Target’s pet influencer marketing push, a viral crossover between two TikTok “tradwives” and H&M’s Charli XCX collaboration 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].
Target and Ghost and Wren, Popeye the Foodie Dog and more: About 70% of Target shoppers today are pet owners, according to the retailer. Target is honing in on that substantial chunk of its customer base with a new influencer marketing push starring 11 pet influencers—or “fur-fluencers,” as Target calls them—across six social media accounts, including Italian Greyhound twins Ghost and Wren; culinary connoisseur Popeye the Foodie Dog; and Maple Cat, a British Shorthair.
The pet influencers (or rather, their human parents) helped develop a slew of new products for “The Cuddle Collab,” a collection of over 180 accessories, toys, treats and home decor items launching in nearly 2,000 Target stores this Saturday. Target’s plans to promote the products include a reality TV-inspired social media series titled “The Pets of Tarjay,” which will spotlight several of the new items.
Eos and Joe Ando: Dozens of brands invited influencers to lavish parties or runway shows for New York Fashion Week, but eos took its recent creator collab to another level by tasking designer and TikTok star Joe Ando with creating a dress inspired by the brand’s vanilla cashmere body lotion. Ando’s partnership with eos also included a luxurious dinner party attended by high-profile influencers such as Dylan Mulvaney, Achieng Agutu and Serena Kerrigan.
Bacardi, Glamsquad, MCoBeauty and Kelley Heyer: Heyer, the creator of the TikTok-viral dance to Charli XCX’s song “Apple,” wasn’t invited to last week’s MTV Video Music Awards, despite her so-called “Apple dance” being nominated for the “Best Trending Video” category at the awards show. After Heyer shared a TikTok video asking if any brands would want to sponsor her to attend, Bacardi (which was also the spirits partner of the VMAs), quickly reached out to invite her. Glamsquad, which provides at-home hair and beauty services, and Australian makeup brand MCoBeauty also partnered with Heyer to help her gussy up for the VMAs.
H&M and Charli XCX: “Brat Summer” may have come to an end, but Charli XCX is still scoring plenty of brand deals. For her latest partnership, she joined a roster of other “contemporary icons,” including models Lila Moss and Loli Bahia and music producer Salvador Navarrete, aka “Sega Bodega,” to promote H&M’s new “A/W” collection and broader brand refresh. The partnership kicked off last Friday with her performance at H&M’s London Fashion Week party. Fans, however, are split on the collab—many of the comments on the singer’s sponsored Instagram post announcing the partnership declare that H&M, and fast fashion as a whole, are “not brat.”
MrBeast, KSI and Logan Paul: YouTube giants MrBeast, KSI and Logan Paul have all already launched successful food and beverage brands—MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) founded chocolate brand Feastables, while KSI and Logan Paul teamed up to establish beverage brand Prime. Now, the three social media stars are joining forces to launch Lunchly, a rival to lunch kit brand Lunchables that will include a Prime sports drink and Feastables chocolate bar in each meal.
TikTok takes the U.S. government to court: The lengthy legal battle between TikTok and the federal government heated up yesterday as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard arguments from ByteDance, TikTok and a group of TikTok users against a law signed by President Joe Biden that will ban the app across the U.S. beginning Jan. 19.
See more: TikTok challenges US ban law in court
YouTube Shorts rolls out an “Add Yours” feature: YouTube Shorts often launches features modeled after those of rival short-form video platform TikTok. However its latest release, an “Add Yours” sticker users can attach to their Shorts with a question or prompt to encourage viewers to respond with their own videos, stems from an Instagram feature of the same name.
LTK unveils new brand and creator tools: The creator commerce and marketing platform held its 12th annual LTK Con yesterday. At the conference, LTK announced a slew of new AI-powered features for both brands and creators. New offerings for brands include “LTK Leaderboard,” a dashboard that provides real-time insights into a brand’s top-performing creators, and “LTK Power Gifting,” which allows brands to gift products or provide exclusive discounts to creators via their Leaderboard. For creators, the “LTK Co-Pilot” creative suite uses AI to identify and suggest products to tag in their content and generate video captions, among other functions.
Kenvue launches an influencer agency review: Holding company PR and influencer agencies and independent influencer shops are participating in the agency review for the consumer health company, which markets brands such as Tylenol, Neutrogena and Listerine. Kenvue declined to comment on the incumbents and the agencies pitching the account.
Also read: Kenvue launches global influencer agency review
Humanz enters the U.S. market: Humanz, an AI-powered creator marketing platform that counts Google, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble and Unilever among its global clients, last week announced its expansion into the U.S. As part of its U.S. launch, Humanz named beauty and fashion influencer Valeria Lipovetsky as its chief creator officer. The company, which already operates in Europe, Latin America, South Africa and the Middle East, will establish its U.S. headquarters in Miami.
TikTok “tradwife” influencers Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman (better known by her username, Ballerina Farm) have each generated plenty of online buzz this year. Smith’s overly complex “from scratch” cooking tutorials fascinated the internet, while her ties to Mormonism stirred up social media controversy. Neeleman, meanwhile, spawned an outpouring of think pieces and TikTok videos after a profile of her family in The Times of London revealing her husband’s controlling off-screen behavior (such as demanding she give birth at home, without pain relief medication) went viral.
So, when the two buzzy influencers collaborated on a TikTok video last week, it naturally caught fire. Their video, which has more than 11.5 million views and 2.2 million likes and counting, documents Smith and her family’s visit to Neeleman’s farm in Utah. Hundreds remarked on the significance of the two influencers’ collaboration with comments such as “the final boss of crossovers” and “the fact that none of my friends understand how big of a deal this is.”
Moo Deng, an adorable two-month-old pygmy hippo at a zoo in Thailand, is social media’s newest overnight star. She’s even begun to conquer Threads after having already swept across TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram over the past several days.
