THE THROUGHLINE
Loop Earplugs put a tenth of its marketing budget into creators and brand building and planned for that spending to break even. Rob Weston made the move after joining as chief marketer three years ago, when Loop was doing about $100 million a year and leaning heavily on Meta ads. Loop is now on track for $240 million to $250 million, and its CEO and CFO agreed in advance on how to measure attribution.
American Eagle called its controversial summer 2025 Sydney Sweeney campaign a success at the time, but new data now shows where the brand stands a year later. 7-Eleven launched a K-drama microseries and e.l.f. waits for a creator's video to work on its own before it pays to spread it.
— Jeff
THE LEAD
Why Loop Earplugs Moved 10% of Its Budget Out of Performance Ads
Pleasing x Loop Experience 2 in Love Enough, from Loop's collaboration with Harry Styles' brand Pleasing. Courtesy of Loop.
When Rob Weston became Loop Earplugs' chief commercial and marketing officer three years ago, the Belgian brand was doing about $100 million a year, leaning heavily on Meta ads. "The golden goose of Meta isn't necessarily going to keep laying eggs forever," he said on the D2C Diaries podcast. Loop is now on track for $240 million to $250 million this year.
To make the business less dependent on Meta, Loop moved roughly 10% of its marketing budget from performance spend to creators and brand building, planned at a ROAS of 1 against the 2.5 to 3 it expects from performance. Weston called it "an insurance bet." Before a YouTube test on a 12-week attribution window, the CEO and CFO agreed to judge it on traffic, attributed brand search, brand lift and conversion lift.
Loop signed partners it had already seen using its product. It spotted Harry Styles wearing its earplugs at Glastonbury before any deal, and the pair it later made with his brand, Pleasing, paid a minimum fee plus a revenue share that breaks even at a known unit count.
The figures are Loop's own, and Weston still calls a single creator post "very hard to measure."
Weston's real choice was when to judge the spending. A creator picked for influence and a collaboration built to break even on units were unlikely to win on a short attribution window, so he took them out of that comparison and gave finance different readings on a date both sides had already agreed to. He says brand effects can take 18 months to show, a wait he calls very difficult to balance with investors, and the 12-week checkpoints cover the stretch in between.
Sources: D2C Diaries | Net Influencer | Loop
QUICK HITS
American Eagle's comparable sales fell 1% in Q2, a year after its controversial Sydney Sweeney campaign.
American Eagle credited the July 2025 campaign with 790,000 new U.S. customers in six weeks, but data Adweek reviewed shows the lift fading by this spring. AE comps fell 2% in Q1 and 1% in Q2, while sister brand Aerie grew 19%. Aerie sells different products to a different customer and ran its own campaigns, so the gap compares two brands.
7-Eleven attached a discount to every episode of its new seven-part K-drama.
"A Convenient Love" debuted on November 2 on 7-Eleven and Speedway's Instagram and TikTok accounts, with 60-second episodes every Monday and Thursday through November 23. The episodes were shot in a working store. Each episode features a dish from the Flavors of Korea menu with a limited-time discount code 7-Eleven can track at the register.
Sources: Adweek | Drop Media
e.l.f. pays to boost a creator's video only after it has worked on its own.
Kelly Shah-McDonnell, who leads connected commerce at e.l.f., said the brand puts ads behind videos from TikTok Shop affiliates and its agency once they perform organically. Affiliates need 1,000 followers. Her team of about 40 spends most of its time on TikTok Shop, while separate teams handle awareness influencers and celebrity deals.
Sources: Net Influencer
WORTH WATCHING
Instagram is testing 90-minute videos without sharing ad revenue with creators.
Instagram Features, in a small U.S. test since October 26, takes horizontal videos up to 90 minutes. Adam Mosseri said brands pay most Instagram creators today, and that pre-roll ads would annoy viewers. YouTube pays Partner Program channels 55% of long-form ad revenue. Instagram is funding selected creators directly, with offers up to $500,000 per Business Insider, and Tessa Lyons said creators can bring their existing brand deals into Features.
Sources: Net Influencer | Business Insider | Variety | Adgully
THE TAKEAWAY
Loop moved money away from Meta ads to creators after agreeing with its CEO and CFO on how to measure success. That separate pool, with its own break-even target, lets a brand that grew on Meta ads pay for branded entertainment without holding it to the ROAS of the ads it competes with. American Eagle courted controversy with its 2025 Sydney Sweeney campaign and called it a success on the sales lift in the six weeks after launch. A year later, card data shows that lift had faded: the controversy bought attention quickly, and the results didn't endure.
COMMISSIONING SIGNALS — WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3, 2026
Netflix bought a creator's self-funded series, then signed him for more
Druski paid for Collect & Praise himself before Netflix acquired it. Netflix has now signed his company, 4LIFERS Entertainment, to a multi-year deal and licensed his back catalog. The creator carried the cost of development, and Netflix paid once the show and its audience existed. "Now, it's a bidding war," Druski said of Netflix, which had turned down several of his projects. OUAI made the same choice from the brand side, spending nearly a year making a series in its own office. The party that pays for the first episode decides what gets made.
