4 Influencer Collaborations that Work & Why: October 2021 I Traackr

Learn From These 4 Influencer Collaborations

In this breakdown of influencer collaborations, we focus on hair care brands and analyze why these interesting and successful collaborations work. 

• Brands featured: GHD, Redken, Aveda, and Head & Shoulders.
• Key learnings: Brief on the value of a product not its attributes, build trust by bringing creators into your brand, and don’t forget the value in creating strong brand advocates. 

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GHD

Best influencer collaboration: Chlöe Swift (@chloeswiftstylist)

• Educational Content 
• Long Term Partnership 
• Elevating Brand Advocates

What makes it work?

• Invest in advocates and educators: Marketers have long coveted VIP influencers for their large audiences (5M+), assuming that they can achieve more than lesser-known influencers. Data backs this up — we often see VIP influencers contribute more to a brand’s VIT score due to their high visibility (reach) and impact (engagement). However, it’s not always possible to leverage VIP creators when considering budget or oversaturation of offers. GHD solved this challenge by turning micro and mid-tier influencers into brand advocates and educators. Chlöe Swift is a perfect example of a creator who is providing great value to GHD’s influencer programs. Although considered a micro to mid-tier influencer, Chlöe provides a strong loyalty score because she uses her Instagram and TikTok to promote her being a GHD hair educator – creating tutorial hair content while using only GHD products. 

“It’s about the repetition. When followers see your brand multiple times, it shows a genuine connection rather than a transactional ‘pay to play’ program.” Firdaous El Honsali, senior director of global communications, purpose and sustainability at Dove.

• Pro Tip: Find influencers who create unique content for each platform. Try to avoid influencers who “parachute,” or share the same content, across their Instagram and TikTok pages. A great example of this is Amy Chang in her collaboration with SK-II. 

Redken

Best influencer collaboration: Daniella Perkins (@daniellaperkins)

• Social Proof
• Value-Based Storytelling

What makes it work?

• Concentrating on the bond: Briefing creators is a delicate art. If you’re too specific in your brief, you may stifle the influencer’s creativity and voice. If you’re too vague, there might be a miscommunication about expectations or goals. To find the right balance, it’s important to avoid giving specific creative direction and instead give your partner talking points – what is the product and its benefits, and why should the customer care? Redken’s partnership with Daniella is a perfect example of this strategy in play. In Daniella’s TikTok video, we see her share why she uses Redken’s acidic bonding concentrate products, how simple the 3-step hair care routine is, and the results – all in one minute. The clear messaging and social proof clearly resonated with her audience as she earned a 26.8% engagement rate for the TikTok video and garnered 6.06K VIT for the brand. 
• Walk the talk: We also love this collaboration because it’s part of Redken’s push to reach more diverse audiences. The brand claims that its acidic bonding concentrate products work for all hair types. To prove that, they partnered with creators with all different hair types including Daniella, Aisha and Azara (@miantwins), and Bethony Fosbery (@bethanyfosbery). Invest in creators who can provide that credibility to those types of claims. 

Pro Tip: In this information age and marketing to digitally native consumers, you need to provide the value of the product (the expected results or benefits) first versus the product attributes or ingredients. Gen Z is smart and digitally savvy. Get them interested with a great story, and they’ll do the research!   

Aveda

Best influencer collaboration: Ava J Lee (@glowwithava)*

• Educational Content 
• Translating Trends

What makes it work? 

• Extending the power of skinfluence: Recently, there’s been a lot of content talking about the notion of “skincare for your scalp”. The data checks out with engagements mentioning scalp care rising 38% and video views increasing by 123%**. Creator Ava J Lee is a skinfluencer who has gained traction for popularizing #JELLOSKIN. In her collaboration with Aveda, she highlights her scalp care journey and why she is focusing on her scalp health. Skinfluencers have been known for their value-based storytelling and it’s exciting to see their educational content translate into the hair care space.   

*Insight: According to the data, Ava might be a rising beauty influencer! Our research shows that her audience size increased by 9%, and her engagements have also gone up by nearly 4% since August. It appears that brands are taking notice – she’s done a lot of great partnerships, including one with Chanel Beauty that we highlighted in our July collabs post.

Head & Shoulders

Best influencer collaboration: Alexia Del Valle (@lexdelvalle)

• Quality Content 
• Great TikTok Activation

What makes it work? 

• Treating the roots with new style: Head & Shoulders might be known for its dandruff-fighting hair care products, but it’s bringing a fresh style to its influencer collaborations. In promoting it’s new supreme edition, Head & Shoulders partnered with Alexia Del Valle on one of her POV videos of fun, single aunt and brought an authentic perspective to the new scalp scrub. Head & Shoulders has been thought of as a product for older, less savvy folks. By partnering with Alexia, Head & Shoulders now seems like a product for people that are fun, young, and simply want to address a common scalp issue. Keep the creator’s who can highlight your products and not make them seem like an ad. This single video earned a 32.5% engagement rate and over 420K engagements!

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**Data analyzed was pulled from a sample of 42,605 influencers located in the United States, Canada and Europe, and growth percentages compare October 2019-September 2020 vs October 2020 – September 2021 in order to get a year-to-date comparison.