Influencer’s Influence Back-to-School Marketing

When August rolls around and the crickets start to chirp it is a harbinger for school. And with the start of school comes the need for school supplies. But students don’t care about loose-leaf notebooks, they care about the clothes they’re going to wear. To up sales, apparel brands turned to those their customers turn to too: influencers.

A big trend in back-to-school marketing this year is brands partnering with social media stars. Examples include Hollister teaming up with YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, Hot Topic with Yungblud, and Bunny Jeans with Joshua Garcia. In these ads, the brands forego production value and instead focus on their ambassador. This unorthodox move has reaped benefits. According to Tubular Insights, partnerships with actors, musicians, and YouTubers are paying off. Hollister’s video with Chamberlain has racked up over 950K views.

This is a smooth move for brands. Today’s kids (their core demographic) listen to these influencers, so the brand’s have swayed their audience by featuring stars the same age as their customers.

It’s a one, two punch. Not only are brands being relatable by featuring similarly aged influencers, but the influencers have wallop too. The result: brands are relatable (cool) and relevant (popular). That’s what matters in school.