One of the largest groups of TikTok influencers in the world is using its collective social-media clout as a means of promoting its new company direct to customers.
Key Details
- TikTok stars Charli, Dixie, Marc, and Heidi D’Amelio launched a new women’s shoe company called D’Amelio Footwear.
- These content creators collectively have nearly 390 million followers across multiple platforms and intend to use their existing fanbase to market products directly to fans, Fortune reports.
- The group intends to expand D’Amelio Brands into other products, including acne patches and food products.
- The group hosted a launch party in Los Angeles two weeks ago, with major Hollywood celebrities and CEOs in attendance to witness the launch of the brand’s experiment in direct advertising.
- D’Amelio Brands has a current valuation of $100 million.
Why It’s Important
The internet has changed the way advertising works. Consumers’ eyes have gradually shifted from televisions to the internet, and this has created new business models online for companies to build revenue off of advertising clicks and displays on websites.
With nearly half of Americans using TikTok, social media is proving to be one of the most influential means of communicating with the American public. This is beginning to create opportunities for ambitious content creators. The group’s father is Marc D’Amelio, a retail executive, and he has helped guide the group to strike deals with brands like Prada, Dunkin, Hollister, Snap, and Hulu, Fortune reports.
The D’Amelio family are only the most recent content creators to launch a new brand associated with their name and public image. Their success or failure will market a notable experiment in the power of social media to sell products directly to fans and consumers.
Notable Quotes
“Hopefully, we can reach a massive audience that will appreciate the authenticity—that we really, truly believe in this. We made this brand and are not just putting our names on random products. This brand is something that we have been doing from the very beginning, and we want to help create a long-term business,” says Dixie D’Amelio.
“They’ve got hundreds of millions of people that follow them online and watch their TV show and are involved in all other aspects of their social media—looking to them as thought leaders. Why not give them something that the girls are actually really passionate about?” says D’Amelio Brands co-founder Richard Rosenblatt.
