. She has worked with several brands over the past eight years, including Smirnoff Ice, which featured Van Winkle in a 2016 commercial; Sally Beauty; Tillamook Ice Cream; Nyx Cosmetics; and, most recently, MGM Resorts. Reatha Grey, Jerry Boyd, Gaylynn Baker, Chuck Lacey, Patti Yulish and Monterey Morrissey @retirementhouse @retirementhouse BEEN A FEW HOURS BUT IT FEEL LIKE DAYS ♬ PRETTY BOY FLOW - STURDYYOUNGIN In a play on the “content house”—where a group of influencers live together and collaborate on social media content—Flighthouse Media’s Brandon Chase and Adi Azran launched “Retirement House” in September 2021. But rather than teaming up with actual influencers, the duo cast six older actors to play the characters Rose, Curtis, Mabel, Eugene, Bubbe and Larry. The actors—whose real names are Reatha Grey, Jerry Boyd, Gaylynn Baker, Chuck Lacey, Patti Yulish and Monterey Morrissey, respectively—range from age 70 to 85. As part of Retirement House, the group stars in scripted comedic skits and renditions of TikTok trends. Additionally, in December, the group launched “The Retirement House Podcast,” where the six actors interview pop culture figures such as comedian Trevor Wallace and rapper Lil Pump. In just about a year and half, their content has taken social media by storm, propelling the group’s TikTok account to nearly 5 million followers and over 100 million total likes. The group has also worked with several brands in that time, such as GoodRx, Snickers, Virgin Voyages and CeraVe. Mick Peterson, Robert Reeves, Bill Lyons and Jessay Martin @theoldgays @oldgays THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO SEE 💥 ♬ THIS IS WHAT I WANNA SEE - Kevin JZ Prodigy Mick Peterson, Robert Reeves, Bill Lyons and Jessay Martin, collectively known as “The Old Gays,” are a group of four friends in their sixties and seventies whose social content is a mix of TikTok choreography, extravagant fashion and LGBTQ+ activism. After the four real-life friends first went viral in 2019, when they starred in a YouTube video from the gay dating app Grindr, the group decided to begin creating TikTok videos in December 2020. And since then, The Old Gays TikTok account has amassed over 10.6 million followers who delight in the group’s fun, flashy outfits and dance routines. The four men’s social media popularity has helped them net several brand sponsorships, including Amazon, Walgreens and Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty. Lillian Droniak @grandma_droniak @grandma_droniak heres my birthday oufit. i cant believe im 93 now 🥳 ♬ original sound - grandma_droniak Self-proclaimed TikTok “celebrity” and 93-year-old grandmother Lillian Droniak—better known as “Grandma Droniak” to her followers—first began to build a TikTok following at the start of the pandemic. When Droniak started posting videos of herself displaying her daily outfits, dancing and discussing her romantic exploits (notably, her ongoing crush on her mailman), people quickly became enamored with her sassy, confident personality. Over the past three years, Droniak has attracted over 8 million TikTok followers and more than 236 million collective likes across her content, which today ranges from her telling her followers how she “slays” every day to a “get ready with me” of her preparing to visit her husband’s grave. Her engagement rate across TikTok and Instagram is 9.8%, according to data from influencer marketing agency Obviously, which far surpasses the median rate of roughly 1% among other creators of her size. Droniak’s widespread popularity and high levels of engagement have led to partnerships with a number of brands, including CVS, Supergoop and Book of the Month. Gym Tan @californiaistoocasual @californiaistoocasual daily reminder! style has no age #ageisjustanumber #styleatanyage #twinning #ootd #styleover50 ♬ If We Ever Broke Up - Mae Stephens Despite having a relatively smaller following, 62-year-old Gym Tan has been on several brands’ radar in the past year. After Tan’s daughter, Mya, encouraged her to begin posting “outfit of the day” videos on TikTok back in 2021, Tan found herself building a burgeoning following, which inspired her to diversify her content to include lifestyle and fitness content in addition to videos focused on fashion and beauty. Many of her videos today also include her daughter, as well as her son and husband. Tan and her daughter have partnered with several brands in the beauty space in just the last few months, including Glossier, Clairol and Ilia Beauty. Lenora "Nora" Sangalang @ourfilipinograndma @ourfilipinograndma Send this to your favorite shawTEA 🍵❤️ #GrannyGotGame - Part 19! #helpivefallenandicantgetup #pickuplines #pickupline #filipinograndmas #🇵🇭👵🏽 ♬ YRN Remix - Bruno Mars Although she has several of her own grandchildren, 80-year-old Nora Sangalang also considers herself “TikTok’s grandma,” as evidenced by the “our” in her social media handle. She first began posting videos to the platform at the end of 2020 as a way to bond with her grandchildren, but soon began accumulating hundreds and thousands of followers who enjoyed her comedy-centric content. Sangalang is perhaps best well-known on social media for her suave pick-up lines, which are part of an ongoing video series on her TikTok account called #GrannyGotGame. And, like Tan, she often features her family in her content. Sangalang’s comedic content has helped her secure several partnerships with brands such as Dawn, Daily Harvest, Crayola and Liquid Death. Pia Quaglieri @nonnapiaa @nonnapiaa Nonna Pia’s fresh homemade bread 🥖 🤤 🇮🇹 who wants a piece?! #nonnapia #shesback #homemade #bread #italian #foodtiktok ♬ original sound - Nonna Pia Pia Quaglieri, 85, better known as Nonna Pia (“nonna” means “grandma” in Italian), was thrust into the TikTok spotlight in late 2020, when her grandson, Antonio, began recording her cooking traditional Italian recipes. Wholesome videos of