It's always useful to learn from others' success, especially when it comes to marketing. This roundup of stellar influencer marketing campaign examples showcases how impactful creator content can be for brands when done correctly.
Learn how brands across industries are using influencer marketing campaigns to drive results—and how you can do the same with Later Influence. With the right tools, your brand can turn social media into successful conversions. Book a free demo today.
Table of Contents
What is an influencer marketing campaign?
An influencer marketing campaign is an advertising approach that leverages social media content creators to boost brand awareness, engagement, and conversions.
Influencer marketing campaigns can be:
Gifting and Giveaways
This is when brands send free products to influencers and encourage them to share their experience and feedback on their social media account. It's a great way to drive natural, authentic engagement and build trust with consumers.
Sponsored Posts
For these posts, brands pay influencers to create content highlighting their products, services, or brand. Creators have to clearly disclose these posts are advertisements.
Events or Takeovers
Sometimes influencers will host or attend events on behalf of a brand. For takeovers, the influencer actually "takes over" the brand's accounts for a short period.
Ambassador
Brand ambassadors take influencer marketing campaigns a step further by being part of long-term partnerships. They essentially become a spokesperson for the brand.
Collaborations
These campaigns typically leverage an influencer's creativity, delivering a product or service designed by the creator. These are usually special-edition or limited-time items.
Contests and Challenges
Influencers can also run contests or challenges to increase engagement. This might involve a raffle of some sort or a challenge that encourages viewers to post their own relevant content.
10+ influencer marketing campaign examples that worked
From yogurt brands to sports clothing to mouthwatering cookies, brands in every industry can benefit from influencer marketing campaigns.
Every campaign has its unique elements, but they all share a core goal: to use social media to boost the brand. From impressions to profits, the best campaigns offer quantifiable results that showcase what can happen when you use creators wisely. Read about 11 influencer marketing strategies and case studies.
1. How a heritage toy brand's Instagram campaign earned a MUSE Creative Award
The iconic American Girl brand wanted to raise awareness for their Cultural Celebrations Collection, so they came to Later to utilize the best social media platform available. The campaign was so successful that this case study won the 2023 MUSE Creative Award, earning Silver in the Branded Content: Influencer Marketing category.
A top-of-the-funnel campaign on Instagram for American Girl's 2021 Cultural Celebrations collection was created to drive traffic to the AG website and promote this unique and inclusive collection. By leveraging influencers and utilizing effective hashtags like #AGCulturalCelebrations and #MyAmericanGirl, the brand successfully increased engagement and sales.
When looking for influencers, American Girl knew that selecting diverse creators who understood cultural sensitivity was crucial. They searched for mothers of young girls who celebrated Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa.
To maintain authenticity, the Later team collected information on potential influencers, asking about their families and real-life connection to various holidays. The team went the extra mile to ensure all content was appropriate and respectful of each culture.
When considering creators, the Later team assessed aesthetic, followers, and engagement rate. They looked for creators with high rates of likes, comments, and shares. And they selected influencers who had an aesthetic that aligned with the AG brand identity.
In the end, 20 influencers created evergreen, relevant content that the brand could reuse for many holiday seasons to come. The 123 pieces of content generated 360,000 impressions and 27,000 engagements at a 7.5% engagement rate.
This campaign was successful because it prioritized authenticity and aesthetics, creating content that could directly engage AG's target audience.
2. A sports-focused influencer marketing campaign that drove 353K+ engagements
Champs Sports far exceeded campaign goals when they partnered with Later to activate athlete influencers on TikTok and Instagram. This top-of-the-funnel campaign helped Champs transition into a name, image, and likeness (NIL) program, leveraging lifestyle influencers.
The challenging campaign faced many obstacles. Ultimately, Later was able to make it a smashing success, starting with the "Weekend Warriors" content.
"Weekend Warriors" focused on a specific persona type: individuals with an active, busy, and dynamic lifestyle, particularly student-athletes within the millennial demographic. The Later team prioritized influencers with higher engagement rates and athletic or active-focused content. They sourced creators who could deliver authentic sports-specific influencer-generated content.
