As brands look to better reach and more authentically connect with diverse audiences amid the renewed social justice movement of the last year, there’s been a spike in interest in partnering with creators of color. At the same time, influential BIPOC creators are speaking out on the inequalities they have faced as they try to gain the same lucrative sponsorship deals as their white counterparts. Even as brands like Doritos, Logitech and Procter & Gamble make commitments to support BIPOC creators, these influencers are struggling to navigate a complicated brand environment and receive their fair share.  

“The people who run these brands with leadership positions, positions of impact and decision-makers need to really do more work to unpack their racial and gender-based biases,” says Confetti, a Twitch streamer with more than 13,000 followers who's working with Logiech’s new #Creators4BIPOC campaign. “Often when I see diversity campaigns I do not get to see myself, a dark-skinned Black woman, because brands often subscribe to colorism," she says, adding that brands choose those in the Black community that are closer to the so-called "standard of beauty.” 

And often these efforts are confined to Black History Month and the like, she says. “BIPOC and other marginalized people do not stop being marginalized once a specific awareness month is over,” Confetti says.

Such tensions led to Black creators going on strike on TikTok earlier this month to make a statement on how they weren’t receiving credit for their own dances. In March, when “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” brought on TikTok star Addison Rae Easterling to do eight dances popular on the app, the show was widely criticized for not crediting the Black choreographers who came up with the work. 

“The perception that the world puts out on people of color has impacted their economic value in the social space,” says Eric Bigger, former contestant on “The Bachelorette,” and current contestant on Pepsi’s MTV reality show “Match Me if You Can.” “For me, after being on a big show, I don’t know if it’s the algorithm or perception, but my followers haven’t really increased as they could have or how I like, honestly, and I believe that’s the perception the world has for people of color. But looking at previous patterns, there’s inconsistencies there that make that valid.” 

These roadblocks, which include overcoming racial biases of social media users; not being prioritized in algorithms; being underpaid compared to white counterparts; and having their content repackaged without receiving profit; were highlighted in the recent Hulu documentary “Who Gets to Be An Influencer.” The New York Times-produced documentary centered on one of the first Black creator houses, Atlanta’s new Collab Crib, and its challenge in getting sponsorships and ad deals. In one poignant scene, several of the house’s creators gather around a laptop in their empty house and watch tours of other creator houses where white occupants show off their pools, cars and TikTok equipment. 

BIPOC creators as campaign stars

But since Collab Crib's documentary and past news reports, Keith Dorsey, founder of the group, says more brands are reaching out with opportunities. Even though the house had to pay for its own furniture, its creators have now worked with Steve Madden, Instagram Reels, the Atlanta Hawks and Amazon Prime Video for a campaign around the Michael B. Jordan film “Without Remorse.” Other upcoming campaigns will include Nascar and the Atlanta Falcons. Shopify has also partnered with Dorsey to create a program where BIPOC creators can learn about how to launch their own stores, which is rolling out at the end of this month. “We started with $5,000 campaigns, but now we’re getting campaigns up to $100,000 for the House alone,” he says. “It’s tremendous.”

This uptick in opportunities for Collab Crib is indicative of a trend in brands more interested in working with BIPOC creators, according to multiple influencer agencies. These recent brand efforts are backed by higher monetary commitments and start to take into consideration the challenges these creators have faced. 

Last week, Logitech announced a new initiative that provides support and recognition for BIPOC creators. This is part of its #Creators4BIPOC campaign, which started last year. The Swiss computer software and accessories company, which boasts an entire internal team of streamers and creators, is partnering with 50 BIPOC creators on Twitch and Instagram like Milady Confetti @MiladyConfetti, Diane Yuen @Snowlit and Elise Swopes @swopes. The goal is to raise awareness of their work through charity streams and advertising without the use of the Logitech logo. Photographer and activist Aundre Larrow @aundrelarrow is also premiering a film about creators finding their voice.

