BANKNOTES minted by #paid

Luxury fashion has a problem. According to McKinsey, the industry is responsible for over $2 billion in greenhouse gas emissions every year. That’s roughly 4% of the world’s total output.

For added context, luxury fashion puts out the same amount of greenhouse gasses as France, Germany, and the UK. Combined.

While these stats are horrifying, this issue isn’t only about the survival of the environment. It’s also a threat to the survival of luxury fashion brands.

Have you ever come across an ad while scrolling through TikTok that feels just like any other video on the platform—so much so that it hardly feels like you’re watching an ad?

Do you know what makes these ads work so well? They’re engaging, follow popular trends, and, most importantly, feel as authentic as other online videos we see from our favorite creators.

Unfortunately, many marketers avoid creating this type of content because it “appears ugly,” discounting the ad’s effectiveness.

“Google it.”

It used to be one of the most ubiquitous phrases in search. Like Kleenex for tissues, Google is the brand nomenclature for an entire action. But now it may be one of new media’s next casualties.

TikTok, Twitter, and other social media platforms are becoming the new search engine stars.

This is partially by design. “Search it with TikTok,” says a recent TikTok ad in the UK. “Learn it with TikTok.” You can practically hear steam coming out of the ears (er, servers) over at Google and Bing.

Fun fact: “Adidas” does not stand for “All Day I Dream About Sports.” It’s short for Adi Dassler, the company’s founder.

Yet, if you repeat a factoid often enough, it has a way of entering the zeitgeist. That’s especially true for statistics ringing with truth.

Case in point: everyone knows it costs 5x more to acquire customers than to get customers to return. This factoid (this time in “10x” form) even appeared in “The Office,” when an intern attending business school at night quizzed hapless boss Michael Scott. The joke was that the branch manager didn’t understand a basic business fact.

Relationships, whether romantic, platonic, or familial, are essential for any human being to thrive. Even when these relationships are complicated or situational (see: situationships), they allow us to learn new things about ourselves, explore the parts of life outside our comfort zone, and ultimately help us evolve as individuals.

Back in my day, when it was time to announce a new relationship, we would take to Facebook to change our single status. Something about that “in a relationship with” update really felt like a major life achievement. Nowadays, we’re seeing Instagram girlies soft launch their significant others by teasing Story posts of someone’s left shoulder or a Diddy-cropped photo with just their person’s eyebrow visible. Only the official couples get to revel in the celebratory relationship hard launch.

Brands choosing to partner with America’s favorite celebrities is almost a bigger tradition than the Super Bowl itself. In the past, we’ve seen ads from Dolly Parton, Timothée Chalamet, and Will Ferrell.

This year, like in previous years, there was no shortage of A-list celebrities placed front and center of the most coveted advertising slots. Celebrities ranged from Serena Williams, Alicia Silverstone, Melissa McCarthy, Bradley Cooper, and John Travolta.

But—here’s the thing. Do you remember any of the brands these celebrities were advertising?

With millions of dedicated followers who religiously watch their favorite content creator as soon as a new video drops (or heavily engaged in whatever drama the creator is embroiled in at any given time), it makes sense that the beauty industry as a whole is finally catching on to the idea that viewers love watching creators, regardless of gender, showcase personality and creativity in an entertaining format.

Add in TikTok or Instagram, and male beauty creators worldwide are growing audiences and partnering with emerging and legacy cosmetics brands for product launches or partnerships, too.

Who knew something as simple as fresh dough could attract video views? It’s not a trick question. In applying surgical precision to its creator campaigns, KitchenAid nailed it.

KitchenAid had access to first-party data from Trusted Media Brands. Two-thirds of TMB’s reader panel, for example, owned stand mixers. TMB’s readers were four times more likely than average to categorize themselves as a “holiday enthusiast.” And 55% of a Taste of Home kitchen survey respondents were looking for helpful kitchen appliance content.

Enter the Mixing and Mingling holiday campaign, which combined all of this data with the power of the creator economy. Taste of Home’s influencers offered recipes and recorded video stories sharing their favorite KitchenAid stories. For Elena Besser, that was the pasta-maker extension, which she tied into a story of using food as her love language.

Striking a balance between creativity and appealing to customers is often a tenuous one for marketing teams.

Add in the massive competition for traffic and sales, and you might find a brand or two swinging for the fences only to end up striking out spectacularly.

There’s also the fact that brands are constantly looking for new ways to stand out and achieve goals.

As customers, we often praise brands taking daring approaches. We’re more apt to see brands making waves than observing the status quo.

“It's just crazy how Amazon has all these little sneaky things that you would never know about.”

When 24-year-old Emma Lorrae started her UGC creator business in May 2022, she knew her passion was to be an entrepreneur and create content for brands.

But it can be scary to start your own business–let alone walk away from a corporate job to run your business full-time.

However, less than a year into her endeavors, Lorrae is already making over $8K per month as a UGC creator and through influencer programs with channels like Amazon. Her earnings keep growing month after month.