Universal Pictures' star-studded “Wicked” LA premiere, Artizia’s puffer jacket for pups and Warby Parker’s new glasses collection with Emma Chamberlain 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].
Universal Pictures and Trisha Paytas, Drew Afualo, Stephen Nedoroscik and more: Multiple internet celebrities joined the cast of “Wicked” and other Hollywood stars at the Universal Pictures film’s Los Angeles premiere on Saturday. Influencer attendees included Trisha Paytas, Drew Afualo, Chris Olsen, Dylan Mulvaney and Olympic gymnast Stephen “Pommel Horse Guy” Nedoroscik. The Los Angeles premiere of the movie, which hits theaters on Nov. 22, follows months of “Wicked” collaborations with brands such as Starbucks, Target and Crocs—a lengthy marketing push that risks irritating consumers.
Also read: Why ‘Wicked’ brand partnerships could risk consumer fatigue
Boots and Adjoa Andoh, Soph and William Grande: British health and beauty retailer Boots also brought together traditional and online celebrities, for its holiday campaign created by WPP’s VML and The Pharm. In the ad, actress Adjoa Andoh, best known for her role as Lady Danbury in the Netflix series “Bridgerton,” plays the role of Mrs. Claus, while beauty creators (and frequent Boots collaborators) Soph and William Grande make cameos in the spot as “elf-fluencers” testing beauty products from TikTok-viral brands such as Sol de Janeiro and Laneige.
Warby Parker and Emma Chamberlain: Warby Parker and Chamberlain are back with a new collaboration—this time, a glasses collection featuring designs inspired by the influencer’s “dream frames.” The new collection comes roughly one year after Warby Parker and Chamberlain (who has worn Warby Parker glasses for over a decade) first collaborated on a handful of frame designs in late 2023. She and Warby Parker are promoting the launch of the new eyewear catalog with a Los Angeles pop-up on Friday and Saturday where attendees can also sample Chamberlain’s coffee brand.
Artizia and Eric Sedeño and Coco Baudelle: Clothing retailer Artizia is targeting pet parents—or roughly two-thirds of U.S. households, according to an annual survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association—with the release of a dog-sized version of its viral “Super Puff” jacket, dubbed the “Super Ruff Puff.” To advertise its first foray into pet apparel, Aritzia gifted influencers Eric Sedeño and Coco Baudelle a matching set of puffer jackets for them and their pups. Sedeño and his Dachshund, Boogie, donned their black puffers for a visit to Aritzia’s flagship store in New York City.
Campbell’s, Eater and Tess Sinatro, Kolby Kash and Blake Menard: Campbell’s teamed up with Eater, a food and restaurant publication under Vox Media, to leverage the popularity of cooking competition shows on TV with a social-first series, “Flavor House.” The series, hosted by celebrity chef Richard Blais, follows culinary content creators Tess Sinatro, Kolby Kash and Blake Menard as they complete challenges centered on transforming Campbell’s soups into restaurant-quality meals.
Instagram updates paid social formats: Instagram advertisers can now boost posts containing GIFs and stickers, something that previously resulted in an error message. Additionally, brands can now replace copyrighted music on an existing post with unrestricted audio when boosting the post with paid ad spend.
CapCut leans into generative AI: CapCut, a video editing and graphic design platform owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, last week launched “CapCut Commerce Pro,” a new suite of creative tools aimed at businesses and creators. The majority of the features in the new creative suite leverage generative AI, including a video generation tool that “instantly” transforms product URLs into ads, AI-generated avatars, and a feature that allows users to create “batches” of product photos using generative AI. CapCut Commerce Pro also launched with a “Holiday Edition” section where advertisers and creators can use generative AI to produce videos and images for holiday shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Pinterest talks Gen Z in an earnings call: Two-thirds of Pinterest’s weekly Gen Z users say the platform is now “the first, or one of the first, services they use to shop,” Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said in the company’s latest earnings call. That’s compared to the 54% of Gen Z users who cited Pinterest as one of their top shopping platforms in 2023, according to Ready. The increased shopping activity on the platform likely contributed to the 18% year-over-year revenue growth Pinterest announced in its earnings report.
TikTok users have a history of latching onto novelty holiday decor items, from Target’s “Lewis the Pumpkin Ghoul” and seasonal birds to a Snoopy plush with a light blue puffer jacket that sold out at CVS stores across the country last fall. The latest holiday decoration in the TikTok spotlight—a plush rat donning a striped Santa hat and red bowtie—has driven dozens of TikTok users to Aldi stores over the past few days, many of whom have documented their search for the “Aldi Christmas rat.” While it isn’t a new item, the rat plush seems more in-demand among TikTok users this year than it was in 2023.
Royal Caribbean poked fun at the social media trope of users commenting on brands’ posts asking for sponsorships or free products—or, in Royal Caribbean’s case, free cruises.
