Building a Brand With a Built-in Audience
Social media stars are outshining traditional brands and disrupting long-standing systems with their long-standing followings. Influencers communicate with their communities daily. Their communities in turn commit to them fiercely. It is a loyalty that cannot be bought and one that affords them unprecedented selling power. The cult-like dedication to social media personalities enables creators to form brands as massive as their followings. In response, many are giving fans something to consume beyond content.
We’ll be exploring 7 examples of influencer-led brands that have taken the fashion, food and beverage, and consumer packaged goods industry by storm lately, lead by social media’s brightest. This is the era of the influencer entrepreneurship!
Chamberlain Coffee by Emma Chamberlain
Emma Chamberlain forged a coffee brand from the ground(s) up by being her unfiltered self and drinking coffee in almost every vlog she shared. Chamberlain Coffee was not only the natural next step in Emma’s professional evolution, but it was also the most natural to her. Emma’s online candor led her followers to crave anything she produced and gained Chamberlain Coffee a $7 million investment from venture capitalists.
@chamberlaincoffee bringing this calm energy into 2023. video by @mydailywellness #coffeetiktok #newyear
With a combined following of 27 million across Instagram and TikTok, Emma Chamberlain has been able to make her coffee a social media staple. Initially launching the product for purchase through her page, Emma has since grown Chamberlain Coffee exponentially. Now, consumers can buy the extended product line directly from the website, her fully branded Amazon store, or in over 350 locations nationwide!
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PRIME by Logan Paul and KSI
Logan Paul and KSI are on their way to crushing Gatorade with their sports drink PRIME. With a collective following of 40 million and counting, Logan Paul and KSI turned their online duel into a global partnership. They capitalized on their social presence with a drink to represent what first united them: a boxing match. The authenticity of this move moved their communities to support PRIME above more well-known and less costly alternatives.
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PRIME has taken the beverage side of consumer-packaged goods by storm these past few months, selling millions of units worldwide. The rapid success of the brand has made PRIME the official global sports drink of the UFC, defeating the previous title holder BodyArmor. As PRIME has grown immensely popular with Gen Z, this move shows the UFC’s interest in reaching a broader audience through creator marketing. In the agreement, UFC, Logan Paul, and KSI will collaborate to create original content to be shared on all social platforms that promote PRIME, reaching over 400 million followers worldwide.
PRIME is stocked in over 1,000 retailers in the United States and has just launched in stores in KSI’s home country of the UK. Talk about guerilla marketing!
OUR FIRST UK RETAILER! Thank you for showing up for us this week & thank you @asda for the support.
Shop all six delicious flavours at ALL locations within the next week or so! pic.twitter.com/GI8NvhsE0w
— DrinkPrime (@PrimeHydrate) June 18, 2022
818 Tequila by Kendall Jenner
Multi-hyphenate influencer Kendall Jenner leveraged her cool-as-a-cucumber aesthetic for the launch of 818 Tequila in 2021. Since its debut, 818 Tequila has won an array of awards and intoxicated her followers with delight. 818 is more than a brand name, it is an area code that encapsulates the spirit of a culture and the culture in which Kendlla was raised. 818 Tequila stirred up conversations and spiked sales to the point of expanding the brand’s offerings. Kendall and her koolness are key ingredients that fostered the growth of her tequila venture.
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818 Tequila is as trend-setting as Kendall, attracting upscale clientele who like to flaunt their nights out on Instagram. Uniquely designed in the shape of an 8, it’s not hard to distinguish 818 at celebrity events and shows. Beloved for its branding, the 818 Merchandise Store sold out its entire clothing collection within days. Surpassing a million followers within months of launching 818, consumers 21 and older can purchase her tequila worldwide.
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MrBeast Burger by Jimmy Donaldson
Known by 275 million followers as MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson is a philanthropic YouTuber whose antic-filled good deeds have made him one of the highest-paid creators in the world. He opened MrBeast Burgers in 2020 with Virtual Dining Concepts to give fans a taste of what they see online. After one of the largest virtual debuts, the brand opened 1700 online locations. In 2022, MrBeast Burgers welcomed its first brick-and-mortar store in New Jersey and broke the world record for most burgers sold in a day. MrBeast Burgers has now crossed online and global borders with locations opening in Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. Watch tens of thousands of people congregate at the American Dream Mall for the launch of MrBeast Burgers below:
Me – Don’t show up lots of people will be here
You guys – pic.twitter.com/zODxKf0chg
— MrBeast (@MrBeast) September 4, 2022
The TikTok Page @MrBeastBurger has amassed over 2 million followers, following trends and working with industry-leading creators to generate content for the page. This is a perfect example of a brand that understands its audience and creates content that consumers keep coming back to view time and time again. Pertaining to younger followers all over the world, MrBeast understands his audience and continues to craft content that they will resonate with and share amongst one another. That’s why videos like these generate 35 million views on the burger brand’s TikTok page:
@mrbeastburger should we drop the corn borger?
Happy Dad by NELK Boys
Starting out with prank videos in Canada back in 2010, the NELK Boys are a collective of unhinged YouTubers with a passion for creating product lines. As their channel began to grow, they were quick to be demonetized by YouTube. With no way left to generate revenue from their videos, the collective began creating products to sell to their followers. Starting with their “FULL SEND” clothing brand, they were able to sell millions of products to their cult following worldwide, generating over $120 million in revenue. In an interview with the New York Times, Nelk’s founder Kyle Forgeard said “With our audience, we can build pretty much anything – we could open Full Send gyms. We could do pizza delivery.” The thing is, any product line that NELK has released has flown off the shelves instantaneously these past years. The support from their followers, fans, and community has fueled their success on a global scale.
@nelkboys WE DID IT BOYS ✂️
In 2021, the collective launched a hard seltzer brand Happy Dad that is marketed as a very average-looking drink. The hard seltzer has gained popularity on a global scale and is now stocked in thousands of stores across the country. In a recent podcast, Kyle told comedian Theo Von that the Happy Dad brand by itself (outside of NELK’s other ventures) is worth over $250 million. With some of the largest names in the world joining the NELK podcast talking about business and sharing life experiences, watch as Mark Cuban, Elon Musk, Mike Tyson, Dana White, and more try the Happy Dad Seltzer creator below:
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Inamorata by Emily Ratajkowski
From influencer to entrepreneur, Emily Ratajkowski made a splash with the bikini brand Inamorata. Her founding polka-dot bikini line was so successful, she made the cut for Forbes 30 Under 30. The brand lets fans dive into Emily’s lifestyle by donning her coveted bikinis. Since then, Inamorata has expanded past swimwear to include lingerie, accessories, and apparel. Self-funded and heavily self-marketed, Inamorata content continues to dot the landscape of Emily’s Instagram page.
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Chiara Ferragni by Chiara Ferragni
Milanese influencer-turned-entrepreneur Chiara Ferragni turned her fashion blog The Blond Salad into the fashion brand Chiara Ferragni. The transformation was so profitable it became a case study at Harvard Business School. Her beloved taste in fashion and the power of her voice led to the powerhouse apparel brand she leads today.
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The EverLasting Value Of Brand Ambassadors
As seen from coffee, burgers, alcoholic beverages, fashion, and everything in between – the era of brand ambassadors is only growing stronger. Influencer-led brands are taking the market share over the historically reigning companies that stock shelves worldwide. Working with influencers to integrate them into your social media strategy is easy with Glewee’s end-to-end platform. With over 10,000 industry-leading influencers and creators, Glewee is the go-to platform for incorporating creator marketing into your marketing strategy. To learn more about Glewee, chat with one of our influencer marketing specialists today!
