In recent years we’ve come to think of influencer marketing as polished video content, awkward “hey guys” voiceovers, or pushy product placements that sometimes feel too salesy or inauthentic. But it doesn’t always have to be like this. What if influencer marketing could go beyond the usual #AD and be used in a creative and emotive way to produce something meaningful and genuine?
Today, influencers are using their platform to share personal experiences that engage their communities on a deeper level. Brands are now catching onto this shift in the landscape and collaborating with influencers to develop storytelling content that ‘sells’ a product or service in an authentic and natural way.
Our client, Curlsmith – a haircare brand that prides itself in celebrating natural curls – wanted to collaborate with curly haired TikTok creators to produce content about why they love their curls, and what their natural hair means to them.
The twist? Influencers were told explicitly NOT to feature any product in their content.
This was a bold move from our client, but we ensured there were subtle brand cues with influencers including the Curlsmith handle and hashtag in their caption. Sometimes that’s all you need.
The result? Emotive and engaging storytelling content where influencers shared their love/hate relationship with their curly hair over the years. The content was eye-opening, emotional, relatable, and sometimes hard to watch as we discovered the journey these influencers had been on to finally love their own hair.
Influencers also created a haircare routine featuring just Curlsmith product. Happily, many had already used Curlsmith products and loved how it worked with their hair. Brand advocacy is key to building authentic content that social audiences believe in.
By shifting the focus from product promotion to storytelling, Curlsmith has managed to tap into the power of emotional engagement to generate brand awareness in a unique way, and we can expect to see more of this type of content coming through from brand collaborations moving forward. The content has only been live for a few days but we are already at over 1,600,000 video views and expect to generate many more.