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 NBA, Drew Afualo and Kai Cenat: Drew Afualo, an influencer and host of “The Comment Section” podcast, and livestreaming phenom Kai Cenat appear in a new ad promoting the upcoming NBA season. Their inclusion in the ad, produced by creative agency Translation, reflects the NBA’s overarching efforts to reach Gen Z and multicultural audiences through creator partnerships, among other strategies, Ad Age’s Jon Springer reports. It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Cenat. The streamer starred alongside Snoop Dogg and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in a T-Mobile ad in late September. Later this week, Cenat will help McDonald’s launch its limited-edition Chicken Big Mac with a livestreamed taste test featuring secret special guests. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Drew Afualo (@drewafualo) Also read: How McDonald’s is marketing the chicken Big Mac’s US debut Crocs and Liam Kyle Sullivan: Millennials and Gen Zers who remember the early days of YouTube rejoiced last week when Crocs teamed with YouTuber and comedian Liam Kyle Sullivan for a parody of his viral music video “Shoes,” which has amassed nearly 80 million views since it was posted in 2006. The social media ad recreates a scene from the original video where a salesperson rudely tells Sullivan’s character, Kelly, that her feet likely won’t fit in the shoes she’s trying on. Kelly is trying on hot pink Crocs in the ad instead of the silver heels from the 2006 video. Marketing agency Digitas was behind the campaign. @crocs Use promo code OMGShoes for 22% off! #crocstok #croctober ♬ original sound - Crocs Taco Bell and Harry Daniels: In most of his TikTok videos, influencer Harry Daniels is serenading celebrities from SZA to former President Barack Obama with intentionally off-key vocals. But Daniels was the one approached by a celebrity in a Taco Bell-sponsored video he posted over the weekend. In the ad, which promotes Taco Bell’s new “Disha hot sauce” created in partnership with singer-songwriter Omar Apollo, Apollo asks Daniels if he can store his glasses case in Daniels’ backpack. Daniels then reveals the backpack is stuffed with packets of the new hot sauce. @harry.daniels that one boy who dont play abt disha hot #TacoBellPartner #ad #omarapollo @tacobell @Omar Apollo ♬ original sound - harry daniels Dr. Squatch and Sydney Sweeney: Hollywood darling Sydney Sweeney stars as a “Body Wash Genie” in a new marketing push from men’s body care brand Dr. Squatch, promoting its newly released line of natural body washes. Sweeney appears across the series of innuendo-filled ads, emerging in a puff of smoke each time a man uncaps one of the brand’s body washes. Bonkers Toys and “Skibidi Toilet”: The widely popular “Skibidi Toilet” web series—which consists of an animated male popping his head from a toilet and singing—is making the jump to store shelves with a new line of toys that launched at Walmart, Target and Amazon last week. The toy line is a collaboration between U.S. toy company Bonkers Toys and digital studio Invisible Narratives, whose founder, Adam Goodman, owns the “Skibidi Toilet” IP. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tiffany (@playliverepeat) Social media screenshot Pinterest adds AI to its performance tools: It seems as if every social media platform has announced new AI-powered tools for advertisers in recent days. At its annual “Pinterest Presents” advertiser summit, Pinterest unveiled several AI-powered updates for its “Performance+” ad targeting tool, such as “Performance+ Creative,” which allows advertisers to produce AI-generated backgrounds for product images. Pinterest also revealed a new “Promotions” feature that allows advertisers to attach promotional codes to their Pinterest ads. TikTok rolls out automated performance tools and expands out-of-home push: TikTok is also blending performance ads with generative AI with its launch of “Smart+,” a suite of AI-powered tools that automatically place ads in front of TikTok users according to an advertiser’s budget, targeting goals and campaign objective. Smart+ can also create AI-generated ads utilizing the platform’s “TikTok Symphony” generative AI suite, which Smart+ then funnels into its ad placement process. Along with announcing Smart+ at Advertising Week New York, TikTok also revealed an expansion of its “Out of Phone” offering with its launch of “Out of Phone: Retail,” which brings TikTok videos to in-store digital screens. Facebook targets Gen Z with new features: Facebook is continuing its pursuit of Gen Z and young millennials with several new features introduced at its “Facebook IRL” event last week. These youth-focused features include a new “Local” tab, currently in testing, that combines content across Marketplace, Groups and Events (the most popular elements of the platform among Facebook users aged 18 to 29) in one feed. The platform is also rolling out a new “Video” tab that brings together short-form, long-form and live video content into a single full-screen video feed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Facebook (@facebook) Agency updates Whalar Group partners with iHeartMedia: Creator company Whalar Group and iHeartMedia yesterday announced a partnership to help creators launch podcasts or radio shows on the iHeartMedia network, or assist them in growing their existing podcasts under the iHeartMedia umbrella. The collaboration between the two companies is also designed to help advertisers develop and run campaigns across these creators’ podcasts, social media accounts, live shows and other mediums tied to their iHeartMedia shows. TikTok of the week @fathercooper Interview is Live. Watch on Spotify ♬ original sound - Alexandra Cooper With the U.S. presidential election swiftly approaching, VP Kamala Harris appeared as a guest on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast on Sunday in an effort to attract Cooper’s audience largely made up of Gen Z and millennial women. The 44-minute episode, during which Cooper and Harris spoke about abortion bans and reproductive rights, has received backlash from some listeners who accused Cooper of spreading Democratic “propaganda” by inviting Harris on the show. But Cooper said that she also invited Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump to appear on the podcast. NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today Threadspotting Post by @mosseri View on Threads In a week filled with social platform update announcements, Instagram head Adam Mosseri also revealed a handful of new features for Threads—most notably, the ability to edit Threads posts for up to 15 minutes after initially uploading them. Follow us on social media X Bluesky Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

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

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