Influencer Marketing
Express Fall Ad Campaign Pays Tribute to Y2K Trend, Blending Fashion and Music
Express unveiled its fall campaign "Too Easy to Look This Good," inspired by Tinashe's single "Too Easy," and featuring NFL player Tee Higgins, shot in a music video style at the Goldstein House in Los Angeles. The campaign aims to revitalize brand buzz through the fusion of fashion, music, and sports, while paying tribute to the Y2K era.
Campaign Trail: Journeys Breaks Back-to-School Marketing Conventions with Absurd Creativity
Journeys, in partnership with Anomaly, launches a new back-to-school campaign that interprets the brand proposition of 'living loudly' through absurd, musical visual language, aiming to attract Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers.
Coffee Mate Kicks Off Summer Romance Season with Social-First Marketing
Nestlé-owned brand Coffee Mate has launched a summer marketing campaign centered on social platforms, featuring reality TV star Carl Radke in a series of content to promote its limited-edition Situation-Sip mixed fruit-flavored creamers. The campaign leverages Instagram interactions and limited-time free giveaways to strengthen the brand's beverage applications beyond coffee, while capitalizing on the dirty soda consumption trend.
NBA players to work directly with brands through new union branch
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has launched a consumer-facing commercial brand, Plyrs Untd, to manage NBA players' name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. The organization will collectively leverage player influence to collaborate with brands on fan experiences, licensing opportunities, merchandise, content, investments, and player-brand co-branded projects, and plans to open a Plyrs Untd high-performance center in Los Angeles this summer. Plyrs Untd effectively replaces the NBPA's previous B2B division, Think450.
American Eagle shifts marketing focus to performance-oriented amid sales decline
American Eagle Outfitters' namesake brand is adjusting its marketing strategy to be more performance-oriented after comparable sales fell 2% year-over-year in the quarter. Sister brand Aerie grew 25% during the same period. The company plans to increase investment in digital media, performance marketing, and influencers in the second half of the year, and has launched a new creator community program.
Unilever Creator Marketing Strategy Takes Center Stage at the World Cup
Unilever has announced the launch of its largest sports partnership activation to date for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Led by its personal care category, more than 35 brands under its umbrella will collaborate with influencers and content creators in key markets, amplifying tournament highlights through the real-time social content hub "Locker Room" on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. Additionally, the company will set up offline experience spaces called "House of Fresh" in host cities across North America, including Mexico City, New York, and Miami, designed to encourage social sharing. This move continues Unilever's commitment to shifting half of its digital marketing budget toward a social-first strategy and is seen as a key stage for testing the effectiveness of this approach.
CeraVe Launches Social-First Campaign Leveraging Basketball Legend 'Hoodie Melo' Era
CeraVe has collaborated with NBA Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony to launch the 'Head Coach' social-first campaign promoting its dandruff product line. The campaign revolves around Anthony's famous 'Hoodie Melo' era, generating buzz through teaser tactics such as street interviews and player outfit showcases, culminating in a main video announcing Anthony as the brand's 'head coach.' Led by WPP Onefluence and spearheaded by Ogilvy PR, the campaign aims to drive scalp health discussions through diverse cultural touchpoints.
Target's Digital Business Leader Details Creator Program Restructuring: Dual-Track Approach to Navigate Social Commerce Shifts
In a high-stakes turnaround plan led by CEO Michael Fiddelke, Target is pressing the 'reset button' on its creator strategy. Chief Digital and Revenue Officer Sarah Travis told Marketing Dive that the company has terminated its 2023 affiliate creator program, replacing it with a dual-track approach: LTK-powered Target Ambassadors (launched May 1) and Club Target for small and mid-sized creators (ending its pilot this week). The move aims to address challenges from the rise of social commerce platforms like TikTok Shop and the company's consecutive sales declines. Travis emphasized that Target is mentioned in user-generated content over 50,000 times daily and is the most-followed warehouse retailer on TikTok, calling social commerce 'one of the biggest shifts in retail in a generation.'
DoorDash Mother's Day Marketing: Honoring 'Modern Moms' with Group Chats and Memes
DoorDash launched a multi-channel advertising campaign ahead of Mother's Day on May 10, including spoof reality show content of 'Real Moms in Group Chats' and animated meme ads, and partnered with brands like Ulta Beauty to offer discounts. The campaign spans Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, aiming to convey the emotional value of a supportive community among moms.
How Nestlé Scales Creator Content into Brand-Compliant Ads
As marketing budgets continue to flow into the creator economy, Nestlé is integrating CreatorIQ and CreativeX platforms to establish a more rigorous process for converting creator content into ads across its thousands of products. The integration uses AI to score creator-submitted content for brand suitability, ensuring quality control before media placement, aiming to improve efficiency, reduce risk, and accelerate production cycles.