In the last few years, the rise of influencer-owned brands has been nothing short of meteoric. With some early success stories of the model making headlines, influencers saw the massive potential their following could yield beyond the standard brand deals they had been earning from. It seems like an easy formula to follow – instead of helping other brands sell out of their special capsule collections emblazoned with your namesake, create your own brand of products and earn significantly more. We’ve seen this with major worldwide brands, including SKIMS by Kim K, Fenty by Rihanna, and even Casamigos Tequila by George Clooney.
The number of new brand launches in the last three years shows this was not an isolated phenomenon; everyone wanted a piece of their own pie. However, for every Kylie Cosmetics or Huda Beauty, tens, if not hundreds, of new brands have struggled to make their dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur a reality. A case in point is Addison Rae, who, despite her massive following of over 38 million on Instagram, faced challenges in successfully launching her beauty line, Item Beauty. Authenticity has become a casualty in the race to gain visibility and keep customers engaged, leaving consumers overwhelmed and skeptical.
Are we at the end of the influencer brands era, or is this just the beginning of a new chapter in brand creation?
The once-novel concept of influencers turning into entrepreneurs is now commonplace, diluting the uniqueness that initially made these brands stand out. Rather than start with an advantage, it can be argued that influencers are now met with immediate skepticism from industry commentators and consumers alike. Intrigue from what was once an innovative approach has evolved into weariness from lazy execution and fast-to-market decisions that result in generic product offerings and thinly veiled brand narratives.
The onus now is on influencer brands to prove skeptics wrong by creating product concepts that cater to emerging market needs, having an authentic brand story, and ensuring product quality is beyond expectation. These three criteria seem obvious to any founder who has navigated launching their own brand but are often overlooked by influencers and their teams who rely solely on their protagonist’s star power and following. The automatic exposure that an influencer has through their organic audience is now simply a privilege, not a prerequisite for success.
In navigating this evolution, influencer brands must strike a delicate balance between authenticity, innovation, and quality. Authentic storytelling remains a crucial component, but it should seamlessly integrate with a commitment to creating products that people need and don’t have access to. This holistic approach helps move the brand quickly from skepticism to belief and ensures that it can remain relevant and resilient in the face of changing consumer preferences. By putting product quality and innovation at the fore, influencer brands can demonstrate that they are serious about creating value in the category and not merely leveraging their influence for profit.
The democratization of manufacturing, along with better access to ecommerce and marketing software, has made it significantly easier for indie brands to launch at a fraction of the cost they would have needed 10 years ago: an ecommerce website can be built using a Shopify template for less than $500 compared to previously hiring an agency for $30,000; create your entire brand for under $5k when it used to cost $25k+; purchase 5k units as an MOQ rather than 50k; the list continues. This evolution means that the brands of tomorrow are not dreamt up in board rooms anymore, nor have they had millions of dollars of R&D invested into them at a corporate headquarters.They come from passionate entrepreneurs who seek something new and better; something that means more to them than just profitability and the bottom line.
Influencer brands
Influencer brands that succeed are the ones that have a founder who truly believes in their company’s mission and fights for its success at every decision. While there will continue to be influencers that damage their own reputation and the reputation of the category as a whole by launching average or subpar products, the most successful indie brands will continue to have a well-known figurehead as part of their story. For as long as there is social media, there will be brands that are owned and represented by the most prominent people on those platforms.
