British natural deodorant brand Wild, known for its refillable cartridge format, spends nearly £10 mln annually on blogger advertising and plans to double its influencer marketing budget by 2027. Acquired by Unilever in 2025, the company has built its entire promotional strategy around influencer partnerships: a team of more than 20 people focuses exclusively on blogger relations, and Wild co-founder Charlie Bowes-Lyon calls influencer marketing the brand's "secret sauce."
How much does top-tier influencer advertising cost
Wild works with influencers across all tiers: from £100,000 to several million pounds per campaign with top-tier celebrities. British tennis player Emma Raducanu — the brand's current ambassador — signed a multi-million pound contract for a year of partnership. The collaboration included shoots in New York, dozens of Instagram posts and stories (owned by Meta, recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia), plus the creation of a custom deodorant fragrance.
Campaigns with TV presenter Stacey Solomon and influencer Molly-Mae Hague each cost the brand hundreds of thousands of pounds. Bowes-Lyon emphasizes that for celebrities at this level, money is secondary—brand alignment with their personal image is what matters. Solomon, according to Wild's founder, turns down 98% of commercial offers, which makes her recommendations especially valuable to her audience.
«When I tell people influencers earn £2,000 per post, they're shocked—and that's not even mentioning some who make £50,000 per single post,» — Charlie Bowes-Lyon, Wild co-founder.
Why brands choose influencer marketing over traditional advertising
Hannah Campbell, founder of influencer agency One Twelve Agency, explains the rising spend on blogger advertising with simple logic: "People buy from people." Influencers have built communities that trust them, while younger audiences barely engage with traditional media—but follow their favorite influencers daily.
Wild creates multi-layered integrations: the Stacey Solomon campaign included over 100 unique ad creatives for social media, each with different value propositions for different audience segments. This approach allows testing messages and maximizing reach through a single partnership.
How the brand measures influencer advertising effectiveness
Wild uses two types of campaigns with different metrics. Partnerships with celebrities like Raducanu focus on brand awareness—effectiveness is measured by retail sales growth and overall brand knowledge, with results accumulating over time. Targeted campaigns with promo codes, like Molly-Mae Hague's, deliver sharp sales spikes that drop within days of the story disappearing.
Bowes-Lyon identified a pattern: integration authenticity is critical for conversion. Wild signed Hague after she independently, without payment, featured the brand's body wash in a video—the marketing team spotted the organic mention and reached out. These "pre-qualified" partnerships show the best engagement results.
Ad labeling transparency and audience trust
A study by the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that only 54% of consumers confidently recognize blogger advertising—compared to 74% for regular brand posts. Katie Howell, director at Rethink Social marketing agency, considers the #ad label "legally sufficient but informationally sparse"—it doesn't disclose the scale of commercial relationships.
According to Howell, top influencers are no longer solo content creators with phones—they're full-fledged media businesses with managers, production teams, lawyers, and multiple income streams. Audiences understand influencers get paid, but underestimate the complexity of influence economics. Wild solves the trust problem through long-term partnerships: instead of one-off posts, the brand runs a series of campaigns where the influencer explains why the product suits them.
How Wild's strategy applies to the Russian market
Wild's approach demonstrates that influencer marketing works not just for impulse purchases but for building long-term brands in competitive categories (the deodorant market). Russian brands can adapt Wild's strategy—combining ambassador deals for awareness and performance campaigns with promo codes for direct sales.
Key takeaway for brands: scaling influencer advertising requires a dedicated team and structured media planning approach. Selecting influencers for different objectives—from reach to conversions—is expertise that's hard to build in-house without experience. Influencer agencies handle influencer selection by audience metrics, integration KPI forecasting, and the entire media buying cycle—from negotiations to reporting. If a brand is planning a budget of several million rubles annually for influencer work, it makes sense to engage the ETC team or similar specialized partners to audit current vendors and build a long-term strategy.
Frequently asked questions
How much does advertising from million-follower influencers cost?
From £100,000 to several million pounds (7.5–75+ bln ₽ at current exchange rates) per campaign depending on influencer scale and partnership depth. A single post from a mid-level blogger can cost £2,000–50,000 (150 thousand–3.7 bln ₽), while long-term ambassador deals with top-tier celebrities run into millions.
How do you measure influencer advertising effectiveness?
For performance campaigns, use promo codes and UTM tags—they show direct sales conversion. For image-building integrations with celebrities, measure brand awareness growth (brand awareness) through surveys and retail sales dynamics over the medium term. Wild combines both campaign types for different business objectives.
Why is influencer marketing more effective than traditional advertising?
Influencers have built trusting relationships with their audiences, who perceive their recommendations as personal advice rather than corporate messaging. Younger audiences barely interact with traditional media but watch influencer content daily—giving brands direct access to their target group in a familiar format.
In brief
- Wild spends nearly £10 mln annually on influencer ads and plans to double the budget by 2027—a team of 20+ people focuses exclusively on influencer marketing.
- Partnership costs range from £100,000 to several million pounds: the Emma Raducanu campaign cost millions, while Stacey Solomon and Molly-Mae Hague campaigns cost hundreds of thousands.
- The brand uses two campaign types: image-building with celebrities for awareness and targeted campaigns with promo codes for direct sales—each addresses specific business goals.
- Only 54% of consumers confidently recognize influencer advertising (vs. 74% for regular brand ads)—integration authenticity is critical for trust.
- Scaling influencer marketing requires a dedicated team and structured media planning—influencer agencies handle influencer selection, KPI forecasting, and the full media buying cycle.
Want to see where the market is heading before your competitors do? The ETC team builds a media strategy and media plan for your niche — with reach forecasts and KPIs fixed in the contract.
