Animals are no strangers to advertising. Budweiser has its Clydesdales, Aflac has its duck, and Geico has its gecko, who is very online.

Of course, the little lizard isn’t the only animal with a social presence. Pets have been popular on Instagram since its early days, Mae Karwowski, who founded influencer agency Obvious.ly a decade ago, told us.

About five years ago, the petfluencer trend started “coming of age,” according to Aaron Hall, group director of naming at brand experience firm Siegel+Gale, whose Labradoodle, Pilot, has done some modeling work. Then Covid hit, and a wave of people stuck at home decided to get pets—younger people in particular.

“They are more likely to be putting their pets on TikTok or Reels, so there’s just this plethora of pets who could be tapped,” Hall told Marketing Brew. “Also, if you’re trying to reach a demographic, let’s say Gen Z or young millennials, they’re obviously into pets.”

The global pet industry is expected to reach $500 billion by 2030, per Bloomberg Intelligence, up from $320 billion today. As furry—or scaly, or feathered—friends enjoy social media stardom, a cottage industry within marketing has grown to facilitate their brand deals: petfluencer agencies.

Read the full story here.—AM

Juggling content demands and lightning-fast timelines, all while learning how to be a video script writer, producer, *and* editor? That’s just the life of a marketer.

You can do it all—as long as you have the right tools, like Vimeo’s AI-powered video creation tools.

Vimeo can help you create videos in one take and edit them in just seconds, thanks to cool features like:

• AI script generators that can take you from idea to complete script
• a built-in teleprompter to help you speak naturally and directly
• video editing software that makes editing video as easy as editing a text document
• AI-powered filler-word and word-gap identification that lets you find and delete errors and long pauses

With tools like these, your marketing team can create compelling videos with just a few clicks.

Growth marketing is shrinking.

That’s one of the takeaways from digital agency Dept’s third annual report on the topic, which found a 40% decline in marketers who are using growth marketing strategies this year compared to last among the 450 senior managers or above who were surveyed. Dept defines growth marketing as “the blend” of performance and brand strategies.

The drop could be attributed to a few factors, including economic conditions that have marketers investing more in bottom-funnels channels and strategies, according to CSO for Growth Sam Hutson.

“They’ve made very purposeful choices about not investing in [growth] now,” he told Marketing Brew. They’re “only going to invest in what we know works for the time being until we see what the future holds.”

The report broke down how marketers are currently approaching three “growth areas.” Keep reading here.—AM

In December 2022, Alexis Androulakis was weighing leaving the beauty industry after more than 15 years. That was until her wife, Christina Basias, posted a series of videos she had filmed of Androulakis on TikTok playing her favorite beauty retail game: trying out products and guessing (almost always correctly) where they were manufactured. And millions of people watched.

After that, Androulakis—with Basias behind the camera—became an “accidental influencer” under the name The Lipstick Lesbians, amassing nearly 450k followers and 16.4 million likes on TikTok. Their content has cut through the flurry of GRWMs to offer consumers Androulakis’s beauty-industry insight—like the history of the Urban Decay Naked Palette, the luxury packaging design of YSL’s Candy Glaze Lip Gloss Stick, and the purpose of trimethylsiloxysilicate in the Maybelline 24-Hour Skin Tint.

“It was definitely the world’s way of saying, ‘Do not leave the beauty industry—you are just getting started,’” Androulakis told Retail Brew.

She began her beauty career in 2006 as a Nars makeup artist at Lord & Taylor while studying cosmetics and fragrance marketing at FIT, dreaming of becoming a corporate beauty product developer—the “translator between a chemist and a marketer,” she noted. She then worked on brands like Mac and Benefit at contract manufacturer NuWorld Beauty, and Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty at Maesa, before landing her dream gig as product development lead at Shiseido’s Makeup Center of Excellence, focused on its complexion relaunch.

Soon, she had a new dream—starting her own business. But five years of consulting left her burnt out. Now, she’s using her platform and her impressive industry knowledge to bring “beauty literacy” to the masses on TikTok.

Continue reading on Retail Brew.—EC

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

I scream for ice cream: A look at how Häagen-Dazs has funded diverse creators.

All in this together: Why design accessibility is something marketers should be paying attention to.

Broadening horizons: Reddit has expanded its interest targeting categories—get up to speed on the changes here.

A whole new world: What do John Deere, Tesla, and DIRECTV have in common? They all utilize outer space technology to their advantage. Get the scoop.

Pro tools 4 all: Create your best videos with Vimeo’s AI-powered video creation tools. Vimeo’s tools help you write scripts, edit videos, and save a whole lotta time. Start making videos in seconds.*

Starring role: Ever wonder how brands select and approach their ambassadors? Learn the ropes of reaching A-listers, influencers, and everyday personas in the latest Marketing Brew article, sponsored by Listrak.*

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Stat: 14. That’s the percentage of X users who also use Threads, according to Data.ai. Threads began rolling out its web version this week.

Quote: “The industry can be so vile across the influencer, brand and the agent sides. I’ve come across some horrific situations. But it’s such a female-driven industry, and a lot of women get taken every which way from Sunday and it’s really vile.”—A director of brand strategy and influencer marketing talking about their experience working in influencer marketing with Digiday

Read: “The Most Impressive World Championship Team Isn’t a Country. It’s a Brand” (New York Times)