THE CHANGING FACE OF INFLUENCE (part 3)
The outdated spokesmodel era is a thing of the past. And celebrities have flipped the model, here. Why be paid a seven-to-eight-figure deal when one can create their own line and eventually flip it for much more? Case-in-point: Hailey Bieber’s Rhode was acquired by e.l.f. Beauty in May, 2025. That pretty sum made sense because of the influence that Bieber has via her community — a whopping 55.7 million followers on Instagram, alone. The importance of the content creator — and their built-in consumer — is not lost here.
THE CHANGING FACE OF INFLUENCE (part 2)
Remember the campaign hero film? A familiar artifact of a monocultural era when entire marketing budgets, production timelines, brainstorm sessions, and awards entries revolved around a 30 second film. Except they’re not exactly extinct — campaign hero films are alive and well, and continue to anchor many Tease / Launch / Sustain rollouts.
And yet, the world that made the hero film and the campaign rollout effective doesn’t really exist anymore.
The Rise of Brand Worlds Part 2
You don’t need a massive budget, a cinematic crew, or a celebrity cameo. What you do need is clarity on your brand’s tone, personality, and the emotional space you want to occupy with your audience. Building a brand world isn’t about producing more content; it’s about creating the right kind of content, with consistency and intention.
The Rise of Brand Worlds
More and more, social platforms and audiences are rewarding originality and brand storytelling over reactivity. The brands winning in this shift are creating something ownable. They’re creating distinct, visual brand worlds, which means cohesive ecosystems with recurring characters, a consistent tone, and a strong point of view.