With the popularity of influencer marketing taking off, brands are fighting for the attention of popular creators and trying to cement themselves in the space. Digital content creators are the pop stars of this generation: Being able to align your brand with their personalities ensures you’ll reach younger audiences and remain culturally relevant.
But 75% of Gen Z audiences are craving more creativity from brands in how they market themselves (as per data from YouGov). This means non-endemic brands are tasked with not just finding creators who align with their brand identity, but then also crafting unique collaborations to stand out from other brands. We’re going to look at some modern examples of influencer marketing with brands marketing in 2025 and the unique synergies that different industries can have when working with digital creators.
Entertainment Brands Working With Twitch
Entertainment brands hoping to work with streamers face a conflict of interest: Many of these services are often competing for viewers’ precious time. It can seem counter-productive to partner with streamers or live-streaming platforms when this may result in pushing your potential viewers onto other channels. Netflix is a classic example: Viewers may opt to binge a Netflix TV series in the background while they work, or they might put on their favourite streamer doing a speedrun. But rarely will any viewer do both (particularly at the same time).
Even still, there are times when a collaboration with your competitor makes sense. Back in 2021, Netflix premiered the first season of Arcane: An animated adaptation of League of Legends which is, in turn, one of the most watched games on live-streaming platforms. In this situation, the overlap between Arcane viewers and live-streaming viewers was very high. And so, Netflix supported co-streaming for Arcane’s debut, increasing awareness for the show in a play that they hoped would bring live-streaming viewers onto their service. Netflix also remains aware of the cultural relevance of streamers, recently debuting a reality TV series based around streamers’ lives titled House of Streams.
Crunchyroll is one of the best examples of an entertainment brand finding synergy with live streaming. There is a massive overlap between Twitch and Crunchyroll’s audience, with live-streaming viewers loving the anime aesthetic. Just look at the popularity of Ironmouse: An English-speaking VTuber with a highly engaged audience. It’s for this reason that Crunchyroll tapped Ironmouse to cover the “orange carpet” pre-screening event for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2025.
In the week preceding the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Crunchyroll partnered with Twitch for a promotion: Anyone who purchased two Twitch subs would get a free 30-day trial of Crunchyroll’s Mega Fan tier. The nature of the promotion ensured both Twitch and Crunchyroll could guarantee new viewers from any single conversion, and each brand could then gamble on their service being entertaining enough to keep the viewer’s attention. However, it’s worth saying that the benefit to the consumer is fairly weak, with a small saving of just $2 when accepting this promotion. A stronger partnership occurred back in 2023 with Crunchyroll’s “Support a Streamer” collaboration which offered a two-month free trial and was supported by specific streamers rather than covering the Twitch platform as a whole.
Food & Drink Brands Updating Their Image with Streamers
Market forces constantly pressure food & drink brands to update their image to stay fresh. Being the consumable of choice (for lack of a better word) among a new generation is essential, and that requires highly specific promotions for different audiences around the globe. Take Burger King’s influencer-centric “El Grand King” event: During the promotion, a series of meals are being sold each themed after one of four Spanish content creators: DjMaRiiO, Lola Lolita, RoRo, and Ceciarmy. People who purchase these meals will also be supporting their favourite streamer in the lead-up to an IRL competition. Tying the creators’ personalities to the different burgers on offer is a creative way to associate Burger King with self-expression.
However, the undeniable frontrunner of influencer marketing campaigns in the world of food & drink is McDonald’s. Just a short list of influencers that have partnered with McDonald’s includes Travis Scott, BTS, and Kai Cenat (who is no stranger to big sponsorships as we’ll see in a moment). But McDonald’s doesn’t just do one-off promotions with big-name stars: They go deep into pop culture to find exciting partners. Just recently, McDonald’s partnered with esports group Fnatic to promote the relaunch of the McSpicy (along with Frank’s Hot Sauce). These deep-cut collabs establish McDonald’s foothold among hardcore gamers and prove their proficiency in navigating the space. It’s thick kind of forward-thinking that has put McDonald’s into the stomachs of 44% of Gen Z consumers per YouGov (that’s 19% more than the next highest fast food chain Chick-fil-A at 25%).
Apparel Brands Proving Cultural Relevance With Streamers
Like food & drink brands, apparel brands have to retain their cultural relevance. However, apparel brands also need to create trends themselves and lead the way. This means partnering with top-tier influencers who have their own distinct style, and closely aligning their image with said influencers. There have been a number of high profile streamer X apparel partnerships in the past, like Ninja being sponsored by Adidas and Kai Cenat being sponsored by Nike (told you he’d pop up again). More recently, New Balance signed their first-ever gaming ambassador: SV2 (Eman), a YouTube and TikTok creator who makes not just football videos, but also EA Sports FC content.
As a high-fashion brand that prides itself on being at the forefront of cultural movements, Gucci is constantly creating experimental experiences with their influencers that other brands haven’t had the spirit (or the budget) to try out. There are far too many to count, but we wanted to outline just a few here to show the breadth of Gucci’s vision:
- Gucci Gaming Academy: The gaming academy is focused on empowering young esports players with tools to maintain their mental health amidst the newfound attention they experience online. These forward-thinking initiatives prove Gucci’s awareness of modern issues that younger generations relate to.
- 100 Thieves Collab: Gucci partnered with Fortnite and VALORANT streamer Valkyrae for a photoshoot, including her esports organization 100 Thieves. As part of the collab, Gucci went as far as to create a custom, limited edition Gucci Off The Grid backpack.
- Gucci Garden on Roblox: Although not strictly an influencer marketing campaign, we couldn’t help mentioning that Gucci was one of the earliest and biggest supporters of branded UGC. These Roblox experiences bring brands to life and appeal to even younger audiences than live-streaming platforms.
The result of these ongoing campaigns has been astounding: Gucci is the most prevalent luxury apparel brand among Gen Z consumers at 11% per YouGov (only Dior comes close at 10%, with all other luxury brands trailing behind).
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It’s good to see brands diving deep into the influencer space, going beyond just the biggest names to find opportunities that target highly niche audiences and that feel authentically motivated. However, brands could still go further by partnering with experts in the industry to craft truly creative influencer marketing campaigns. For example, the popularity of RP servers on live streaming opens the opportunity to sponsor said servers, alleviating costs for streamers and tying their brand to highly viewed content. Executing these campaigns tactfully requires intimate knowledge of the space and the willingness to be bold.
To learn more about expert influencer marketing tips in 2025, check out Stream Hatchet’s Influencer Marketing eBook:
