The best influencer programs
You want to know what the brands known for influencer marketing actually built, not just who they paid.
Founder · September 16, 2026 · 16 min read
Now I'm gonna actually mention the top brands in influencer marketing.
For you if:
- You want to know what the brands known for influencer marketing actually built, not just who they paid.
- You are choosing between gifting, paid reads, big creator moments and giving creators a share of the company.
- You want proof each program worked, in the brand's own words or its numbers.
Start with people who already love the product
1. Gymshark: send the product to the people your buyers look up to
In 2012 Gymshark sent its first stringers to bodybuilders it admired, like fanmail. Lex Griffin, Matt Ogus and Chris Lavado liked them, shared them with their own communities and signed as the first Gymshark athletes.
Gymshark says it was never meant as influencer marketing. At the BodyPower expo in 2013 its stand filled with athletes and fans within seconds, and the site went from £300 a day to £30,000 in 30 minutes. It raised no outside money until 2020, when General Atlantic's investment valued it at over £1 billion.
So, kind of like fanmail, those early Gymshark stringers were sent to our bodybuilding heroes in hope that they'd like them. Read it: Gymshark Read it: General Atlantic, 2020
The mechanics:
- The launch: In May 2013 Gymshark emptied its bank account to book a small stand at the BodyPower expo, and its athletes wore the new Luxe Tracksuit there. (Gymshark)
- Who came next: To reach the other half of lifters it signed women from fitness, like Nikki Blackketter, Robin Gallant and Jazmine Garcia. (Gymshark)
- How it spread: In 2016 a small group of athletes and staff took Gymshark on a world tour across the UK and US. (Gymshark)
- Affiliates: In September 2017 it opened an affiliate program on Awin that pays a commission on each sale made within 30 days of a click. (Awin, Sep 21, 2017)
- Today: Anyone can try out: post a Gymshark66 pledge on TikTok or Instagram, post at least once a week, and a panel picks one new athlete, who gets travel to its LIFT events. (Gymshark)
2. WHOOP: get the world's best athletes wearing it because it helps them
Will Ahmed's plan was to get the world's best athletes to wear WHOOP and build the brand around performance off the back of that, the way Nike built its brand on the athletes who wore its shoes.
He said no amount of money keeps a product on someone's body if they don't love it, and bet that the world's best athletes would pay for WHOOP because it was that good.
And on the flip side the opportunity I saw was if we could get the world's best athletes to wear WHOOP we could in turn build our own brand around performance and around an aspirational product Hear it: Whoop Founder: How I Built A $3.6 BILLION Company & BEAT Apple! Will Ahmed | E189
The mechanics:
- First users: Two of WHOOP's first hundred users, at the end of 2014, were LeBron James and Michael Phelps. (hear it at 84:36)
- Pay: It got high profile athletes to wear it without endorsement deals, and that showed investors the technology was real. (hear it at 85:40)
- Leagues: In April 2017 the NFL Players Association made WHOOP its official recovery wearable and gave a strap to every current and incoming NFL player. (NFLPA, Apr 24, 2017)
- On air: In 2021 it became the PGA Tour's official fitness wearable after handing out over 1,000 straps to players and caddies, and showed players' heart rates during big moments in its videos. (PGA Tour and WHOOP, Jan 6, 2021)
- Owners: Athletes now invest as global ambassadors: Cristiano Ronaldo joined in 2024, beside Patrick Mahomes, Eli Manning and Michael Phelps. (Sportico, May 13, 2024)
3. Bloom Nutrition: ask creators to use it, give almost no brief, and send more
Bloom moved its search from Instagram to TikTok and asked influencers to talk about its greens in a couple of their videos, then scaled that up as it worked.
The founders say about half of the videos that go viral about the product came from that ask, and now celebrities and big influencers reach out to say they use the greens every day.
