An Instagram Carousel from Sprout Social deep-diving the Swehl x Molly Baz collaboration and internet reaction

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The ad’s virality wasn’t a complete surprise. As Swehl co-founder Elizabeth Myer puts it, “We joke that a women’s health brand can only dream of having their ad pulled. We worked with Baz to devise a visual that felt true to both our brand and hers, while pushing the envelope and the cheeky visual narrative. Prior to launching the campaign, we pitched a reporter at The New York Times who wrote a piece that spread like wildfire when the ad was eventually taken down. From iran business email list there, we lined up morning shows, brought on a PR team to help field opportunities and quickly transitioned the message from lactation cookies (which we don’t even sell!) to our core mission.”

Swehl’s Just Add Milk campaign is a potent reminder of the opportunity influencer marketing offers for skyrocketing brand awareness when done well. It’s a sign PR and influencer marketing efforts are blurring, which begs the question: Is influencer marketing the new PR?

To find the answer and what the evolving state of media means for brands, we interviewed Myer and two of Sprout’s influencer marketing and PR experts, Greg Scavuzzo, Director of Product Marketing, and Layla Revis, Vice President of Brand and Social.

How influencer marketing is transforming media and PR
Like with the Swehl example, brand and influencer collaborations are increasingly generating earned press. As consumer-influencer relationships evolve, influencer activations are becoming more newsworthy—garnering the kind of attention reserved for celebrity campaigns of yore. What makes these influencer campaigns even more powerful is the trust consumers bestow upon influencers, and how that impacts their online behavior. The 2024 Influencer Marketing Report found that trust in influencers is holding steady, and growing in some pockets.

A call-out card from the 2024 Influencer Marketing Report that reads 30% of consumers trust influencers more than they did six months ago
As Revis describes, “People trust people, and they want to be entertained and educated. Whether it’s humor, fashion, fitness or sports, people are more likely to seek out influencers than brands or celebrities. This is a sign the media has become democratized. When I started in this industry, influencers didn’t have teams. Now, they have become like actors with legal representation, managers, licensing deals and agents.”