Creator and influencer trends brand marketers need to know about right now

This week: Khaby Lame joins Fortnite, Snapchat leans further into AI and more.

Aug 31, 2023 - 21:01

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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].

New deals

Khaby Lame and Fortnite: TikTok’s wordless comedian Khabane “Khaby” Lame, who has held onto the title of “most-followed TikTok user” since June 2022 (161.9 million), will be the latest celebrity to feature in Fortnite’s “Icon Series” of character skins alongside Ariana Grande, MrBeast and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, among others. Fortnite leans heavily into collaborations with creators, athletes, celebrities, brands and entertainment franchises to entice players to continue playing—and spending their money on the “skins,” or new character appearances, that result from these partnerships. The Lame skin is part of Fortnite's Battle Pass, which costs $9.50.

Caleb Williams and Wendy’s: The college football season may have only kicked off this past weekend, but players have already begun raking in new name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. Among them is Caleb Williams, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and quarterback for the University of Southern California Trojans, whose new partnership with Wendy’s has him featured in a commercial alongside former USC quarterback Matt Leinart. Williams’ NIL deal with Wendy’s is just the latest in a recent slew of partnerships that include Dr Pepper, Nissan United Airlines and Beats by Dre, with brands likely seeking to capitalize on Williams’ estimated $2.6 million NIL valuation, according to On3’s NIL index.

Also read: Inside Nissan's ‘Heisman House’ with Caleb Williams

Leana Deeb and Gymshark: Deeb, a Palestinian-Uruguayan fitness influencer, extended her ongoing partnership with activewear brand Gymshark to display her wearing her hijab on a London billboard. The billboard collaboration reflects Deeb’s rapid rise to success in the fitness space while remaining true to her Muslim faith by dressing modestly and wearing her headscarf in all of her fitness content, she wrote in a recent Instagram post about a new clothing collection she’s also launching with Gymshark. The billboard is also part of the brand’s larger “Every Strong Belongs” initiative to promote inclusivity in the fitness industry.

Social media screenshot

Snapchat goes all-in on AI: Six months after Snapchat rolled out its “My AI” chatbot, the platform this week leaned further into AI with a new generative AI feature. Snapchat’s “Dreams” feature allows users to create AI-generated selfies through a new tab on the app. The tool is currently only available in Australia and New Zealand but will expand to other countries in the coming weeks, per a Snap blog post. Users will be able to generate eight of these AI selfies before they’re prompted to pay for additional ones.

Also read: Snap's My AI opens to advertisers

YouTube softens its community guideline violations policy: YouTube wants to focus on “educational efforts” rather than punishment when it comes to community guideline violations. The platform on Tuesday announced creators who receive a warning for violating YouTube’s community guidelines can now complete a brief educational course about the platform’s policies to remove that warning from their channel. This update comes in response to creators telling YouTube “they want more resources to better understand how we draw our policy lines” around profanity, violence and other content, per YouTube’s blog post.

X reintroduces political ads and updates revenue sharing program: The platform formerly known as Twitter announced in a Tuesday blog post it will reverse former CEO Jack Dorsey’s ban on political advertising ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The political ads will be subject to “specific policies” such as regulation of false claims about the election process and a “robust screening process” that only enables “eligible groups and campaigns” to advertise on the platform, per the blog post.

Additionally, X last week rolled out an updated dashboard for its ads revenue sharing program that breaks down creators’ earnings into distinct time periods rather than lumping them into a single total, as shown in a post from user X News Daily.

Creating businesses

Djerf Avenue goes global with an NYC pop-up: Swedish influencer and fashion designer Matilda Djerf is bringing her clothing brand Djerf Avenue to New York for a four-day pop-up event starting today. Each day of the pop-up will spotlight different aspects of Djerf’s clothing collection, and the event also features collaborations with several brands, including coffee chain Bluestone Lane—which will be serving a limited-edition “Djerf Avenue iced vanilla latte”—and Swedish candy company BonBon. Attendees will also have the chance to meet Djerf and her team, per an Instagram post.

Amouranth teases beverage company launch: Twitch streamer, model and adult content creator Kaitlyn Siragusa, better known as Amouranth, recently took to X to announce she plans to start a beverage company, though details were not provided. The drink brand marks Siragusa’s latest in a series of business ventures that have included purchasing several gas stations and car washes and founding talent management agency Real Work.

Creator economy stakeholders launch an influencer labor movement: A group of content creators and influencer marketing leaders at brands such as Microsoft, Disney and Linktree have banded together to launch the Creators Guild of America, whose website defines the group as “the official non-profit organization that protects and promotes the interests of digital creators.” The guild seeks to offer resources, project opportunities and other benefits to the creators, marketers and founders who comprise its membership—or, in other words, “provide creators with the kinds of institutional benefits enjoyed by more established professions.” YouTuber Justine Ezarik, also known as iJustine, is one of the first board members of the organization.

TikTok of the Week

TikTok this week has been buzzing with speculation about whether influencer Alix Earle and her family are preparing to launch a reality TV series. The conversation kicked off Tuesday when a handful of users pointed out a microphone in Earle’s back pocket in a video of her hugging her sister; and in the above video, Robyn DelMonte, aka GirlBossTown, breaks down the additional evidence supporting the rumors of the potential release of “Earles Girls.”

Threadspotting

The “legal team” jokes have made the jump to Threads. Brands have frequently joked on TikTok about their lawyers standing in the way of them sharing truly “unhinged” social content—but this week, Mountain Dew brought that comedic sentiment (though one likely based in reality, to an extent) to Threads.