Google’s AI platform ad with U.S. rugby star Ilona Maher, e.l.f.’s restocked wedding-themed product collab with Mikayla Nogueira and more Olympians becoming TikTok influencers are some of this week’s creator economy headlines.
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 [email protected].
Google Gemini and Ilona Maher: Dozens of young, social-media-savvy Olympians have caught the internet’s attention over the past two weeks—from Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christansen and his TikTok series highlighting his obsession with the chocolate muffins offered in the Olympic Village cafeteria to the abrupt online fame of “pommel horse guy” Stephen Nedoroscik.
One of the most prominent of these athlete influencers is Team USA rugby star Ilona Maher, who first went viral for her social content during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Her blend of goofy TikTok skits and body positivity activism has endeared her to sponsors including L’Oréal, Secret deodorant and, most recently, Google, which partnered with Maher on a video demonstrating its Gemini AI platform. Interestingly, Google pulled a TV ad promoting Gemini from NBCU's Olympics programming just one day before Maher uploaded her video.
Skims and Tyler Downs: Downs, a diver on Team USA, also scored a social media sponsorship thanks to his viral Olympics TikTok content. Just two days after he posted a video jokingly demanding additional clothing from Skims Co-Founder Kim Kardashian (on top of the extensive assortment of activewear Skims gifted to each member of Team USA), Downs collaborated with the brand on a sponsored TikTok modeling several of those clothing items.
E.l.f. Cosmetics and Mikayla Nogueira: Last year, e.l.f. teamed up with beauty mega-influencer Mikayla Nogueira on a limited-edition makeup collaboration tied to her wedding. And last week, after receiving a year’s worth of comments begging the brand to restock the viral lip kits, e.l.f. once again partnered with Nogueira to announce a limited re-release of the coveted product collab, briefly promoting her to “e.l.f. CEO” and putting her in charge of the restock. The lip kit sold out almost immediately—as it did during the June 2023 launch. Social media and influencer agency Viral Nation was behind the effort.
Mr. Pink and Khaby Lame: Mr. Pink, a beverage brand founded more than a decade ago, last week got TikTok phenom Khaby Lame to generate buzz around its social media relaunch. As of this writing, Lame has garnered just under 5 million views across TikTok and Instagram on an ad of him tearing through a desert in a sports car before parking to sip from a conveniently placed can of Mr. Pink, followed by his characteristic silent shrug at the camera. Mr. Pink had only drawn a maximum of 20,000 views on a TikTok or Instagram Reel before its collab with Lame.
True Religion and “Team True”: Apparel brand True Religion, best known for its jeans, last week unveiled a new roster of 21 long-term influencer and celebrity partners. The group, collectively dubbed “Team True,” consists of WNBA player Lexie Brown; fashion creator (and fiancée of Minnesota Vikings linebacker Patrick Jones II) Michaela Flood; Grammy-nominated R&B singer Kenyon Dixon; model and influencer India Love; and Zay Wilson, an internet-famous country artist, among several others. True Religion announced that it plans to expand Team True to include hundreds of members over the next several years.
SkinCeuticals and Megan Boni, Vivian Tu and more: Megan Boni, creator of the “Man in Finance” earworm earlier this year, has remixed her TikTok-viral song to make herself the “one in finance” for a social campaign with skincare brand SkinCeuticals. The revised lyrics (“Now I’m the one in finance, investing, great skin, win-win”) support the brand’s new marketing push linking financial investment with investing in skincare.
In addition to Boni, SkinCeuticals is collaborating with a group of “Skinvestors” including personal finance influencer Vivian Tu; Simran Kaur, investor, author and founder of media platform “Girls That Invest”; beauty creator Rachel Wiseman; and dermatologist influencers Mamina Turegano and Daniel Sugai.
Instagram introduces custom AI characters: Meta last week unveiled “AI Studio,” a new tool allowing Instagram users to develop AI chatbots based either on themselves or characters. Chatbots modeled after a human Instagram user will be trained on that user’s existing content on the platform to emulate their speaking patterns and establish a bank of information about them to pull from when the chatbot is responding to other users, according to a Meta blog post.
For character AI chatbots, Instagram users can customize the character’s name, tone, personality and other details shaping how they respond to users communicating with them, per the blog post. Meta began rolling out AI Studio in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Justice sues TikTok: In the latest development in the tense legal battle between the U.S. government and TikTok, the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on Friday filed a lawsuit against TikTok for allegedly violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act regulations. The lawsuit accuses TikTok of “knowingly permit[ting] children to create regular TikTok accounts and to create, view, and share short-form videos and messages with adults” and collecting personal information about users under 13 with “Kids Mode” accounts.
Snap introduces its latest 523 program class: Snapchat is partnering with Clinique, AT&T and branded entertainment company Ensemble (co-founded by Issa Rae) to connect the latest class of creators in its 523 creator accelerator program to brand collaboration opportunities over the next 12 months. The 15 creators in the 523 program will also receive mentorship opportunities, funding, and other support from Snap.
Also: Snap’s revenue falls short despite jump in paying subscribers
Creative shop McGarrah Jessee launches social agency: Independent creative agency McGarrah Jessee last week launched Look Squirrel, a social media agency helmed by a former creative director at both Meta and TikTok, Jarrod Corbett, and McGarrah Jessee Head of Production Laura Busino. Inaugural clients include Whataburger and Deep Eddy Vodka, which have both partnered with McGarrah Jessee on past creative campaigns.
We Are Social introduces a “Board of Influence”: We Are Social—more specifically, its influencer marketing and “buzz-building” wing, Narrative—announced an internal “Board of Influence” initially composed of three creators. The three creators will act as a resource for clients of We Are Social and/or Narrative (the two agencies merged in 2023) to inform creative briefs and campaign direction, as well as broader influencer strategies.
TikTok was on the minds of Simone Biles and Suni Lee after the U.S. women’s gymnastics team took home the gold at the team final event last week. After the event, a camera caught the two teammates excitedly discussing the TikTok trends they were planning to leverage to show off their team’s gold medals. The TikTok account for NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock later stitched together that clip of Biles and Lee with the two TikTok videos that resulted from their post-win conversation.
Coca-Cola and Oreo opted for Threads over X (formerly Twitter) for back-to-back posts fueling rumors of a potential product collaboration between the two brands. While Oreo is still active on X, Coca-Cola hasn’t posted on the platform since September 2023.
