Charlie Bowes-Lyon, co-founder of the refillable deodorant brand Wild, has disclosed that the company pays up to seven-figure sums to high-profile influencers for product endorsements. The brand, which was acquired by Unilever in 2023, currently allocates nearly £10 million of its annual budget to influencer marketing. Bowes-Lyon stated that this budget could double next year as the company seeks more brand ambassadors.
The company employs a team of 20 people to manage these partnerships, which include celebrities such as tennis player Emma Raducanu and media personalities Stacey Solomon and Molly-Mae Hague. According to Bowes-Lyon, payments range from £100,000 to over £1 million depending on the scope of the campaign. Raducanu’s partnership alone has cost the brand millions of pounds and included content creation such as photo shoots and custom product development.
Marketing experts noted that while these posts are often labeled with tags like #ad, audiences may not always recognize them as paid advertisements. Research from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) indicates that 54% of consumers correctly identify influencer posts as ads, compared to 74% for traditional brand advertising. Analysts suggest that top-tier influencers now operate as sophisticated media businesses with extensive legal and production support to manage these commercial relationships.