In Forbes this week, contributor Kiri Masters looked at how more creators are launching products in retail outlets – particularly Walmart locations – rather than selling them directly (what’s known as DTC, or direct-to-consumer). It’s an interesting trend with a number of likely root causes. But it’s also a glimpse into the massive growth of Creator-led product lines, and how centrally important they’ve become to our retail economy, even for massive American companies like Walmart.
The enthusiasm for creator/retailer team-ups flows in both directions. It’s not just that creators are eager to get their merch and products on Walmart shelves, and thus in front of millions of potential customers nationwide. Walmart also gains prestige and a “cool factor” by being the place to find whatever’s being hawked that week by your favorite influencer. There’s even some evidence that strategic placement in stores like Walmart allows younger fans to influence their parents’ purchasing decisions. It might be tough for a kid to convince their folks to buy them a case of Logan Paul’s new energy drink online. But if it’s right there in the store while they’re already picking up a few other items? Sure, throw one in the cart.
This story is part of a far larger-scale shift, not just in terms of point of sale, where influencers actually market and feature their products. But the kinds of products and merchandise being offered. The work of a creator once primarily interacted with advertising, much like the media and publishing industries. A person making a series of videos for YouTube or producing a Twitch livestream takes on sponsors that help fund the show in exchange for ad reads and other forms of direct promotion.
But as influencers have joined the mainstream, they’re advancing into all sorts of new realms and positions of authority, beyond serving as mere spokespeople. Perhaps the most notable shift, however, has seen creators move from promoting third-party brands to launching their own products, branded after themselves. Certainly, this is not a new development. In the early days of YouTube, while most creators were content to do ad reads or find companies willing to sponsor their content, vlogger Olga Kay memorably launched her own sock company, Moosh Walks, featuring leg and footwear that she designed herself.
We’ve also seen this trend in the world of celebrity, outside of the social media/digital influencer realm. Every famous person on Earth seemingly has their own alcohol brand now. There’s also a lot of interest in having your own line of coffee beans. Kevin Smith has one. So does David Lynch. And Ghostface.
But while these folks all have big followings on social media, and The Rock’s Teremana Tequila and Ryan Reynolds’ Aviation Gin make cameo guest appearances in all of their films, the trend is particularly powerful (and potentially lucrative) for native creators. They’re talking to their audiences all day, every day, and they have the opportunity to not just launch a product, but bring their audiences along on the entire journey of creating that product, from idea to research and development to marketing to launch.
Through their work and their social media feeds, creators are telling their audiences an ongoing narrative. Baking a product launch into that narrative gives their followers a compelling way to essentially interact with the story they’ve been watching on screen. “You saw me come up with this idea in real-time and bring it to fruition, now try the finished product yourself.” The fan is no longer just a consumer, but an evangelist. They helped bring this thing into the world, now they want to enjoy it and share it with others.
One of the more visible recent examples has been KSI and Logan Paul’s sports drink Prime Hydration. The duo have tens of millions of followers and focus a lot of their content around promoting their personal brands, and also the products they’re working on. They not only talked up the “nutritional benefits” and delicious flavor of Prime for months on their channels, they then sold the drink through exclusive retail partnerships, with a purposefully limited supply. This created “false scarcity,” leading to viral videos of chaotic crowds desperate to get their hands on a bottle of Prime Hydration, and caused a massive surge of interest in a drink that’s not very different from all of the other options in its beverage category.
Prime Hydration is, of course, now widely available at Walmart Stores.
That said, all the marketing and promotion in the world really can’t sustain a product forever. Launching a new energy drink is one thing. Maintaining a popular energy drink brand is something else entirely. And though Prime Hydration’s big push was only last year, it already seems like the product itself may not have the stamina to serve as a long-term rival to established brands like Gatorade and Powerade and Monster and so forth.
Fortune suggests that, in the UK at least (where KSI is from), interest in drinking Prime has tapered off significantly in 2024. The drink brought in an estimated $1.2 billion in 2023 sales, but that number fell by 50% in Q1 of this year. The once robust secondary market for the hard-to-find drink once saw bottles selling for as much as $1500, but that’s long since dried up. There’s also a class action lawsuit against the company for including excessive caffeine in the drink, along with so-called “forever chemicals.” The hype train seems to have almost completely derailed.
Top YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson has repeatedly experienced similar problems, introducing products with insane hype and phenomenal initial sales that ultimately falter based on quality issues. He shut down his cloud kitchen concept MrBeast Burger, a virtual restaurant that made sales via delivery apps, after complaints about the food spread online. (MrBeast Burger had a miserable 2.1 stars on Yelp upon closing.) Ultimately, Donaldson sued his former partners in the company for breach of contract and harming his brand and reputation.
Lunchly, Donaldson’s “Lunchables” meal kit alternative which he co-launched with Logan Paul and KSI (each kit comes with a bottle of Prime), is now facing similar allegations. Fellow creator Rosanna Pansino posted a video on October 19 showing that her Pizza Lunchly meal kit – which was purchased months before its expiration date – was full of moldy cheese. Several other videos then popped up seeming to confirm Pansino’s account. Lunchly and Paul himself both responded by saying that the kits are inspected before leaving the facility. Paul suggested that the mold problems may have happened in transit or after the kits arrived in stores.
The right product can help a creator not just earn money, but expand and deepen their connection to their viewers and fans. For beauty creators, make-up and cosmetic lines speak to their personalities and the kinds of videos they produce on their channels, and give fans a chance to experiment with the same looks they’ve watched their favorite influencers wear. But this same level of connection and personalization can really hurt a creator’s reputation if the cheese arrives a bit moldy. In short, the very power that you hope to ride to massive profits can bite you if the product itself is not up to snuff.