And I would say probably half of the videos that go up or go viral about our product are encouraged from us and when I say encourage we give no creative direction or very little right very little creative direction we just say hey if you like this product please include it in your content and we'll send you more Hear it: The Story of Bloom Nutrition, Building Your Dream Life, Financial Success, Grit, Failure & Sacrifice
The mechanics:
- Who: Its creators range from moms to students to nurses, and the most famous grandmother on TikTok was using its greens. (hear it at 37:41)
- Spend: About 75% of its marketing budget goes to creators. (Net Influencer, Aug 15, 2024)
- What it paid for: Mari Llewellyn says that spend helped bring in nearly $170 million of revenue in 2023. (Net Influencer, Aug 15, 2024)
- Where sales land: Most of the traffic from its TikTok videos went to Amazon. (hear it at 33:23)
4. Alo Yoga: make ambassadors out of people who already wear it
Alo calls itself digital first and social first, and social means events and community as well as posts. Its ambassadors are yoga, fashion and beauty influencers.
Its CMO, Angelic Vendette, says most of them are organic: they became ambassadors because they love the brand, and she says Alo has grown in brand affinity, not only awareness.
And then after that we have ambassadorships right whether that be via yogi influencers holistic wealth influencers fashion influencers beauty you name it um and the majority of them are organic they become ambassadors because they again love the brand Hear it: How Alo Yoga Became a Household Name | CMO Angelic Vendette Shares Brand & Community Strategy
The mechanics:
- Pros: Certified yoga teachers, trainers and wellness creators can apply to Alo Pro and get 25% off full-priced gear once their credentials are checked. (BLOY, May 24, 2026)
- Affiliates: Its affiliate program sets no requirements to join and pays a commission on sales. (Net Influencer, Nov 8, 2022)
- Top customers: Customers who spend $1,000 in 12 months reach its All Access tier, which comes with invite-only events. (BLOY, May 24, 2026)
- Scale: Its CMO counts a community of more than 4,000 people who talk about and market Alo, against a marketing team of 53. (hear it at 13:16)
5. Glossier: turn your most engaged customers into paid reps
Glossier first gave its most engaged customers codes to share, paid in store credit. Then it tested a rep program: eleven women with their own page on the site, a video intro and their top picks, paid a sales commission.
Emily Weiss put 90% of Glossier's revenue down to these fans, and said it came mostly from word of mouth, not paid marketing.
What’s very motivating to us is this idea of every single woman being an influencer Read it: Quartz, 2016
The mechanics:
- Before a product: Long before a launch, Into the Gloss posted an open thread asking readers what they wanted. (Quartz, 2016)
- Community: About 150 of its most active customers chatted in city Slack channels Glossier set up, where they planned events and gave quick feedback. (Quartz, 2016)
- How it spread: When customers posted selfies in its face mask under #maskforce, Glossier re-shared them on its own account. (Quartz, 2016)
- Reps: One rep, a beauty blogger, wrote that Glossier contacted her to join, and that her link gave new buyers 10% off and paid her a little commission. (ADIA adores, a Glossier rep's blog)
- Pay beyond money: Glossier's VP of growth said reps were rewarded more by being tied to the brand, which she called social currency, than by money. (Quartz, 2016)
Pay creators to talk about it, then keep the ones that work
6. LMNT: sign podcast hosts before they get big, and pay in cash or equity
LMNT's co-founder says they pitched podcasters they knew, paying some in money and some in a little equity. Many were signed before they were famous or expensive, and LMNT kept those relationships as the shows grew.
LMNT skipped Instagram ads and celebrity endorsements for long health podcasts like Huberman Lab and Modern Wisdom, and grew past $200 million in yearly revenue on about $6 million raised.
