Fast Food Franchises Embrace Influencer Marketing In a Creator Economy

In today’s thriving social media world, influencers are using their charisma and skills to generate revenue on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Brand ambassadors are making the most of this “creator economy” by pitching products or services to these influencers, who then incorporate these brands into their lifestyle or routines for an online audience. 

More recently, fast-food franchises have seen the impact that the creator economy has over brand awareness, brand loyalty and consumer desires. As a result, they have decided to join the frenzy.

The Size of The Creator Industry

When considering individuals who are part of the creator economy, it is an industry that is growing rapidly. With over 200 million professional content creators and nearly half of them creating content full-time, the creator economy is absolutely booming. Even as a part-time gig, content creation has the potential to be very lucrative: only 10% of creators make over $100K annually, but 48% earn at least 10K annually. 

With the creator economy generating such high streams of revenue and capturing so much of the general public’s attention, it is only natural that influencer marketing would follow as a major trend for big brands. In fact, social media content is more effective at selling goods and services than traditional means of advertising, with 80% of consumers having purchased products in direct response to seeing them on a social media platform. 

In addition, 37% of consumers place more trust in influencers than in the brands themselves. Content creators have tapped into this, with the highest earning potential in the content economy stemming from brand deals. 

So if consumers are more likely to trust influencers, how can brands compete? They can both join forces with the trustworthy personalities and mimic the content that consumers trust. 

Fast Food Brands Lean Into The Creator Economy

Fast-food brands have started generating content that engages and involves their customer base, creating more of a “creator” over “brand” feel to the content. They have done this by creating trends to be followed, hashtags for sharing contributions and inviting popular voices online to collaborate. It’s as though brands are becoming online personalities in and of themselves. 

Some brands have publicly acknowledged that effective social media marketing does not only involve including influencers, but including all consumers. At the Texas Restaurant Association Show, Big Chicken CEO Josh Halpern acknowledged the brand’s efforts to collaborate with consumers.

“I think in five years, our consumers are going to be curating our brands more than they are today,” he said. “Younger generations, they’re asking different questions, they want to be a part of the decision-making process. They’re making a conscious decision to attach their personal brand to our brands. It’s a collaboration now.”

This engagement has been an incredibly effective marketing technique. In 2019, Chipotle challenged its social media following to take on the #ChipotleLidFlip challenge, where consumers attempted to flip the packaging they received with their Chipotle food. The hashtag garnered 328M views. 

Celebrity and Influencer Endorsements

Fast food brands have been seeking celebrity endorsements for years, so this is nothing new. In 2021, Tim Hortons collaborated with Justin Beiber, resulting in the launch of Timbeibs, a limited-time donut hole product that boosted sales by 10%.

The transition from red carpet A-listers to influencers makes sense. What are influencers if not celebrities? People follow their lives, become major fans and are influenced by their choices.

Seeing the success in engaging with social media followers from its aforementioned #ChipotleLidFlip challenge, the brand partnered with TikToker Loren Gray, who currently has 54.1 million followers, to promote yet another challenge in the form of a dance-off. The influencer’s video regarding the challenge received 709K likes and over 5K comments.

She has loyally promoted the brand since, publicly receiving PR gifts in return.

Similarly, in 2020 Dunkin’ teamed up with well-known TikToker Charli D’Amelio to create a signature drink: a cold brew coffee with whole milk and three pumps of caramel swirl. The launch of the drink resulted in a 57% surge in daily app downloads of the Dunkin’ app and a 45% increase in cold brew sales the day following the drink’s debut.

She, too, has continued a mutually beneficial partnership with the brand, promoting its products on her feed.

The Creator Economy Is Where It’s At

No matter how you spin it, the creator economy is generating lucrative streams of revenue for individuals and brands. Fast-food franchises have wisened up to this fact and embraced influencer marketing with attempts to engage followers with their own content and collaboration with other content creators. Who will be the next content creator to collaborate with one of the industry giants, and how do you think this will impact the brand’s success?