The D’Amelio family’s new snack brand, TikTok’s upcoming music festival and Dylan Mulvaney’s MAC Cosmetics 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].
MAC Cosmetics and Dylan Mulvaney: Mulvaney’s Instagram and TikTok accounts had mostly lacked sponsored content after her promotion of Bud Light in April sparked backlash from some conservatives. But last week, the transgender influencer shared a post sponsored by MAC Cosmetics, modeling the makeup look she wore to receive her Woman of the Year award from British LGBTQ+ magazine Attitude. Prior to the Bud Light promotion, Mulvaney had worked with MAC on several sponsored social posts.
Marriott Bonvoy and the TikTok “Travel Tribe”: To promote its loyalty program Marriott Bonvoy to Gen Z travelers, Marriott International recruited four travel influencers on TikTok to form a “Travel Tribe”: @travelingtuesdays, @camsoutravel, @katlego_masupa and @bennetbehnke. The four creators will highlight the restaurants, attractions and hidden gems of cities across Europe and Africa while sharing tips with Gen Z viewers on how to travel on a budget.
Also read: What Gen Z marketers want from their employers
Hoka and Nicole McLaughlin: McLaughlin is a designer known for her focus on upcycling and unconventional aesthetic, and both were on full display in her recent collab with sneaker brand Hoka. The chunky, red and black shoes she designed for the brand feature two detachable pieces that add a unique feature to the sneakers: pockets. Hoka’s partnership with McLaughlin follows a similar sustainability-focused push from fellow shoe brand UGG, which last month released a line of slippers and boots created using sustainable farming practices, partnering with designer Marina Testino, environmental justice activist Jerome Foster and several other creators to promote the collection.
Meta introduces A/B Reels testing: Meta last week took a page out of YouTube’s playbook and launched an A/B testing tool for Facebook Reels that allows creators to test different thumbnails and captions to see which combinations perform best. Once Facebook determines which thumbnail and caption pair receives the most views, the platform will automatically display that winning Reel on creators’ profiles, according to a Meta blog post. YouTube rolled out a similar A/B testing feature for video thumbnails back in June.
TikTok axes Creator Fund: TikTok is shuttering its Creator Fund, a $2 billion initiative launched in 2020 to pay creators with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 collective video views over 30 days, on Dec. 16. Creators in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany who are currently part of the monetization initiative can instead enroll in TikTok’s Creativity Program, which the platform rolled out in May. The program has the same eligibility requirements as the Creator Fund, but also requires creators’ videos to be a minute or longer in order to generate revenue from them. TikTok said it developed the Creativity Program “based on learnings and feedback from the Creator Fund.”
TikTok to host a music festival: TikTok is evidently looking to extend even further offline with its upcoming, in-person music festival, “TikTok In the Mix.” The headlining artists for the live music event—which is set to take place on Dec. 10 in Mesa, Arizona but will also be livestreamed globally—include Cardi B, Niall Horan, Charlie Puth and Anitta. Several creators and “surprise guests” will also appear at the music festival, according to a TikTok blog post.
Instagram allows for post submissions: Instagram is piloting a new feature that enables users to submit photos or videos to be added to another user’s carousel post, Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed in a Threads post. Though Mosseri focused his post on how Instagrammers can leverage this feature with their friends, it could also be a powerful tool for brands looking to collect user-generated content.
The D’Amelios break into CPG: TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio received backlash after sharing a TikTok of themselves pretending to be Walmart employees. Some commenters said the sisters, who each have a net worth in the millions, were mocking the struggles of actual Walmart workers—or as one user worded it, “I wish I had enough money to cosplay as a retail worker, so fun being in the working class.”
The post was part of a promotion for the D’Amelios’ latest product to their growing business empire—a snack brand called Be Happy Snacks. The first product, a line of popcorn, is exclusively being sold through Walmart.
Over the past week, brands have been poking fun at ASMR videos from TikTok account @jetcar.ru that feature a woman whispering the names of various luxury vehicle brands and drumming her nails on various parts of the vehicle being shown. This has prompted other brands to take part in the trend, including Milwaukee Public Library, which had an employee of the library’s education and outreach services department imitate the woman in the video with a deadpan voice and unenthusiastic ASMR sound effects.
Since its launch, Threads has thrived on trending post formats, the latest of which involves users “asking the Threads algorithm” to make their posts appear in the feeds of people who fulfill one of a list of qualifications. A number of brands have jumped on this trend over the past week, including T.J. Maxx, which asked for its posts to pop up on the feeds of users who “love a good deal” or “will wander in the aisles for hours.”