Quaglieri making homemade bread and stirring a massive pot of tomato sauce in her New Jersey backyard led the grandmother to start receiving thousands of likes across her videos, as well as over 3 million followers—many of whom have commented that Quaglieri reminds them of their own grandmothers. Over the past year, Quaglieri has worked with several brands, including ShopRite, the New York Mets and Nutella, the latter of which made Quaglieri its official “Nutella Nonna.” Charlotte Simpson @travelingblackwidow View this post on Instagram A post shared by Charlotte Simpson | USA Expert | Content Creator (@travelingblackwidow) Charlotte Simpson adopted the moniker “Traveling Black Widow” in 2014, when she began traveling the world after her husband’s death and blogging about her trips. Since then, her Instagram account (which she also launched in 2014) has gradually climbed to 24,000 followers who eagerly follow Simpson’s journeys to countries such as Colombia, Italy and Germany, and cities throughout the U.S. Her bright, colorful photos and Instagram Reels receive hundreds of likes, on average, leading a number of hotels and city travel bureaus—including Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and Visit Fort Myers—to sponsor her trips. Additionally, in 2021, Simpson partnered with digital picture frame company Aura Frames on an influencer campaign, leading the brand to its “best-performing ad of the year,” according to influencer marketing agency The Social Standard. Joan MacDonald @trainwithjoan View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joan MacDonald (@trainwithjoan) Joan MacDonald is 76-year-old fitness granfluencer who has used Instagram and YouTube to document her yearslong journey to improve her overall health and well-being. With her content—which ranges from exercise routines to nutritious recipes and other health and wellness tips—MacDonald aims to inspire her nearly 2 million followers to gradually make their own lifestyles healthier. She also recently launched her own app called “Train With Joan,” which serves as a hub for workout videos, recipes and a community-wide group chat for users to support each other’s health goals. Additionally, in December, she released her book, “Flex Your Age,” to share her strategies for healthy living in more depth. MacDonald has an ongoing partnership with sportswear and nutrition brand Women’s Best and often dons its workout apparel in her Instagram posts. And with an average engagement of 3.13%—which is three times the median engagement for a creator with a following of her size, according to Obviously data—she continues to maintain a devoted social media following. “Every day, I interact with people who are inspired by my story of turning my life around,” she told AARP in 2021. “I'm called an influencer now. When I joined the platform, I didn't even know what an influencer was.” Irvin Randle @irvinrandle View this post on Instagram A post shared by Southern Gents (@s_gents) Also known by the nickname “#MrStealYourGrandma,” Irvin Randle went from an elementary school teacher to an Instagram sensation in 2016, when photos of the stylish outfits he wore while teaching went viral. In the years since, 61-year-old Randle’s online fame has led him to become a model and walk high-profile runways, including New York Fashion Week and Los Angeles Fashion Week. And he regularly models his chic outfits in photos and videos on social media—both on his personal accounts and in collaboration with the Silverfox Squad, a group of equally-stylish older gentlemen that Randle began assembling in 2019. The group has since amassed 5 million total followers across their social media accounts. Randle has worked with a number of clothing and accessory brands, partnering with Fashion Nova to help promote its menswear line and earning sponsorships from the likes of Southern Gents, Boda Skins and luxury footwear brand Taft. Barbara Costello @brunchwithbabs @brunchwithbabs 🧺Pillow Talk🧺 Daylight savings, a good reminder it’s time to strip your pillows! You should strip your pillows at least once a year in order to rid them of all the build up, grime and body oils that a washing machine can not get out. Here is how I strip my pillows to make sure they stay clean and fluffy. 🧺Fill the bathtub with the hottest water possible 🧺Dissolve the stripping mix in hot tub water: ¼ cup baking soda ¼ cup borax 2 cups liquid laundry detergent or ½ cup powder laundry detergent 🧺Add the pillows and submerge 🧺Soak pillows up to 24 hours. Flip pillows in the tub every once in a while during the soak. 🧺Drain tub and squeeze out excess water from pillows 🧺Immediately following stripping, wash pillows on normal cycle without detergent 🧺Dry without dryer sheets. Use tennis or dryer balls instead and toss in dryer until pillows are dry and fluffy Enjoy! Sweet Dreams. 🧺 XO Babs #pillowstripping #springcleaning #springforward ♬ original sound - everyone’s grandmother Barbara Costello, also known by her social media handle @brunchwithbabs, has eight grandchildren of her own—but, like Sangalang, she considers herself “everyone’s grandmother.” The 74-year-old granfluencer uses social media to offer housekeeping advice to her collective 5.2 million followers, helping them navigate everything from cooking and cleaning to hosting parties. Several of these how-to videos have racked up millions of views, including one in which she teaches viewers how to properly load a dishwasher and another where she demonstrates the “do’s and don’ts of pumpkin carving.” Costello has worked with a wide range of brands over the past few years, including Hyundai, Capital One, Whirlpool, Pillsbury and Talbots. She also launched a holiday cookbook titled “Celebrate with Babs” at the end of 2021. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

11 ‘granfluencer’ accounts changing influencer marketing

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