No edits required / E.l.f. didn’t brief Widger or script the moment. It sent SPF into the middle of the Pacific and trusted the story would take care of itself. That act of unprompted generosity – and restraint – made the response feel genuine. It wasn’t influencer content; it was content that happened to feature an influencer.
Ceding control to creators emerges as an important factor when building emotional connections on social platforms. Three out of five consumers say they are more likely to recommend a brand to others, purchase a product from that brand, or explore other products by that brand when a favoured creator endorses them, according to Deloitte’s The Creator Economy in 3D research.
Creators also expect and demand control, and brands are more likely to get to work with the best talent if they take this approach. ‘One of the core tenets of creator marketing is co-creation, whereby you match them up, you give them the brief, and then they go away, and they produce what they think is relevant and will work on their channel,’ explains Ed East, co-founder of independent influencer agency Billion Dollar Boy, in our How to Work with Influencers & Creators feature.
Quick off the mark / E.l.f’s collaboration was turned around in time to capitalise on the rapid spike of interest in Widger’s voyage, highlighting that speed is crucial to capture a viral trend while it’s still rising.
Ogilvy global head of influence Rahul Titus notes that brands that want to enter these wider conversations through influencers should do so at speed or they’ll miss out – of brands that reactively jump on trends in the influencer space ‘after 48 hours, ROI is down 80%’, he says.
That stat should shape the way brands think about creative approvals, legal sign-off, and trust in their teams. You don’t need a perfectly formed idea – you just need to belong in the moment. You need a good one, quickly executed, that shows the brand is paying attention.
