As 2023 starts to wind down to the holiday season, leading global influencer agency, Billion Dollar Boy, is looking ahead to 2024 to uncover the key trends that will dominate the year.
Here, the firm offers comments regarding influencer industry trends and predictions for 2024 from across its teams in the UK and the US:
Ed East, Group CEO and co-founder:
The rise of ‘Creator Led Advertising’: “We will see a rise in brands building broad advertising strategic and creative platforms and campaigns powered by Creators. Creators will appear both in front of and behind the camera with increasing frequency, as well as in the development process.”
Permele Doyle, US President and co-founder:
The rise of social commerce: “Brands will increasingly use creator marketing to test commerce opportunities and drive sales with the launch of TikTok Shop and smaller social commerce platforms and advances in commerce tools across major platforms.”
Thomas Walters, CEO Europe and co-founder:
Business level strategic consultancy: “The highest level of global businesses are looking for advice from experts on how to evolve the structure of their internal marketing teams, processes and systems (including the integration of the best tech and measurement stacks, and generative AI) to get on the front foot of the creator economy and to deal with the ever increasing demand for native brand content.”
Simon Harwood, Global Effectiveness Director:
Retail media x Creator economy integration: “Amazon and retail media giants like Walmart, Target and Walgreens Boots Alliance will fuse their targeting and measurement capabilities with creators, leading to new features including omnichannel purchase tracking and owned site/app integration.”
Alex Williamson, Creative Director, UK:
Competition will drive innovation: “With increased brand investment in the creator economy, competition amongst agencies will rise exponentially, triggering increased innovation and raising standards. Agencies will need to prove their depth of understanding of creators.”
Irving Shark, Head of Companion:
Social platforms to diversify revenue streams: “Beyond advertising, platforms will diversify revenue streams from social commerce and influencer gifting to paying for ad-free scrolling”
Sophie Crowther, Talent Partnerships Director:
Less platform loyalty: “Gone are the days when creators proudly identify as an ‘Instagrammer’ or ‘YouTuber’. As platforms race to provide the best content monetisation opportunities, creators are realising that diversifying platform presence can diversify income streams.”
Kinda Savarino, Senior Designer:
AI integration in creative works: “AI has made a thumb-stopping debut in static imagery this year – giving new creators thousands of followers and appearing in campaigns for Versace and Gucci. Next year, look out for AI integration with moving imagery.”
Charlie Elliott, Strategy Director, UK:
Purpose and product won’t be separated: “Briefs often focus on a purpose or brand identity OR on shifting product. But purchasing anything has an emotional connection: whether its budgets available, the vendor or other considerations. Brands will realise it’s not about purpose OR product, it’s about weighing up the balance instead.”
Christopher Douglas, Senior Strategy Manager, US:
Scaled up community-building tools: “In response to growing pressure for ‘viral content’ and ever-changing algorithms, creators will cement fan relationships through new services and tools inside and outside of platforms – including exclusive livestreams, limited edition merch and closed chat spaces”
About Billion Dollar Boy
Billion Dollar Boy was founded in 2014 by Edward East, Thomas Walters and Permele Doyle, making it among the first global influencer agencies.
Today, BDB has offices in London, Berlin, New York and New Orleans, over 150 employees and $50 million turnover.
Since its inception, BDB has partnered with some of the world’s leading brands – including Heineken, Nintendo, PepsiCo, Primark, Unilever and L’Oreal – connecting them with more than 10,000 vetted content creators and reaching over 10 billion users globally.