Gifted posts. Source: AdAge, Instagram, TikTok

With influencers, go small to go big

Smart gifting beats mass seeding

Gymshark, the UK’s unicorn fitness brand, got started with viral influencer marketing.

Sort of.

When founder Ben Francis sent Gymshark clothing to his favorite YouTuber Lex Griffin in 2013, he didn’t know he was kicking off a new marketing strategy of ‘product seeding’ — sending free products to influential people in hopes for an online share. But his early gifts to fitness YouTubers resulted in these athletes wearing his clothes on their videos and at events — skyrocketing brand awareness and driving Gymshark’s first sales.

Flash forward to today, seeding is a big business. Every fashion or beauty brand seems to have a budget earmarked for gifting online influencers. It’s cheap compared to traditional methods of advertising, but also significantly more competitive. Simply sending free products to a well-known influencer won’t guarantee placement on their digital feed. It might even annoy the recipient.

BoF posted about the deluge of free gifting that happens when you get on a PR list. Source: BoF

Emily Sundberg, darling of Substack and one of the most in demand influencers for product endorsement on given her highly engaged newsletter following, posted…