Creator marketing news and trends—Bama Rush brand deals, TikTok leans into Gen Z search habits

Ad Age looks at the biggest trends shaping creator marketing and social media this week, from buzzy brand deals to the evolution of creator-led businesses.

Aug 24, 2023 - 21:01

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New deals

Winky Lux, Teleties and Bama Morgan: “Bama Rush,” the nickname for the University of Alabama’s extravagant sorority recruitment process, has evolved into an annual event that many TikTok users, and brands, eagerly await. Several girls each year typically emerge as TikTok favorites as they share “get ready with me videos” ahead of recruitment events—and one standout this year was “Bama Morgan,” or Morgan Cadenhead, who amassed over 175,000 followers for her “relatable” take on Bama Rush content.

Two brands were quick to establish relationships with the breakout Bama Rush star: hair accessory brand Teleties, and Winky Lux, a makeup and skincare brand. Both brands reached out to Cadenhead on TikTok after she featured them in her “outfit of the day” videos, with Teleties gifting her several of the brand’s hair ties and Winky Lux inviting Cadenhead to an event. And earlier this week, when the recruitment process ended and Cadenhead ultimately didn’t receive an offer to join a sorority, Winky Lux CEO Natalie Mackey shared a TikTok video extending an “open invite” to Cadenhead for a future internship with the brand.

Brodie the Goldendoodle and Tru By Hilton: Brodie, a Goldendoodle with more than 6.5 million TikTok followers and another 1 million on Instagram, is setting off on a Hilton-sponsored journey across the U.S. On Monday, Brodie’s owner, Cliff Brush, announced he and Brodie are partnering with Tru By Hilton, a subsidiary of Hilton Worldwide, to “show off the dog-friendly amenities Hilton offers” to travelers by sharing videos of their stays at various Tru By Hilton locations.

LinkedIn introduces a ‘brand partnership’ post label: Posting as a LinkedIn influencer—or establishing a partnership with one—just became a bit easier. The platform this week unveiled a new “brand partnership” label that users can include on a post to disclose that it’s sponsored. Social media consultant Matt Navarra shared screenshots of the new feature, which show the “brand partnership” label appears beneath a user’s name next to their job title, and that users can add the label to their post by simply flipping a toggle while creating the post.

The D’Amelio family expands its brand empire to food: TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio—and their parents, Marc and Heidi D’Amelio—last Thursday announced they’re preparing to launch D’Amelio Foods. The snack brand, backed by a new $5 million investment from Fifth Growth Fund, will fall under the larger D’Amelio Brands company, which already includes D’Amelio Footwear. The family will be “intimately involved” in the marketing of the new brand, according to a press release. The has a built-in audience of 200 million just through Charli and Dixie D’Amelio’s TikTok accounts.

Comedy creator turned agency founder: Comedy creator Druski, whose real name is Drew Desbordes, is making the jump from comedy to sports with the launch of sports agency 4Lifers. The agency has already signed its first client—Princely Umanmielen of the University of Florida Gators—and Desbordes will leverage his relationships with brands that he has partnered with as a creator, including Nike, Google and Raising Cane’s, to connect athletes to NIL opportunities, he told Sports Illustrated.

If you’re somehow still skeptical of the sheer power of K-pop fans, look no further than the wild success of Calvin Klein’s TikTok video featuring Jeon Jung-kook, also known as Jungkook, of K-pop group BTS. The short video simply features Jung-kook, a brand ambassador for Calvin Klein, modeling a few different outfits, but TikTok users have flooded the post with nearly 5 million likes, 563,000 saves and nearly 340,000 shares.

American Eagle was an early adopter of Threads and has built up a following of nearly 200,000 followers on the platform. But when the brand took a week-long break from Threads, it wasn’t necessarily surprising, as several other brands have backed away from the platform following the slumping engagement there. Yesterday the brand shared a new post announcing its return to Threads after the temporary break, indicating it will likely continue to include the platform in its social strategy.