Sky Glass announced its arrival in 2021 by hijacking the Instagram feeds of the UK population. Melanie Kentish – Sky’s then influencer director – unleashed more than 200 lifestyle creators from Amelia Liana to Paula Sutton, who all posted simultaneously about the media behemoth’s new endeavour with exactly the same image, sending a wave across the social network. It was a masterclass in marketing – for the time.
In an interview with CORQ the following year (here), Kentish ruefully noted that perhaps this was a career highlight not to be repeated. After all, the entire point of creators is their personal relationship with their audiences and so prescriptive advertising shouldn’t resonate. The Sky Glass campaign had huge impact due to the sheer volume of the broadcast. As we slip into 2025, should we be focussing less on quantity and more on creativity?
There has been much untangling of the clash between organic and commercial content on social platforms. Creators are slowly but increasingly labelling advertising correctly but there is a tension, creatively, between being able to show your ravening audience what is hot/new/relevant and brands using creator channels to advertise as if they are commercial television or a magazine.
You may also like
Many creators I speak to in the course of my work loathe the Advertising Standard Authority’s mandatory “ad” labels because they feel punished by the algorithms (which prioritise “organic” content) and, then – when their numbers go down – the brands. Creators from Kat Farmer to Elizabeth Day hide the likes on their paid content. Of course, it is imperative consumers know if someone has been paid to say something is good. However, beyond that direct transaction, there are nuances. Is it also relevant that the consumer knows the difference between a creator being sent something and genuinely liking it, and being paid to talk about it?
Not only that but so much feels artificial, particularly at this time of year. I recently talked to Fran Bacon who despaired at brands wanting her to fake party backdrops to promote their festive clothes. She said: “Quite often I’ll get asked to create a big ad that I know won’t go down very well. I’m able to say: ‘You know what? This is not really my kind of thing. I’m not going to be with my friends, with my family, with my kids, in a party atmosphere creating this big illusion when I’m not in that moment, because to me, that’s a lie.”
This all throws up interesting points about how brands should work with creators going forward to make clickable, sticky content that defies ad labels. I am not going to say that the answer is “authenticity” because it’s an alarmingly-overused word. Instead, how about “commissioning”? In the previous decade I was features editor of the Evening Standard newspaper, and before that a commissioning editor on its magazine, ES.
There, when we had stories to tell, we “commissioned’ a writer from a roster of freelancers and staff, specifically chosen for their take or their area of expertise. Sure, we had a headline idea of what we wanted to highlight but after that it was up to the writer to deliver content in their own words. There was always a diverse pool of writers to draw from, and the writers often reflected the interests of the publication’s readership – but not always. Sometimes we played it safe and asked fashion writers to write about fashion. Other times we asked historians. Our comment editor was also a wine expert and our lifestyle editor developed a tech niche and, as a result, now works for Apple. Sometimes a commission triggers something magical and unexpected, such as the intern who wrote movingly about her depression and is now writing for everyone from Amelia Dimoldenberg and Frankie Boyle.
@marcjacobs Fun fact💡@Slopsta
All this is to say that one of the most engaged ads in October (for the full report see here) was a partnership between Em Clarkson and Huel. Clarkson has been vocal about the terrible hyper gravidarum (HG) she has suffered during her second pregnancy. She posted about her new partnership with the nutrition brand, here, with an extended caption, saying: “Come spend a better day with me!! ad. And an exciting one because this reel has been SPONSORED by the brand that has genuinely got me through this really tough pregnancy, and that’s @huel. If ever there was a hard earned organic partnership, this was it”.
The video follows the “Come spend…” format but is an honest portrayal of the difficulties that Clarkson has faced as well as how Huel has helped her keep her nutrition up. Everything is delivered in Clarkson’s distinctive style, there is no brand messaging in sight, and real transparency. Huel has previously positioned itself in the fitness firmament, and while Clarkson is a runner, she is in no state to run. Commissioning Clarkson at exactly this point in her pregnancy and struggle, was inspired. The brand and creator have been rewarded with 223K views, as well as a loyalty and value piece for the audience that is surely worth even more.
Another commission that seems to have been deliciously free-wheeling is that of Stacey Duguid and Cefinn. Cefinn is a clothing brand founded by Samantha Cameron. Duguid is a former fashion editor who has been extremely vocal about her issues with mental health, menopause and, erm, men. Cefinn invited Duguid to a dinner and she made a Reel, here, showcasing three options of one suit to wear. The video is scrappy and Duguid is untidy. She talks about sizing up and her own crises of confidence while asking her audience to vote on the colourway. Within hours, over 1,000 people had cast their preference. Letting Duguid simply do her thing resulted in solid and unexpected attention for the brand.
Elsewhere, the oft-discussed success of Marc Jacobs’ TikTok is predicated on the idea that the social media team find creators whose chaos the internet enjoys and commission them to produce content for the brand’s page – the essence being that it is the creator’s take on their product the audience is coming to see. Some of it falls under the umbrella of unhinged marketing but the reason it is so notable is because it’s about the influencer creating content for the brand, not the brand creating content for the influencer to parrot. Will social success next year be about the individual creator-take, rather than mass marketing scripts? Will brands gain traction by casting their nets out wide, trusting in the relationship between creator and audience and allow themselves to be talked about when they are out of the room? 2025: Commission accomplished?
By Emilie McMeekan, features director for CORQ.
Molly-Mae Hague’s shift from being labelled an “influencer” signifies a turning point in the industry