Priceline, Coca-Cola Cos. Shift Ad Dollars as Influencers Launch Their Own Brands

Priceline, Coca-Cola Cos. Shift Ad Dollars as Influencers Launch Their Own Brands

Major advertisers are moving bigger portions of their ad budgets to social media influencers. The shift poses another blow to traditional TV.

Art by Clark Miller

Over the past several years, many big consumer brands have dabbled in influencer marketing as they sought to figure out how effective it was. Now curiosity is giving way to real commitments.

Fanta, the fruit-flavored soda owned by Coca-Cola, has in the past spent little on creators. But that’s changed, and in late April, the soda brand revived its “Wanta Fanta” jingle from the early aughts by hiring a group of Gen Z creators in the U.S. to remix, dance to and lip-sync to the song on TikTok as well as running other digital ads. Fanta didn’t bother bringing the campaign back to TV, and in most countries around the world, it no longer spends a nickel on traditional TV advertising.