The campaign was eventually split into four projects:
Champs Sports x Pembroke Pines, which focused on TikTok, Reels, and Instagram Stories
Champs Sports x Crocs, which focused on TikTok, Reels, Instagram Stories, and Instagram feed posts
Champs Sports x Legends, which focused on Reels and high-res images
Champs Sports x Converse, which focused on high-res images and Reels
For all of these, Later used influencers with high-quality content, often created by professional photographers or videographers. The four campaigns together activated 24 influencers to create a total of 91 posts, collecting 3 million impressions and 353,100 engagements with an average engagement rate of 11.8%. The results smashed expected benchmarks, generating impressive profits for the sports brand.
Thanks to the focus on high-quality, niche-focused content, the campaign reached Champs' exact target demographic, proving the importance of finding relevant influencers.
3. When Chobani tapped Twitch gamers to promote oat milk and drive donations
The popular yogurt brand Chobani used Later's platform and expertise to create a successful top-of-the-funnel campaign on Twitch. The company developed a clever custom Roblox game for its oat milk campaign and wanted to promote it using influencers with gamer audiences. The campaign goals were to encourage gamers to play the Roblox game, use influencers to bolster its "Oatmilk Everywhere" campaign, and drive donations for Hunger Free America.
Chobani is a company of yogurt experts, not Twitch experts, so they partnered with Later for help. To build awareness of the game and products, activated streamers created a live demo of the game while subtly mentioning oatmilk, incorporating 20-30 minutes of integrated advertising.
Later created a profile for the ideal Twitch streamer for this campaign: a minimum of 1 million followers, a comparable fan base on Instagram and Twitter, experience playing Roblox, and a full-time professional streaming setup.
This was Chobani's first time using Twitch for an influencer marketing campaign. They relied heavily on Later to find the best creators and ensure each one conveyed the right message and checked off all the campaign's boxes. Streamers submitted scripts for approval before going live and were encouraged to post about Chobani's oatmilk on Instagram and Twitter.
The results were thrilling. The Twitch campaign gained a total of 7 million impressions, 80,000 stream views, 101,300 engagements, and 16,700 unique chat messages.
The campaign's success can be attributed to the detail-oriented strategy, giving the Twitch streamers clear briefs so each streamer met the high-engagement criteria.
4. How a beauty influencer marketing campaign generated 3M impressions and created an online community
The COSMEDIX Crowd program was a top-of-the-funnel campaign aiming to create an online community for this beauty brand. It was a great success, earning a Shorty Award in the "Best in Beauty" category.
Rather than hone in on one persona type, COSMEDIX wanted to embrace a variety of influencer types to promote an inclusive and diverse identity. The brand used Later's tools to recruit micro-influencers, brand advocates, and members with organic reviews.
All creators were given valuable insights about key products and categories and encouraged to create review content. These reviews were then featured on the brand's website, linking out to product pages to encourage purchases.
In the end, the influencer program spurred a 527% return on investment from review and activation purchases, 34,000 engagements, and a whopping 3 million impressions. This campaign not only increased brand awareness and conversions but created a new, personalized consumer experience. It integrated the many dimensions of influencer marketing and social proof.
COSMEDIX was able to build a deep and lasting trust with consumers because the positive sentiments weren't simply coming from one type of influencer. Creating a digital community was an effective strategy for generating top-notch social proof that continues to elevate the brand.
5. A dessert brand's clever content strategy that earned $1.2M in EMV by redefining holiday gifting
Crumbl, a modern cookie and dessert brand, collaborated with Later to develop a top-of-the-funnel campaign across TikTok and Instagram. Crumbl aimed to amp up awareness and sales during the holiday season, transforming a traditionally slow sales period into a festive success. This is one of the best influencer marketing campaign examples for brands looking to boost engagement during a specific period.
The campaign positioned Crumbl desserts not only as an indulgent treat to satisfy a sweet tooth but as a thoughtful, cozy present for loved ones. Together, Crumbl and Later turned the tasty desserts into the ultimate holiday gift.