Netflix — A multiyear deal with Druski's 4LIFERS Entertainment
What happened: Netflix signed Druski and 4LIFERS to make original series exclusively for it, starting with Collect & Praise on December 1. Deadline reports the deal covers a set number of projects. Netflix also licensed Coulda Been Love, Coulda Been Daddy, and other series from his catalog.
Why it matters: Netflix bought a character Druski had already proven in sketches, with an attached audience. It advances Netflix's move from licensing creator libraries, such as Drew Binsky's, logged here September 8, to taking exclusive originals.
Signal status: Confirmed investment
Visa and aTwist — Daddy Yankee's "La Postal" series
What happened: Visa partnered with aTwist, a vertical-video studio and app launched September 3, on a dance-competition series built around Daddy Yankee's new album. It was filmed in Puerto Rico and premieres today on his YouTube channel and on aTwist.
Why it matters: The artist's channel supplies the audience, and aTwist supplies production and a second window, with behind-the-scenes material kept on its own app. It reinforces the vertical-series supply building since Minivela's library deal, logged here October 27.
Signal status: Confirmed investment
OUAI — "Chopped," made in its own office
What happened: P&G-owned OUAI released a three-part horror comedy starring Victoria Pedretti on Instagram and YouTube in the week of October 26. The team worked on it for nearly a year and shot it in OUAI's Los Angeles offices.
Why it matters: Amanda Martinez, OUAI's VP of brand marketing, told the film newsletter 11am Saturday, in a post OUAI sponsored, that the brand brought in a screenwriter to run a mock writers' room with its internal team. That process now sits inside the marketing team, and Martinez told Glossy more long-form work is planned.
Signal status: Confirmed investment
Sources: Glossy | 11am Saturday
T-Mobile — Anomaly, Highdive and its in-house T-Studios
What happened: On November 2, T-Mobile named Anomaly its brand strategy partner and Highdive its lead creative agency. It is also adding AI production tools to T-Studios, its in-house studio.
Why it matters: T-Mobile split strategy, campaign ideas and production across three parties and kept production in-house. The release says T-Studios will adapt content continuously so the brand appears accurately in AI search and assistants, which makes the in-house studio a volume operation.
Signal status: Confirmed investment
Sources: T-Mobile
Hiring radar
20 creator and content roles posted. 9 sit in-house at brands, 6 at agencies, 5 at platforms and media companies. 6 are director level or above. 17 disclosed an annual USD salary band, median $90,000.
Tangle Teezer is hiring one manager to launch its TikTok Shop and own the shop's P&L, its affiliate commission tiers, creator briefs and the paid media behind the content that wins. At Mercury, the Head of Social & Community holds social, community, creators and merch in one budget, with measurement, and leads a team of three.
Universe: the 20 creator and content roles listed in Net Influencer's Creator Economy Job Radar for October 27, 2026; the November 3 edition had not published at press time. Platforms include influencer-software and media companies. Director level includes Lead titles. Salary figures are midpoints of disclosed annual USD base ranges; two GBP figures and one range with no stated currency are excluded, Upfluence's base range is used in place of total compensation, and Mercury's top-market range is used.
On the watchlist
Disney — Its first Super Brand Day on TikTok Shop
Observed: From November 4 to 10, Disney Store and more than 20 licensees, including Old Navy, Crocs, ColourPop and Touchland, sell their Disney collections in one TikTok Shop event backed by paid media and creators. A Loungefly mini backpack and a collectible sell on TikTok Shop before Disney Store's own site.
Hypothesis: A licensor's TikTok Shop event could become a recurring sales window, with licensees selling inside an event the licensor promotes. It builds on Disney's TikTok creator content partnership, logged here August 11.
What to watch: Results from Disney or a participating licensee after November 10, a second Disney Super Brand Day, and other licensors booking the same format.
Sources: Marketing Dive
Liquid I.V. — A new CMO who wants an always-on creator lane
Observed: Unilever-owned Liquid I.V. hired Jenny Danzi, Poppi's former CMO, to run marketing, creative, consumer and communications. She told Axios she wants "a real always-on lane that is a direct relationship with creators," alongside launch bursts.
Hypothesis: Liquid I.V.'s creator spending could move from campaign bursts toward standing relationships run by the brand, with communications helping write the brief.
What to watch: A named creator program or roster, creator-partnership hires at Liquid I.V., and agency changes in Danzi's first six months.
P.S. If your consumer brand is ready to go beyond one-off campaigns, I can help your team develop a consistent content strategy and the infrastructure needed for branded entertainment. Schedule a 30-minute call with me for actionable insights on using your audience data effectively.
Jeff Hallstead | Brand Strategy Consultant, Fractional CMO, and CCO, based in Los Angeles. jeffhallstead.com