MARKETING INFLUENCERS
Instagram, her page focuses more on her life in general – with her most recent posts updating followers on the arrival of her first baby. For Sugg, life has clearly moved on.
PHAN FAVOURITE
And then, of course, there was the very public, yet mysterious, ‘disappearance’ of Michelle Phan in 2015. Phan, now also the founder of Em Cosmetics, launched her vlog on YouTube in 2007. But fast forward eight years and the beauty star’s Twitter, Instagram and video channels went silent overnight, leaving her millions of subscribers none the wiser as to what had happened. It was only in 2017, when an unexpected video popped up on Phan’s YouTube page, that answers emerged: she had suffered from burnout.
Speaking to the BBC in September, she said: “It became harder and harder for me to pretend to be happy. And [as a result] I had become toxic with my relationships and friendships. I had my threshold.” Today, Phan continues to put her energy into her Em Cosmetics line, and her now occasional YouTube posts (every month or so) are used primarily to promote her business.
Amy Bryant- Jeffries
In her second most recent post, which was released in July, Phan talked again about her hiatus and said: “You are no longer inspired, you feel jaded unfortunately… I don’t want to say it’s depression but you are just no longer happy. I didn’t feel happy anymore and I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I realised it was because I wasn’t taking care of myself.”
BURR BEYOND YOUTUBE Burr is another early influencer to have
TOP 5 TIPS FOR BRANDS
A single social media post from an influencer has the potential to drive sales sky high. Here Bryant-Jeffries shares her top tips for brands considering a partnership: • Authenticity is key in beauty and other categories; • Influencers should organically use their favourite beauty brands and products within their content with honest reviews;
• Show exactly what the product looks like up close and without filters to gain trust; • Work with talent who are already fans of your products or would be open to trying them before entering into a partnership;
• Offer discount codes or free samples as part of a campaign – it’s proven to increase sales when combined with an authentic partnership.
56 November 2021
waved goodbye to her YouTube days. After announcing her divorce to fellow YouTuber Jim Chapman in 2019, she has stopped posting on the site, despite still having 3.23 million subscribers. Instead, she is focusing on her acting career and beauty brand Authored, which she markets in occasional Instagram posts on her personal account. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine, she said: “I overshared at the beginning [of my online career] without realising the effect it would have, so I really reined it in. I’ve been quite private for a few years now and my audience are used to it, so they don’t expect anything any more.”
THE GLEAM OF PIXIWOO No conversation about beauty influencers would be complete without mentioning Pixiwoo. Born of sister duo Chapman and Chapman Haste, the YouTube channel fast amassed followers, and soon caught the attention of the talent management industry. Gleam Futures, one of the first businesses to focus on representing influencers, launched off the back of Pixiwoo’s success, with the sisters becoming the first talent signed to the agency in
2010. Amy Bryant-Jeffries, Business Director – Talent and Partnerships at Gleam Futures, tells Cosmetics Business: “Gleam’s founder was working on a marketing project with Chanel and identified Pixiwoo as having an engaged community online that could be reached and targeted with content which integrated the brand’s products and messaging. He could see that they would be the exciting talent of the future. At this point, this type of talent weren’t being managed or
represented by any of the big talent agencies, particularly in the UK.” Pixiwoo, which had launched two years prior to linking up with Gleam, was a YouTube hit thanks to the sisters’ make-up artistry skills and, later, partnership with PPI Beauty’s Real Techniques make-up brush brand. But, after nine years, at the end of 2020 the sisters called time on the contract, stepping away from their roles, and today the Pixiwoo YouTube channel no longer exists.
Both sisters have retired from their Pixiwoo days. Chapman Haste has publicly spoken out about her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and treatment, and her personal Instagram feed focuses on raising awareness of the condition.
THE BIGGER PICTURE With nearly all the original influencers featured here, save Cunningham – who was formerly and uniquely a journalist by profession – stepping away from their original positioning in the social media stratosphere, what does that say for the industry and the wellbeing of those within it? Today Gleam represents 57 individuals in the UK and 32 in the US. Bryant-Jeffries explains: “We are constantly reminding our talent of the importance of scheduling in time off, taking weekends and maintaining a working structure. The expectation for them to be constantly ‘on’ and sharing every element of their life can be incredibly taxing on their mental health.”
She adds: “It’s impossible to do everything across every channel and actually, talent don’t need to in order to be successful – they just need to focus on one or two channels, and then if time allows and it makes sense for the brand, voice and strategy then they can broaden this.”
But diversifying is a career strategy that Bryant-Jeffries also recommends and is something Gleam itself has done too through its offshoots: Gleam Titles, Solutions, insight, Studio, Product and Entertainment.
“Influencing in some capacity can be a job for life, but a talent who has started their career with the majority of their income via brand partnerships online can diversify their career so that they aren’t solely reliant on their social media platforms – and actually it’s sensible to do this anyway given the risk of platforms disappearing overnight,” she adds
cosmeticsbusiness.com
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