Creator and influencer trends brand marketers need to know about right now

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. Sign up for our influencer marketing newsletter here. Have tips or news to share about influencer marketing and the creator economy? Email Gillian Follett at gillian.follett@adage.com. New deals Amazon and Monet McMichael, Harry Jowsey and more: Amazon last week leaned into the expanded presence of creators at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, flying about a dozen influencers with tens of millions of followers between them to the ad festival. Amazon hosted the creators—which included Monet McMichael, Harry Jowsey and Meredith Duxbury—in a villa, took them on boat rides and offered them a fleet of beach buggies personalized with each influencer’s name. In exchange, the group of creators shared sponsored Instagram stories donning glamorous, beachy outfits available on Amazon and linking out to their Amazon storefronts. Read: How influencers and brands interacted at Cannes View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amazon Influencer Program (@amazoninfluencerprogram) John Deere and Rex Curtiss: Two months after kicking off its search for a “Chief Tractor Officer” to run its TikTok account, John Deere revealed the winner of the social media competition: Rex Curtiss, a recent college graduate who majored in environmental studies. In his winning video submission, Curtiss—a burgeoning creator with over 120,000 TikTok followers—wrote a song listing his qualifications for the position. John Deere announced Curtiss as its “Chief Tractor Officer” in a video featuring San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who also starred in the video announcing the company’s search. John Deere previously said that its Chief Tractor Officer would sign a one-year, $200,000 contract with the brand. Read: Behind John Deere’s Gen Z strategy @johndeere Here's the moment you've been waiting for... say hello to our first-ever Chief Tractor Officer, @Rex Curtiss ♬ original sound - John Deere Hero Cosmetics and Alix Earle: On the heels of her week at Cannes, where she filmed vlogs, “Get Ready With Me” videos and spoke on panels, Earle kicked off a new partnership with Hero Cosmetics. On Monday, the skincare brand teamed with Earle, its first global brand ambassador, to launch a new variety of pimple patches after teasing the partnership in a series of posts over the past week. @alixearle @Hero Cosmetics Can you even tell I have pimple patches all over my face? Use code ALIX for 20% off link in my bio #heropartner ♬ original sound - Alix Earle Zaxby’s and MrBeast: Zaxby’s last month announced a year-long partnership with MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) by launching a new “MrBeast Box” menu item—but it also hinted that Zaxby would also be integrated into Donaldson’s viral videos. The first of those sponsored segments appeared earlier this month in Donaldson’s video titled “$10,000 Every Day You Survive in the Wilderness,” in the form of a Zaxby’s branded boat stocked with MrBeast Boxes. Read: MrBeast and Zaxby’s team for the chicken chain’s first celebrity meal @zaxbys they really earned that MrBeast Box #zaxbys #feastlikeabeast ♬ original sound - Zaxby’s Persil and Christian Siriano: Fashion designer Christian Siriano will be hosting a 24-hour TikTok livestream in partnership with laundry detergent brand Persil from June 26 to June 27. During the “Wardrobe Refresh Hotline” stream, viewers can dial 1-855-WARDROBE to ask Siriano for advice on how to “outfit repeat and care for their clothes like a fashion pro.” Also read: A guide to AI-generated avatars for influencer marketing @persillaundry 24 full hours of outfit repetition expertise with @Christian Siriano. June 26 at 6pm EST on TikTok 👀 #WashWithPersil #WardrobeRefresh #laundrytok #outfitrepeating #PersilPartner ♬ original sound - Persil Laundry Social media screenshot X announces two new series in its video push: For months, Elon Musk has been attempting to reshape X, formerly Twitter, into a destination for video content, rather than the text posts the platform is best known for. His latest step toward that objective is partnering with Khloé Kardashian to launch a 26-episode video podcast series as part of the platform’s new “Originals on X” initiative. “Originals on X” will include several “talent-driven” video series whose episodes will be exclusive to the platform for the first 24 hours after their release, according to the social platform. Record producers Timbaland and Swizz Beats will also be relaunching their online platform Verzuz on X through the “Originals” program, the duo announced at Cannes last week. See also: Musk tries to win back advertisers at Cannes It's official: social media queen & entrepreneur @khloekardashian just signed a new partnership with X! 🎥💖Khloé will spill the tea and tackle all kinds of topics on her new 26-episode video podcast series premiering exclusively on X this fall https://t.co/iSNztHd2cX— News (@XNews) June 20, 2024 Social platforms are sending creators to the Olympics: Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube (as well as Gen Z sports media company Overtime) are sending over two dozen creators to the Olympics next month as part of NBCUniversal’s “Paris Creator Collective.” The program, similar to the NFL’s creator-led programming during football season, is designed to reach a “younger generation of Olympic fans with personalities, content and voices they consistently engage with,” NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel wrote in a press release. Also read: A marketing guide to the Olympics View this post on Instagram A post shared by Clarke Peoples (@clarkepeoples) TikTok brings branded missions out of home: TikTok is expanding its “Out of Phone” ad offering—which extends TikTok content from phone screens to digital out-of-home displays such as billboards, gas stations and airports—to include the platform’s “branded mission” feature. The new “Out of Phone: Mission” ad tool allows brands to crowdsource creator content through one of TikTok’s branded mission campaigns and run those creators’ videos to digital out-of-home screens in addition to the “For You” page. LTK streamlines affiliate linking: Creators are often hounded to “drop the link” to products featured in their social content—especially clothing and makeup. Creator-led shopping platform LTK’s new “LTK DM” feature now removes that hurdle for both LTK creators and their followers—at least on Instagram. The LTK DM tool automatically sends a DM containing a link to a creator’s LTK shop to users who comment “shop” on one of their Instagram posts. TikTok of the week @madelineargy Cannes was wild @Kosas #kosaspartner ♬ original sound - madz Dozens of creators attended Cannes this year, whether by purchasing one of the festival’s new creator passes or partnering with brands or social platforms. Creator and podcaster Madeline Argy, however, collaborated with three different brands during her time in Cannes last week—Amazon, which partnered with over a dozen creators on social content at the festival; eos, which hosted her and five other influencers in a villa; and makeup brand Kosas, which sponsored a TikTok of Argy doing her makeup ahead of speaking on two panels at Cannes. In the video, she transitions from talking about her panel appearances and an upcoming business meeting to describing how she and fellow creators such as Jake Shane went clubbing throughout the week. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Threadspotting Post by @iamtabithabrown View on Threads Though most creators at Cannes documented their time at the ad festival on TikTok and Instagram, others, such as influencer and actress Tabitha Brown, shared highlights from Cannes on Threads. Brown received over 1,000 likes on each of her four Threads posts about the ad festival last week. Follow us on social media X Bluesky Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

Creator and influencer trends brand marketers need to know about right now

Featured Stories