To reach far and land on the radar of many different consumers, the brand selected five influencers across diverse TikTok niches, including dance enthusiasts, fashion influencers, family-focused creators, and even a previous "The Bachelor" contestant. Every influencer brought a distinct perspective to the campaign.
“We knew TikTok was the right platform to expand our audience, but we needed the right creators to make it happen. With Later's help, we connected with new customer segments, from Bachelor fans to dance lovers.” -Nicole Mackelprang, Director of Paid Media, Crumbl
Each piece of content was submitted to the brand for approval, ensuring every post met Crumbl’s brand standards and aligned with its identity and goals. It didn’t take long for the campaign to gain traction, capturing the attention of millions of social media users.
To capitalize on this success, Crumbl decided to incorporate the content into their paid advertising campaigns. This amplified awareness and engagement by almost 100%.
The earned media value (EMV) of this campaign ultimately totaled $1.2 million, transforming Crumbl into a go-to destination for holiday gifting. With just five influencers and 17 pieces of content, the campaign drove 39.7 million impressions and 175,500 engagements.
Crumbl was smart to push this campaign into multiple niches, reaching a broader audience than if they’d relied on just one type of influencer persona. Capitalizing on engagement through paid advertising campaigns was a stroke of genius.
6. How a Super Bowl weekend campaign for burgers cooked up 10.5M impressions
Working with Later, Habit Burger & Grill created a high-energy influencer marketing campaign that converted casual customers into loyal fans during America’s biggest ad weekend. The brand aimed to increase engagement during the Super Bowl and achieved this by featuring creators with burgers in hand.
The campaign was known as “Operation: Find the #1 Burger Fan.” Creators took the lead, hitting the ground to create conversions online and offline, while growing awareness.
“We didn’t just want to show up—we wanted to be part of the weekend. The creators made that happen.” - Jack Lettenmair, Director of Brand & Product, Habit Burger & Grill
They teamed up with six creators on TikTok and Instagram popular for their fast-paced, street-style content. These influencers traveled around New Orleans to find the ultimate burger enthusiasts, serving Double Charburgers at VIP events, including the exclusive Sports Illustrated Party.
Later and Habit were able to bring this campaign to life in mere days leading up to the kickoff. With such an intense sprint, everyone had to be quick and clear with what needed to happen. The result was a seamless campaign that garnered 10.5 million impressions and 186,000 engagements. And that’s just from six influencers and 44 posts.
The campaign was a hit for Habit because it positioned the brand at the center of a major cultural moment, ramping up brand awareness by using the right people in the right place at the right time.
7. What JanSport did to connect with and uplift Gen Z during virtual school days
JanSport cleverly created an influencer marketing campaign all about having their customers’ backs—because they’re a backpack brand. The goal of this top-of-the-funnel project was to highlight JanSport’s social good and increase brand awareness among the target Gen Z audience.
This campaign launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and aimed to reach high schoolers stuck at home and taking high school classes in digital form. The brand caught their attention via the #UnpackThatChallenge, a social awareness campaign for the displaced students that promoted a hopeful message about adjusting to the new, weird normal.
JanSport activated a variety of influencers to show off their new home workspaces in TikTok videos. The campaign opted to use narrative creators and asked them to grab a backpack from out of frame, get ready to leave for school, and then remember classes are now online, so there’s nowhere to go. Then they would showcase their current, at-home workstations as they unpacked their bags.
As a cheeky end to each video, the creators passed the backpacks off-screen to the left, connecting one video to the next for duet-style posts. To add to the hopeful and uplifting vibe of the campaign, JanSport agreed to donate as many as 10,000 backpacks full of supplies to the World Central Kitchen for each video created in this format and featuring the relevant hashtag.
This influencer marketing campaign generated 1.3 million impressions and 145,000 engagements at an incredible average engagement rate of 42.4%. This campaign was a resounding success in terms of engagement because it invited consumers to participate in the trend and help one another feel better about a challenging situation.
8. How this influencer campaign example with 150+ posts reached parents and promoted STEAM products
KiwiCo worked with Later to create a top-of-the-funnel campaign on TikTok and Instagram. The goal was to raise awareness for their sensational products, which are engaging hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) projects and activities designed to spark curiosity and creativity.
