Chipotle’s renamed Kansas City restaurant, Carnation’s TikTok launch and Chia Pet’s Ice Spice partnership 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.
Have tips or news to share about influencer marketing and the creator economy? Email Gillian Follett at [email protected].
Carnation and “Grandma Helen”: While cooking with her daughter ahead of Thanksgiving, 96-year-old Helen (who TikTok users have collectively dubbed “Grandma Helen”) unexpectedly whipped out an old, unofficial and very vulgar marketing jingle for Carnation’s canned evaporated milk. The now-viral TikTok capturing Helen’s recitation of the jingle drew the attention of the brand, which launched on the social platform with a video featuring Meghan Bhatia, Carnation brand manager, explaining that the jingle originated from a real contest entry in the 1940s.
In the video, she also offered to sponsor Grandma Helen’s Thanksgiving dinner and award her $5,000 (the amount the brand gave to the original submitter of the jingle). And, as revealed in a series of follow-up videos from Helen’s daughter, the Nestlé-owned brand also sent her a basket of merch and a bouquet of flowers, and paid for her granddaughter’s flight home for Thanksgiving.
“So now I gotta buy a Stanley and Carnation Milk. Got it!” commented one user, referring to Stanley’s highly-praised response to a viral TikTok earlier this month.
Chia Pet and Ice Spice: 2023 has been a big year for rapper Ice Spice, who has transcended her TikTok roots to partner with brands including Dunkin’ and team up with stars such as Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift. Now, she’s rounding out the year with a partnership with Chia Pet, which modeled its latest terracotta figure after the rapper’s head and shoulders. Ice Spice announced the partnership with a nostalgic, infomercial-style video she shared on Instagram.
Dior, Saks and a dozen influencers: The Venn diagram separating the realms of “celebrity” and “influencer” is increasingly shifting into a single, overlapping circle, as evidenced by the launch event for Dior and Saks Fifth Avenue’s joint holiday campaign. At the star-studded party celebrating the two brands’ “Carousel of Dreams” outdoor holiday display, content creators such as Anna Sitar, Xenia Adonts and Chase “Huddy” Hudson mingled with celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Tracee Ellis Ross and Maya Hawke.
Snapchat tests an ad-free plan: Snapchat is the latest social media platform to roll out a paid, ad-free offering for its users. The platform is currently piloting an ad-free version of its Snapchat+ subscription service in Australia, as shown in a screenshot from Australian singer-songwriter Jonah Manzano. The monthly fee is $15.99 Australian dollars, or roughly $10.55 American dollars, per Manzano’s screenshot. According to Snapchat, the ad-free plan is currently “rolling out slowly.”
X controversy threatens its Paris Hilton deal: Paris Hilton’s media company 11:11 followed in the footsteps of brands such as Apple and Disney and suspended its advertising on X, formerly Twitter, following antisemitic comments from platform owner Elon Musk. The controversy is a major blow to X’s partnership with Hilton to produce “live video” and “live commerce” content for the platform, as announced by X CEO Linda Yaccarino in October.
Kai Cenat makes his Hollywood debut: Cenat, a popular streamer and YouTuber who sparked a riot with his New York giveaway event earlier this year, last week made the jump from social media to movies. He makes a cameo appearance in “Good Burger 2” alongside the likes of comedy stars including Pete Davidson, Andy Samberg and Maya Rudolph. The movie premiered on Paramount+ on Nov. 22.
More movie news: How Arby’s is promoting ‘Good Burger 2’
Brands from Taco Bell to Merriam-Webster have taken part in the unearthing of old posts on X, formerly Twitter, from Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. But Chipotle took its inclusion in one of Kelce’s posts to another level, poking fun at his misspelling of the restaurant’s name by renaming its Kansas City location “Chipolte” and bringing a sign with a blown-up version of the post to the Chiefs’ Nov. 20 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
A number of brands leveraged Threads to promote their Cyber Monday sales yesterday, including Bath & Body Works, Sonic Drive-In and Eos.
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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified Carnation’s brand manager.
