Katie Fang's multimedia campaign with Cetaphil, TikTok's new NHL team sponsorship and Poppi's New York Fashion Week influencer event 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].
Poppi and Monet McMichael, Remi Bader, Jake Shane, James Charles and more: Multiple brands hosted influencer events tied to New York Fashion Week, which kicked off Friday and wraps up tomorrow. But none generated as much social media buzz as “Poppi World,” a star-studded celebration of the prebiotic soda brand’s new Cherry Cola flavor. Influencer and celebrity attendees included fashion and lifestyle creator Monet McMichael, creator and plus-size model Remi Bader, comedy creator and podcast host Jake Shane, and beauty influencer and makeup artist James Charles. Rapper 50 Cent also made a surprise appearance.
Chipotle and Raymonte Cole: Chipotle last week unveiled its latest “Boorito” campaign—a Halloween costume collection with Spirit Halloween consisting of five spandex bodysuits modeled after Chipotle’s napkins, bags, forks, aluminum lids and fountain cups. To help promote it, the restaurant chain enlisted TikTok creator Raymonte Cole to post a sponsored video of himself wearing Chipotle’s cup-inspired bodysuit. Although he wore the suit backward in the video, the video has still amassed over 3.3 million views and 360,000 likes as of writing.
Also read: Chipotle and other brands embrace Halloween marketing
E.l.f., Tinder and Harry Jowsey: E.l.f. and Tinder yesterday announced a collaboration on a limited-edition makeup collection inspired by the dating app’s flame-shaped logo and rosy red color palette. The brands revealed the partnership with a 90-second ad, “Face the First Date,” from Mischief @ No Fixed Address, Tinder’s creative agency of record. The ad features a woman preparing for a first date with makeup from the e.l.f. and Tinder collection while worrying over various ways the date might go wrong.
In one worst-case scenarios, her date is reality TV star and influencer Harry Jowsey, who stops the date to snap photos of himself for a partnership with a nondescript multivitamin brand.
See also: First dates get a little easier with Tinder and e.l.f.’s cute collab
Delta and Ilona Maher: U.S. rugby player Ilona Maher’s fame hasn’t waned since the end of the Paris Olympics, and her brand deals aren’t slowing down, either. While she’s collaborated with Brooks Running and Maybelline, her biggest partnership seems to be with Delta Air Lines, which has sponsored three of her TikTok videos since the Olympics closing ceremony.
Cetaphil and Katie Fang: Cetaphil last week named beauty influencer Katie Fang the face of its new collection of “gentle exfoliating” products aimed at Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers. Fang joined the brand for a New York pop-up over the weekend, along with TikTok creator Griffin Maxwell Brooks, who DJ’d the event, and a group of dermatologist influencers. The campaign will include TV spots, digital ads and in-store displays over the next several weeks, the brand said.
Absolut Vodka, Freewill Haircare, MCoBeauty, SmartSweets, Poppi and Paris Hilton and Megan Thee Stallion: The music video for Paris Hilton’s new song “BBA” (an acronym for “Bad Bitch Academy”) featuring rapper Megan Thee Stallion is a product placement smorgasbord. Five brands appear in Hilton’s hands throughout the video—Absolut Vodka; haircare brand Freewill; Australian beauty brand MCoBeauty; SmartSweets, a low-sugar candy brand; and Poppi.
TikTok inks an NHL deal and extends its NFL partnership: TikTok yesterday announced a partnership with the Washington Capitals that will place the app’s logo on the NHL team’s away jerseys. The partnership comes amid TikTok’s ongoing legal battle with lawmakers in the nation’s capital over a potential U.S. ban. TikTok’s deal with the Capitals, as well as other D.C. sports teams owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, appears to be a strategic move by the Chinese-based social media app.
Last week, TikTok said it renewed its partnership with the NFL after the TikTok accounts of the NFL and its 32 teams collectively generated more than 5 billion views during the 2023 season, per a TikTok blog post.
Brazil bans X: Speaking of governments feuding with social platforms, Brazil imposed a nationwide ban on X on Aug. 30 as part of a months-long legal battle between X owner Elon Musk and Brazil’s Supreme Court over free speech and misinformation. Following the announcement, hundreds of Brazilian “stan” accounts, or X accounts run by devoted fans of a given celebrity, bid farewell to their followers, and many of them flocked to X rival Bluesky.
Instagram brings comments to Stories: Instagram last week introduced the ability for users to leave public comments on others’ Instagram Stories, rather than those comments going directly to the Story user’s direct messages. The feature is the latest in a flurry of updates Instagram has rolled out this year to encourage interactions between users instead of passive scrolling (which social media consultant Lia Haberman helpfully rounded up in her latest newsletter).
Snap CEO teases upcoming advertising tools: While celebrating the company’s 13th anniversary last week, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel outlined several new ad tools and generative AI initiatives the platform will debut over the next several months. The new ad options include “Sponsored Snaps,” or ads that appear in a user’s chat inbox and function similarly to an organic Snap message, and “Promoted Places,” which will allow businesses to highlight their locations on the Snap Map feature.
Spiegel said that Snap’s “share price performance has lagged the overall market” due to the company’s “advertising business growing slower than [its] competitors.”
TikTok trends often revolve around viral music tracks sweeping across the platform. But because those songs are typically copyrighted, marketers eager to participate in said trends need to come up with alternate tracks that won’t land their brands in legal hot water. For the latest music-based TikTok trend, centered on the song “Symphony” by Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson, several brands, including Hilton, Drumstick and MAC Cosmetics (above), opted to leverage a TikTok user’s (intentionally off-key) cover of the song rather than risk a copyright violation.
Olympic breakout star Stephen “Pommel Horse Guy” Nedoroscik is one of the latest arrivals on Threads. He shared his first post on the platform (above) from yesterday’s Apple iPhone 16 event.