While the brand had leveraged influencer marketing campaigns before, they worked with Later to scale their program.
“We needed something easy to implement and manage, and that also wasn't a huge strain on our resources and costs — and Later Influence did just that.” -Jonathan Fukuhara, Associate Director of Marketing, KiwiCo
This particular campaign promoted the KiwiCo Panda Crate line, designed for 0-36-month-old children. To drive more awareness and conversions toward this product collection, they aimed to work with creators who accurately represented their target audience. This included mothers with newborns and toddlers as well as expecting mothers.
The Later team got to work searching for the perfect influencers across Meta and TikTok, platforms where KiwiCo had had a lot of success in the past. The emphasis was on finding authentic creators who could deliver reusable content. Rather than give creators a script, KiwiCo wanted them to create organic content that highlighted the brand's products.
Later helped KiwiCo create a roster of "champion creators" who shared user-generated content (UGC) that matched the brand's fun and real identity. With 40 influencers and over 150 posts, KiwiCo successfully increased awareness and engagement through thoughtful content. This campaign worked because it focused on authenticity and evergreen content that can help the brand boost engagement for years to come.
9. A home decor influencer marketing campaign that leveraged their aesthetic to gain 8M+ viewers
MacKenzie-Childs worked with Later on a top-of-the-funnel campaign that showcased their beautiful home decor and furnishings. The brand wanted to incorporate paid media into its influencer marketing campaigns. They had clear campaign goals, including new customer acquisition and website traffic, as well as low cost per acquisition and a positive return on ad spending.
They wanted to take an allow-listing approach, a process wherein brands obtain permission from creators to curate and run paid ads on their behalf. It's a common method with Facebook Ads Manager.
This was MacKenzie-Childs's first time experimenting with an allow-listing strategy, so they relied on Later to test content and learn from what was and wasn't working. The holiday season was the perfect time to play with allow-listing and see what it could do for the brand.
By providing micro-influencers and macro-influencers with products, cash payments, and gifts, they were able to create a top-quality list of creators they wanted to work with. The target audience was a subset of adult women in the United States who shopped for comfortable, quality, stylish home decor more than 20 times per year. This was the primary focus when selecting influencers from TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram to partner with.
Creators were asked to explore the magic and artistry of MacKenzie-Childs's seasonal products, highlighting what makes them one-of-a-kind. Influencers showcased how they added products to their homes for holiday decorating and entertaining. And to bolster new customer acquisition, the influencers had a 20% off promo code to share alongside their content.
The campaign ultimately reached over 8 million viewers, garnering 566,300 impressions, 20,600 engagements, and 528 link clicks. A crucial key to the success of this campaign was selecting the right influencers and giving them the necessary tools (such as products and promo codes) to entice new customers to convert.
10. How a wholesome influencer marketing campaign for gum drove 1.7M impressions
The well-known gum brand Trident turned to Later to curate an impeccable top-of-the-funnel campaign for TikTok and Instagram. This is one of the best influencer campaigns because it demonstrates the effectiveness of both micro- and macro-influencers.
The goal was to drive impressions and clicks to the online 7-Eleven Store Locator and Trident Pocket Packs purchases. They also wanted to highlight an exclusive 7Rewards app offer: Buy two Trident Pocket Pack products and receive $1 off.
A thoughtful influencer campaign strategy was essential here, so Trident worked with Later to find the best creators for the job. The ideal influencers embodied an on-the-go lifestyle creator vibe and had family-friendly accounts that could appeal to a variety of ages.
Later found micro- and macro-influencers who fit the profile and authentically represented this niche interest, providing the ideal social proof model. The team of experts handled initial outreach, influencer applications, negotiations with influencers, draft reviews, reshoots when necessary, and the campaign's paid social amplification strategy.
By engaging with numerous influencers, the brand garnered 1.7 million impressions and 117,400 engagements, resulting in an average engagement rate of 7.7%. And that was just from 70 pieces of content. The campaign was a success partly due to Later's strategic negotiations, which allowed Trident to work with a diverse range of influencers to get the message out and increase awareness.