It was a mix between do you want to help us and we also pay you either with money or in some cases with a little bit of equity. And so people like the idea and so they got on board. Hear it: They Made $100M Selling Salt - LMNT Founder Read it: The Food Stack, Mar 12, 2026
The mechanics:
- The read: On shows like Huberman Lab and Modern Wisdom the host spends several minutes explaining the science of sodium, often from LMNT's own research blog. (The Food Stack, Mar 12, 2026)
- The offer: Listeners buy through a promotional link, and a free sample pack of 8 flavors is added to the cart on its own. (LMNT's partner page)
- Goodwill: During COVID it gave hundreds of thousands of dollars of product to first responders, not as a campaign, and they shared it and stayed customers. (hear it at 27:27)
- Gyms: Gyms and studios stock it through a wholesale program with over 10,000 wholesalers, who get free marketing support like product displays. (LMNT's wholesale page)
7. Manscaped: pick creators on audience first, then book the good ones again
Manscaped has an influencer team of about six who reach out, and send an application to creators who ask to join. They check the audience is mostly US men aged 18 to 35, then engagement, and give creators who do a great job more work.
It has sponsored over 2,000 YouTubers, usually channels averaging 60K views, for over 2B views. Paul Tran said revenue went from $3 million to nearly $300 million in three years.
People that are already manscape customers or people that have some kind of experience with the brand we're definitely looking for people that can continually champion the brand and a lot of times if an influencer does a great job for us we'll continue to work with them and give them more opportunities Hear it: Launching socials for Manscaped: Tyler Wentworth Read it: ThoughtLeaders Read it: BeautyMatter, Nov 29, 2021
The mechanics:
- First reads: Its first YouTube read ran on the Neemzzz channel in August 2017, and its first podcast ad on DEATHSQUAD in April 2019. (ThoughtLeaders)
- The offer: Its reads kept one offer across channels, 20% off and free shipping. (ThoughtLeaders)
- Booking again: It kept going back to what worked: six of its ten most watched sponsored videos came from one channel, Patty Mayo, which it sponsored 14 times. (ThoughtLeaders)
- Community: It also ran a Facebook group of almost 2,000 of its most loyal customers, who got grooming tips and early access to products. (hear it at 19:17)
- Why it pays: Paul Tran said it earns back the marketing cost as soon as a customer buys, and 70% of shoppers become subscribers. (BeautyMatter, Nov 29, 2021)
- Today: Each creator now has a personal code for 15% off and free shipping, like FOOTY or DONUT. (SponsorRadar)
8. AG1: keep hundreds of podcast hosts reading, and don't cancel them
AG1's chief revenue officer Jonathan Corne said it works with hundreds of podcasters at a time, run by an in house partnerships team of five. Tim Ferriss was one of the first to read for it and became an investor, and Andrew Huberman became a medical advisor.
AG1 found baked in reads beat inserted ones and that it can take a couple of reads before listeners know the brand, and it tries never to cancel a host. Revenue went from $160 million in 2021 to about $600 million in 2024.
“What we don’t want to do is cancel anything,” Corne said. “We want to make sure that we stay, because we want to continue to build more and more relationships.” Read it: Marketing Brew, Sep 15, 2022 Read it: Wikipedia
The mechanics:
- How it started: Its CRO first tested podcasts by pitching whichever host he was listening to, then moved to shows whose listeners take ownership of their health, money and relationships. (Marketing Brew, Sep 15, 2022)
- Tracking: Each show gets its own vanity URL with UTM tags, which AG1 treats as a low reading and backs up with post-purchase surveys. (Marketing Brew, Sep 15, 2022)
- When to change: Once a show's performance levels off, AG1 changes how often it runs or what the read says, rather than cancelling it. (Marketing Brew, Sep 15, 2022)
- Affiliates: Its affiliate program runs on Superfiliate: pay can be a commission, a flat fee or both, and only sales through the creator's own link or code count. (AG1's affiliate terms)
- The rules: Affiliates must say the post is paid, tag @drinkAG1, and make AG1 the only product in the post. (AG1's affiliate terms)
- Extras: It also pays for things around a host's show: everyone at Huberman's live shows gets a free copy of his book, courtesy of AG1. (Huberman Lab)
9. Poppi: put money into creators before worrying about profit
Allison Ellsworth says Poppi did not even measure ROI for its first 3 years, and spent heavily on marketing and creators instead of chasing profit.
She says brands that run only on performance marketing chase the sale they can see, and that is not how you build a brand that is still here in 20 years.
