Influencer Marianna Hewitt’s new role at Revolve, Druski’s long-form YouTube reality series and Tarte Cosmetics’ latest influencer trip are some of this week’s creator economy headlines.
Welcome to Ad Age’s influencer marketing news roundup. Each week, we highlight 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.
Have tips or news to share about influencer marketing and the creator economy? Email Gillian Follett at [email protected].
Tarte and Avani Gregg, Emilie Kiser and more: Tarte Cosmetics last week kicked off a luxurious influencer brand trip in Bora Bora, the latest exotic excursion in its broader #trippinwithtarte marketing strategy. Nearly two dozen influencers (and their plus-ones) are partying on the island with Tarte Founder and CEO Maureen Kelly, including Avani Gregg, Emilie Kiser and Léna Situations, aka Léna Mahfouf. This trip’s lineup also includes Simone Llanos, the winner of a Tarte giveaway to join the group in Bora Bora.
Tarte’s influencer trips are infamous for stirring up online controversy, though, and the Bora Bora trip is no exception, with a number of TikTokers criticizing Tarte and its lavish vacation for being “out-of-touch” with the precarious economic situation of many consumers.
Revolve and Marianna Hewitt: Influencer-turned-entrepreneur Marianna Hewitt, co-founder of beauty brand Summer Fridays, took on a new role last week as the creative director of fashion retailer Revolve’s in-house brand L’Academie. As creative director, Hewitt will “work closely alongside the Revolve team throughout the entire lifecycle of the brand’s collections and collaborate on editorial direction for campaigns,” per a press release. The partnership builds on Hewitt’s previous work with Revolve on a clothing line in 2022.
Ikea and Emily Shaw: Interior designer Emily Shaw has been documenting her ongoing home renovation on social media for more than a year—and last week, as she put the finishing touches on her office remodel, Ikea jumped in to provide a desk, seating and other office furniture. Earlier this month, Shaw showed off an in-store Ikea display “inspired by her [social] content” as part of her larger partnership with the brand.
TikTok teams up with the Oscars: TikTok yesterday announced #FilmTok creators Joe Aragon and Yasmine Sahid will act as red carpet correspondents at the 96th Oscars on Sunday as part of TikTok’s partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Disney Entertainment. Aragon and Sahid will host a TikTok livestream from the red carpet, according to a TikTok blog post, which noted that so far this year, there are 1.7 million total TikTok videos with the hashtags #FilmTok and #MovieTok.
Druski goes long-form on YouTube: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan last week highlighted comedy creator Druski’s (whose real name is Drew Desbordes) new long-form YouTube reality series “Coulda Been House.” The comedy series will revolve around a group of artists vying for a $50,000 prize from Desbordes’ fictional record label “Coulda Been Records,” and include guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown and other celebrities, per a YouTube blog post. Desbordes has previously focused on creating short-form video content across Instagram and TikTok.
Brands announcing they’re handing their social media accounts over to a “Gen Z intern” may be a tired trope, but Gen Z is, in fact, often behind some of the most successful social posts from brands—particularly on TikTok. Case in point, the TikTok account for HGTV’s series “House Hunters,” which last week uploaded the above video with on-screen text reading, “We let our gen z intern edit our content for the day.” The resulting 10-second-long video, consisting of only clips from “House Hunters” episodes of people saying the word “house,” has quickly blown all of the account’s other videos out of the water, amassing roughly 275,000 views and more than 58,000 likes compared to the account’s average video viewership of around 1,000.
Threads is becoming part of brands’ product launch social strategies—including those of brands owned by influencers such as Kylie Jenner. The celebrity made her first Threads post on Sunday and used the platform to promote the upcoming launch of her new fragrance.