11. An influencer marketing campaign example for making pizza rolls go viral
Totino's activated TikTok creators to reach Gen-Z gamers, creating a successful and unique campaign with Later by their side. This top-of-the-funnel campaign aimed to supplement the frozen food maker's existing in-house content with more variety from TikTok content creators.
They wanted to increase reach and relevance within the gaming community, mainly targeting Gen Z gamers. The goal was to make Totino's products "the official snack of gaming and good times." They narrowed down their target audience to young people (primarily males) between the ages of 15 and 17. This led to a focus on comedy and gaming influencers on TikTok.
Later, I went looking for creators who were authentically funny to create content that stood out in the heavily saturated gaming content landscape. They found people with fresh, feisty content ideas that would cut through the competition and noise. They could flex their creative chops without strict limitations.
The result was a wide range of hilarious and irresistible content. Needless to say, this was one of the most fun influencer campaign examples.
Quality over quantity was key to this campaign. Totino's didn't want a large army of mediocre creators. They wanted every video to pop, surprise, and engage, so selecting influencers with a track record of high-level content was vital. The campaign was executed in three waves, allowing for tweaks and refinement between each.
This glorious snack campaign resulted in 11.7 million impressions and 538,400 engagements for an average engagement rate of 4.5%. This all came from nine videos created by just seven influencers. It worked well because every video delivered humor, wit, and a wow factor, exemplifying the importance of quality.
What do all these campaigns have in common?
So what's the common thread through all these influencer marketing campaign examples? When it comes to the golden ingredient, there are a few essential components that make up the winning recipe.
Creator-brand alignment
All of these influencer marketing case studies highlight the importance of finding the right creators for any brand. Not just any creator will do. A brand like Mackenzie-Childs needs elegant, affluent creators, while Trident needs more playful, casual content. If you activate the wrong influencers, the message won't connect with viewers, muddying your brand image and the content creator's aesthetic.
No matter what your brand is or what campaign you want to run, starting with the right creators that align with your identity and message is essential. That's why working with Later can make such a huge difference, as these experts understand how to sift through social media to find the diamonds in the rough.
Consistent creative briefing
While some brands like Totino's and KiwiCo encouraged creative freedom, others like Chobani, Crumbl, and JanSport required strict adherence to scripts and final approval. Both approaches can be effective, but clearly and consistently communicating the expectations for creators is vital regardless.
Explaining which hashtags, key phrases, and elements to include in the content can drive campaigns toward success and cohesion. When working with influencers, communicate brand guidelines, messaging priorities, expected tone and style, required timelines, and ideal formatting.
Clear tracking methods
Tracking data when using influencer marketing campaigns is a must for success. Without metrics and analytics, it's impossible to know what's working and what's falling flat. Understanding EMV, ROI, conversions, engagement, and impressions helps you fine-tune your influencer marketing approach to be the best it can be.
The Later platform makes tracking a breeze, with built-in tools to monitor engagement and sales so you know where to focus your efforts. While the best influencer marketing campaign examples showcase how valuable influencer creativity is, a solid brief helps everyone execute the campaign to its full potential.
One platform to manage it all
All of these brands were able to achieve creator-brand alignment, execute consistent creative briefs, and track success due to the Later Influence platform. Having a single platform to manage everything allows teams to focus on refining the campaign to perfection.
If the brands in these examples had to pour all their efforts into negotiating with influencers, hunting down analytics, or requesting revised content due to a lack of briefing, their campaigns would not have been able to thrive. Using Later's tools and services enabled each of these brands to curate campaigns that exceeded expectations.
How to run your next influencer campaign
These influencer marketing campaign examples can help you build your next campaign—and make sure it's a success. It all comes down to selecting the perfect creators for your brand, being clear with your creative vision, and measuring and adjusting performance. And, of course, using the best platform to manage it all.
If you're ready to run a killer influencer campaign, do it with Later. Start by setting your goals and then picking what format you want to use. You can discover creators, manage deliverables, and track ROI, making it easier than ever to monitor performance and optimize your content approach.
Start your next campaign with Later Influence—book a free demo today.