Logitech will also match up to $250,000 in donations raised by creators that will go towards charities addressing issues of racial inequality. 

Since so many BIPOC creators also see their dances copied on platforms like TikTok without much recognition, Logitech is collaborating with award-winning choreographer JaQuel Knight @jaquelknight, known for his work on Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” music video, to help 10 BIPOC creators copyright their choreography so they can own and monetize their creativity, just like Knight did. In fact, in April, Knight launched his own company, Knight Choreography and Music Publishing Inc., that helps creators do the same.

“It’s powerful for creators to own that because it gives them attribution and awareness,” says Erin Chin, chief marketing officer of Logitech for Creators, a brand extension of Logitech. “These creators are entrepreneurs. Brands might want to work with them in the future. It helps them support their financial security and build for their future.”

Doritos also launched a new $5 million initiative last week called “Solid Black” to amplify Black creators and innovators and their stories, while supporting their businesses. The PepsiCo Frito-Lay brand has selected an inaugural Changemakers class of Black innovators who will each receive $50,000 to continue their work. Doritos worked with UWG as its lead agency. 

MsAshRocks @MsAshRocks, gamer and Twitch streamer; Anthony and Janique Edwards, co-founders of Black-owned eateries app EatOkra; and author Nic Stone are among the creators of the inaugural class. Doritos is also spending on advertising to highlight their stories on its website, social media, packaging and in TV commercials. The initiative was first announced in a TV ad that premiered during the BET Awards last weekend, which featured artist Luke James.

Other recent efforts include P&G’s “Widen the Screen” initiative launched in March, which works with Black creators on films that challenge biases, in collaboration with WPP’s Grey and Cartwright. In June, NBCUniversal and Target premiered its “Scene in Color” film series that highlights BIPOC talent.

In-house efforts 

Brands are also further diversifying their in-house influencer programs. This year, 58 members of Sephora’s 73-member “Sephora Squad” identify as people of color, and will be featured as talent in campaigns and videos and will run on Sephora’s digital channels. The brand will also partner with its Squad members on Spanish-language content.

“This year’s Squad is our largest and most diverse yet—both in terms of racial and gender identity, as well as ethnicity, sexual orientation, audience demographics and age,” says Abigail Jacobs, senior VP, integrated marketing and brand at Sephora.

Sally Beauty built its campaign out of work from Black TikTok creator and musician Heather Chelan @hebontheweb. In March, her video “Having Colored Hair Doesn’t Make You Unprofessional” video went viral, generating 7.9 million views and inspiring TikTokers to copy her post, including Paramore’s Haley Williams. The brand decided to build an entire campaign around her, creating an extended music track to play at its stores and cast her as the star of its new “Colored Hair” music video, which also featured other diverse creators like Instagram dancer Marquese Scott @nonstop12, LGBTQ+ advocate and Be Free Stories founder Brian Terada @brianterada, and “granfluencer” Miss Baddie @baddiewinkle. Sally Beauty CEO Chris Brickman also made an appearance.

The music video has seen nearly 80 million views across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. A TikTok takeover on June 10 led to 1 million visits to SallyBeauty.com and 77.2 million video views on the TikTok sponsored post in the first 24 hours, according to the company.

The business case

Social platforms have an obligation to make sure BIPOC creators are heard and represented, but brands and influencer agencies also have the opportunity to make a large impact. After all, nearly 70% of U.S. influencers say brand collaborations are their largest revenue stream, according to a May 2021 eMarketer study.

"Marketing dollars are at the center of the creator economy. When brands look at the current state of audience accumulation and reach and throw their hands up at the lack of 'available' diverse creators, they have to understand that platforms and creators they’ve supported in the past have resulted in the current disparity," says Regi Cash, CEO of creative studio 3BlackDot.

Beyond ethical motivations, it makes business sense for brands across sectors to connect with creators of color to make sure they’re reaching diverse and growing multicultural audiences.

