Should you hire a Creator as the face of your Brand?
You know you need a content strategy.
But who should be the face?
- Content creator; or
- Founder
Here’s a quick breakdown of brands that went in either direction.
Front Line Founders
As a Founder, you have an unfair advantage in telling a story that only you can tell.
And that’s how you should think about your content strategy.
Why did you create the brand? Share your obsession.
The founder of Bare Performance Nutrition, Nick Bare, is the face of his brand.
His primary content strategy is showcasing the day-to-day process and behind-the-scenes of his training, passion for nutrition, and why he created the brand.
And he just so happens to fuel his performance with BPN products.
Build Out Loud
Mid-Day Squares is a chocolate brand that reached $36 million in revenue in 5 years. Their Founding Team creates content like a reality show.
They bring you into the brutally unfiltered moments of building a business.
From legal battles to product launch failures and warehouse break-ins, the 3 founders take turns (paired with a videographer) to show the milestones and mishaps of their business on social media.
Only 5-10% of their content is product-focused.
But not every founder wants to be in front of a camera.
There are two ways you can have a creator-led brand.
#1 Creator as the Face of the Platform:
When Olipop hired an agency to handle their TikTok account, they felt the brand DNA got lost.
So they found an up and coming creator named Sarah Crane who took over the Olipop TikTok account.
She became the face of the TikTok and grew to nearly ~325k followers.
#2 Creator as the Face of the Brand
A hot-off-the-press example is Ryan Trahan, the now Chief Creative Officer of the better-for-you candy startup JOYRIDE.
JOYRIDE was founded in 2022, but they re-launched in 2024 with Ryan at the center.
In one week, they sold 8x sales projections and completely sold out of stock.
Creators are masters at storytelling. Their 5-minute “re-launch” video is higher quality than most Super Bowl commercials.
With Ryan Trahan's 15M YouTube subs, they got their story and product out to more people than even UGC could achieve.
But here’s the potential rub.
It’s hard to maintain a relationship with a creator who knows how to grow an audience.
Which is why you have to think about what will sustain a long-term relationship.
Ryan Trahan is an investor in JOYRIDE and contributes to their product development.
Marques Brownlee’s partnership with Ridge spans deeper than tech influencer. He is the brands Chief Creative Partner and helps with R&D as a board member.
Athletic Greens is a long-term sponsor of Tim Ferriss & Andrew Huberman’s podcasts. But Tim Ferris is also an early investor and Huberman is a medical advisor.
So whether you go the Founder or hired-creator route, you need two things:
- Good storytelling
- Storytellers that are in it for the long haul.
