Ritz Crackers, an incredibly underrated hangover snack, typically gets between 10,000 and 50,000 views on its Instagram Reels. But this summer, when it posted a joint Reel with creator Erin Miler, @overthemoonfaraway, it got more than 781,000—completely organically.

The technical term for that “joint Reel” is an Instagram “Collab.” Instagram rolled out the capability about a year ago, letting two accounts post a single post together. If a brand and influencer do a Collab, the brand can get new viewers from the influencer’s audience—and vice versa.

Teaming up: These Collab partnerships between influencers and brands are becoming increasingly common. “There is more interest,” Alessandro Bogliari, co-founder and CEO of The Influencer Marketing Factory (IMF), told us, adding that Collabs are “absolutely trending.”

• About 60% of IMF’s clients that run campaigns on Instagram have asked to try out Collabs, Bogliari said, although he did not disclose client names.

Many influencers and their talent managers aren’t naive: They know that brands can benefit from the additional views their posts get from Collabs. Some talent managers told us that their creators are charging more for this added service as a result, putting an additional “Collabs fee” on their rate cards.

Shoshannah Cutler, the CEO and founder of Shoshalmedia, a creator management and consulting firm, said the creators she works with typically charge 25%-35% more for a Collab than they would for a normal organic Instagram post, making the rate for a Collab closer to what they’d charge for paid usage rights.

But other influencer marketers warned that the influencer set should prepare themselves for certain brands to balk at the question, depending on the scenario. Read the full story here.—PB

The so-called talent wars have reared their ugly heads again at agencies.

None other than the Financial Times covered the issue earlier this month, noting that recruiters have said that agencies “lack the creative talent they need to brainstorm and execute ideas, the account managers to keep clients happy and the tech workers to track results and run digital campaigns.”

• Last month, Digiday reported that there are “whispers of up to between 30 and 40 percent churn in personnel” at agencies.
• It pointed to a number of reasons why, including agency staffers’ leaving for tech companies.

Moving on: Some workers could be choosing to leave agencies in search of better hours and pay, as perks can only go so far. According to Adweek, an unnamed agency that focuses on Gen Z offers things like GrubHub gift cards to its employees “to justify $40,000 salaries, excessively long workdays, and weekend tasks.”

Bad news made worse: The Financial Times said that while the “worst of the staffing shortages have eased in several markets in recent weeks,” some agencies are now grappling with economic concerns that have resulted in layoffs.

• And when it comes to layoffs, the industry is…not great. JobSage, an employer review site, recently interviewed 1,000 Americans across different sectors who’ve been laid off. The “advertising and media” sector ranked the worst, with 83% of respondents saying that “their employer could have done a better job handling layoffs.”

+1: Last month, employment in advertising and related services slightly declined compared to the month prior, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that were not seasonally adjusted.—MS

Retail Brew’s Erin Cabrey recently chatted with Paul Loux, VP of store design and experience at Ulta, about the retailer’s decision to debut a new layout at select stores this fall. Check out an excerpt below and click here for the full story.

Loux said the retailer has been piloting and testing different aspects of this new layout in stores over the past year and a half, a result of a “robust test-and-learn phase” that included directly asking shoppers what changes would make the store feel more “connected and experiential.”

Ulta found that consumers were shopping across both mass and prestige in one trip, and it worked with consumer insights to iterate on the new look throughout the design process. “It’s a constant feedback loop,” he said.

While its Target in Ulta shop-in-shops are a “microcosm of the full experience,” it’s working with Target to develop a new layout there, too.

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Mondays, man: Start the week off right…by figuring out which TikTok trends to jump on sooner rather than later.

Picture it: These 10 steps walk you through image optimization for SEO.

A little birdy: A guide to Twitter Super Followers lives here.

Create demand, build a brand, and destroy commodity content.

Find your instant advantage today—listen to B2B Growth now.

• Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral has spurred an advertising blackout in the UK.
• PayPal said it would not renew its jersey sponsorship of the Phoenix Suns if the team’s owner, Robert Sarver, remains affiliated with the team after his one-year suspension ends. Sarver’s suspension was announced last week after an investigation detailed a history of inappropriate conduct, including “using racial slurs, yelling at employees, and treating female employees unfairly.”
• Disney released its employee gender and racial pay-gap data, and said it will release more within 18 months.
• Wegmans is shutting down its self-checkout app, because…shoplifting.
• Chevy has tapped celebrities like Conan O’Brien in a new campaign for its electric vehicles.

Snap poll: Are you feeling the pain from the industry’s “talent wars” or do you think they’re overhyped?

Yep, it’s rough out there

No, it’s really not that bad

Too soon? Let’s be real, this Brach’s ad from 1958 probably ran in August that year.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Spanish-language TV viewership is surging
• Athletic Greens gives us the scoop on its podcast advertising strategy
• IAB warns ad legislation is coming