We invested heavy in marketing and creators way over worrying about being profitable. There is we probably could have been profitable a year or two earlier, but we made that decision to reinvest into the brand. Hear it: Allison Ellsworth Founder of Poppi Soda discusses her BILLION $ Exit! Exclusive Interview on ERN!
The mechanics:
- Founder videos: Allison Ellsworth danced and made taco recipe videos on TikTok before finding that telling her own founder story is what worked. (hear it at 4:21)
- Free cans: It ships free cans to anyone who invites it, with no campaign and no targeting, and gets around 500 wedding invites a month. (Fortune, Apr 12, 2026)
- Vending machines: Before its 2025 Super Bowl ad it sent branded vending machines to 32 influencers, which drew a backlash. (TODAY, Feb 11, 2025)
- Creators in the campaign: The campaign around that ad used creators already partnered with Poppi, including investor Alix Earle, Jake Shane and Rob Rausch. (poppi, Feb 9, 2025)
- Result: Ellsworth says a later Super Bowl ad with Charli XCX and Rachel Sennott tripled brand awareness. (Fortune, Apr 12, 2026)
Hand creators the big moments
10. e.l.f.: give creators a song and a challenge to run with
On its first time on TikTok, e.l.f. commissioned its own song and ran a hashtag challenge that Tarang Amin says got three or four billion views.
Then it partnered with Simon Cowell on a rock band made on TikTok, with a challenge for a makeup artist to go around the world with them, and that did 15 billion views.
Did a hashtag challenge. I think got something like three or four billion views. By the time people were copying us on Tik Tok, we were already partnering with Simon Cowell, the co-founder of American Idol, to create a rock band on Tik Tok. Hear it: Hailey Bieber, AI & fast launches: how e.l.f. Beauty is winning (CEO Tarang Amin) | Rapid Response
The mechanics:
- The song: e.l.f. made #eyeslipsface with a Brooklyn creative agency, the first branded TikTok campaign with its own music, later made into a full track with songwriter iLL Wayno. (e.l.f. Beauty, Oct 11, 2019)
- Paid push: e.l.f. paid to promote the challenge video, the first paid ad to hold the number one trending hashtag on TikTok. (e.l.f. Beauty, Oct 11, 2019)
- The follow up: For its reality show Eyes. Lips. Famous., three top TikTok beauty influencers asked fans to post why they should win, and three winners got a month-long Beauty Camp aired on e.l.f.'s TikTok. (The Shorty Awards)
- Result: That show drew 3,300 entries, 40 million views and a 57% jump in followers on e.l.f.'s TikTok. (The Shorty Awards)
- Listening: When fans on a TikTok Live asked for a cheaper version of a $38 bronzing drop, e.l.f. brought one out 6 months later instead of 18. (hear it at 15:05)
- Where fans are: It was the first beauty brand with its own Twitch channel, and runs the top branded experience on Roblox. (hear it at 8:31)
11. Feastables: give college creators free rein and bars to hand out
MrBeast launched Feastables on campus through Friends of Feastables, a college creator program run by Archrival. The creators averaged over 2M followers each, got total creative freedom and perks from Feastables' brand partnerships, and pushed each other to outdo one another.
They handed more than one hundred thousand bars to students, and the content got over 26 million impressions.
Student creators were given total creative freedom and generous resources to bring their big ideas to life and get chocolate bars into the hands of students. Read it: Archrival
The mechanics:
- The launch: Feastables' own launch ran on a sweepstakes worth more than $1,000,000, with $10,000 prizes. (Wikipedia)
- The brief: Instead of a script, the college creators got a series of prompts to think big in their own style, so posts ran from cooking to gaming to comedy. (Archrival)
- The stunts: They made giant chocolate heads, took ice baths, and used helicopters and branded vending machines to get bars to students. (Archrival)
- Output: Over one semester the creators made 206 pieces of content, with 2M engagements. (Archrival)
12. Celsius: put its biggest creators inside real events
Celsius signed Jake Paul with its brand on his fight gear and inside his YouTube show and podcast, and says it is adamant about reaching people through micro to macro influencers.