The U.S. Census 2020 race-ethnic population report estimates that nearly four in 10 Americans identify with a race or ethnic group other than white, with more than half of those under 16 identifying as a racial or ethnic minority. Nielsen has also found that multicultural consumers are the fastest growing segment in the U.S. increasing by 2.3 million every year. The buying power of minority groups also continues to rise. In 2020, Black consumer’s buying power sat at $1.4 trillion, and is expected to grow to $1.8 trillion by 2024, according to NielsenIQ’s report “The Power of the Black Community: From Moment to Movement.” 

Earlier in June, Omnicom Media Group launched a Diverse Content Creators Network (DCN) that pairs brands with millions of diverse content creators in partnership with Twitter and two other platforms that have yet to be announced.

“Skyrocketing social media usage alongside new ‘creator friendly’ platforms have allowed the diverse creator universe to grow in both scale and influence, and this creates new opportunities for our clients to achieve scale and reach multicultural audiences," says Scott Hagedorn, CEO, Omnicom Media Group North America. "However, it’s been challenging for brands to activate the collective scale of these prolific and effective creators across multiple platforms."

The goal of the network is to eliminate barriers to invest with media entrepreneurs, but also with Asian, Black, Lantinx and LGBTQ+ creators, such as Spencer Polanco Knight, who has 53.4 million followers on TikTok @SpencerX, and Ali Kabbani, a Twitch streamer with over 7 million followers @Myth.

Hagedorn says brands like McDonald’s, Clorox, Georgia Pacific, State Farm and The CW have all shown interest in the program.

“We see this as a solution that aims to bridge the gap between diverse creators and their white counterparts, while also delivering deeper connections with our customers, and it’s an investment option that we will be exploring,” says Alycia Mason, McDonald’s VP of digital consumer experience and media. Last month, McDonald’s announced committed to more than double its ad spend (from 4% to 10%) with diverse-owned media companies, production shops and content creators over the next four years.

Overall, experts at influencer agencies say they have seen an increase in brands committing more resources to working with diverse creators in the past year, and that interest is only growing. But there's still more to be done.

Influencer agency Influential historically saw brands come to the agency with budgets reserved for reaching multicultural creators, says Ryan Detert, CEO, Influential, which has recently worked on campaigns reaching diverse audiences for brands such as Anheuser-Busch’s Patagonia Beer. Now, he says, multicultural is built into the overall budget and that those budgets have doubled in the past year. For its part, Influential launched its own Amplify Diverse Voices campaigns where every dollar goes to multicultural creators.

“Every brand and every agency, whether they want to do it or they feel compelled because the market expects them to do so, it’s a benefit to diverse creators,” says Detert. “[BIPOC creators] are certainly getting more deal flow.” 

Danielle Wily, CEO of influencer agency Sway, says before this past year, the agency had to pay diverse influencers out of its own profits rather than being paid by the client, in order to ensure diverse influencers were part of campaigns. Now, she’s seeing brands request them, with at least 20% of budgets going towards diverse creators.

Equal payment is also now part of conversations, whereas before, it was something never really established and an opportunity for bad actors to abuse. “Equality has been expected, equity has not,” Detert says. “Equity has never really been a focal point, where influencers were getting paid both evenly or paid as often." Influential itself has made sure creators are paid on the same CPM [cost to reach 1,000 viewers] basis to eliminate unconscious biases, he says.

With the Amazon Prime video campaign Dorsey completed for Collab Crib, he says the brand came back with an even higher price so that they were compensated properly. 

Though Shaka Smith, an Instagram creator @shakastrong with more than 317,000 followers, has seen more brand outreach and campaign opportunities over the past year, he says he has still encountered times where he has been offered inequitable pay, inequitable exposure and brands have viewed him as “a commodity rather than a creator.” “I am happy that we appear to be progressing forward, but remain vigilant,” he says. “I’ve seen enough bumps along the way to know we’re only a gear shift away from reversing course."