At the WWD Beauty CEO Summit, Pierre-Loïc Assayag, cofounder and chief executive officer of Traackr, and Casey DePalma McCartney, chief strategy and brand communications officer at Unilever U.S., sat down with Amanda Smith, CEO of Fairchild Media Group, to share how influencer marketing is evolving.

This special episode of WWD Voices features their live discussion from the mainstage. During the panel, speakers noted the importance of establishing relationships with creators and social listening, which together enable brands to react to trending online conversations quickly and authentically.

DePalma McCartney shared how two of Unilever’s personal care brands, Dove and Vaseline, have found success with influencer activations. Vaseline tapped into “hacks” being shared on social media and decided to test them out, leaning on influencer partnerships to spread the message. Meanwhile, Dove turned posters’ laments about body odor at concerts into a campaign, aligning with creators who share its brand values of using beauty as a “source of confidence.”

Unilever has made a big bet on influencer marketing, with the goal of having a creator in every zip code. “Creators are truly at the heart of our new marketing model,” said DePalma McCartney.

Across industries, this marketing tactic is on the rise, with Smith citing a 26 percent year-over-year growth for influencer activations. “We’re moving from influencer marketing or creative collaborations as being a top of the funnel practice to being a full funnel practice, and that’s what is feeding the market growth that we’re seeing,” said Assayag. “It’s not even accounting quite yet for what AI is going to do to the category, so I would hold on to my shorts on what’s coming next.”

Listen to the conversation here.