It held a celebrity pickleball tournament at David Dobrik's LA home with about 200 guests, and says the event got more than 3 billion media impressions and 31 million social impressions.
The event saw more than 3 billion media impressions and more than 31 million social impressions, including over 400 tagged mentions, according to Celsius. Read it: Marketing Brew, Sep 22, 2023
The mechanics:
- Athletes first: By January 2022 its athlete partners included Dustin Poirier, Suni Lee and Hunter Woodhall, and it signed Shaun White, who was already a fan. (BevNET, Jan 20, 2022)
- Who comes to them: Jake Paul came to Celsius, and it signed him once it saw he was serious about the brand and about fighting in the Professional Fighters League, which it sponsors. (Marketing Brew, Sep 22, 2023)
- Owned events: At events it owns, Celsius wants photos with its brand in the background and national press, not only social posts. (Marketing Brew, Sep 22, 2023)
- Anyone can apply: It runs an open ambassador program: people apply, are picked on enthusiasm and community involvement, and represent the brand for a contracted term. (Celsius)
Make the best creators owners
13. Liquid I.V.: raise money from celebrities who each work on the brand
Brandin Cohen says Liquid I.V. raised from celebrities on the basis that each would do something in the business, so it was strategy more than money. Scooter Braun invested, and it made limited flavors with Justin Bieber and Kygo.
Unilever later bought Liquid I.V., and it is now in 80,000 retail stores.
We sort of have this vision of you know doing this investor around with celebrities which in the past like people had done it but not the way we did it where they all were going to do something in the business Hear it: Drinkin' Bros Podcast Episode #810 - Special Guest Liquid IV Founder Brandin Cohen Read it: The Food Stack, Mar 12, 2026
The mechanics:
- The first backer: Scooter Braun, manager to Justin Bieber, had invested since 2017 through his TQ Ventures group. (BevNET, Sep 2, 2020)
- The round: In July 2019 a $5 million round added first-time investors like Demi Lovato, Kevin Hart, Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber, Usher and DJ Khaled. (BevNET, Jul 24, 2019)
- What the money did: The money went to growing in stores like Costco, Whole Foods Market and CVS, and every purchase donates a serving to someone in need. (Liquid I.V., Jul 23, 2019)
- Sampling: When celebrities and athletes ask for free product, Brandin Cohen just says yes and sends it, because it counts as sampling. (hear it at 13:40)
- TikTok: It ran creators' own TikToks as Spark Ads, and return on ad spend rose 48% from Q2 to Q3 of 2021. (TikTok for Business)
- College athletes: In 2023 it opened its own marketplace on MOGL where college athletes in every sport can promote it and get paid. (MOGL, Oct 27, 2023)
14. Neutonic: make the creators the founders
Neutonic was founded in 2023 by fitness creator James Smith and Chris Williamson, host of the Modern Wisdom podcast. Smith gave away 5,000 rash guards with the Neutonic eye on them.
It has sold more than 7.5 million cans, and in 2026 it expected to pass $25 million in revenue after doubling revenue from 2024 to 2025.
I can send out some free cans of Neutonic, and end up with a customer for life. Read it: BeverageDaily, Apr 28, 2026
The mechanics:
- The founders: Beside the two creators, its founders include manager Luke Betts and Genflow CEO Shan Hanif. (Tech.eu, Jul 1, 2025)
- Listener page: Its page for Modern Wisdom listeners offers 15% off and a free Focus Pouch with a subscription. (Neutonic's Modern Wisdom page)
- Gifting at scale: Outside creators come through the agency Gymfluencers: selected members get product in a mass gifting run, and the best posts earn paid campaigns or a place on the affiliate roster. (Gymfluencers)
- The prize: For its creatine sachets the top prizes included a 30-minute call with James Smith and a year in his mentorship program. (Gymfluencers)
- Creator investors: Creators Kayla Itsines and Mike Thurston put money in too. (Tech.eu, Jul 1, 2025)