The New Rules of Brand Ambassadorship

Business of Fashion

2 days ago

The influencer economy is changing at pace, fuelled by shifting consumer expectations, the proliferation of content platforms and a renewed focus on authenticity. The once straightforward model of celebrity endorsement has evolved to a more complex, multi-layered strategy that prioritises partnerships based on cultural alignment over reach.
This evolution is the focus of Launchmetrics' latest Brand Ambassador Marketing 2025 Report, which draws on proprietary data and insights from across fashion, lifestyle and beauty sectors to analyse how brand-ambassador relationships are driving influence today — from casting talent to measuring impact.
The report identifies a growing preference for long-term, values-based partnerships that reflect a brand's ethos and foster trust among consumers. Today's top-performing ambassadors are not simply the faces of campaigns, but storytellers who bring credibility, community and creative alignments.
As traditional metrics like visibility and impressions give way to deeper indicators of resonance and cultural effect, brands are rethinking what success looks like — and who is best positioned to deliver it.
As stated in the report: 'In this new era, visibility is table stakes. True impact lies in how well an ambassador's message is amplified by media, influencers and communities — the echo effect that drives cultural relevance.'
While the industry is expected to reach $8.37 billion in value in 2025, according to The Business Research Company, up from $6.17 billion in 2024, representing a compound annual growth rate of 35.7 percent — this growth doesn't necessarily equate to a continued reliance on traditional influencer strategies.
Insights from a recent BoF white paper, Commercialising the Zeitgeist: Crafting a Successful TikTok Strategy, emphasise a shift towards authenticity and community engagement in influencer marketing. Brands are increasingly prioritising partnerships with micro-influencers who — despite having a smaller following — often boast higher engagement rates and a more authentic connection with their audiences.
To better understand these shifts, Launchmetrics analysed more than 200 campaigns globally — using media impact value (MIV, a proprietary algorithm created and trademarked by Launchmetrics) — surveying both industry professionals and consumers. Below, BoF distils key themes from the report that are redefining the rules of brand ambassadorship in 2025. Launchmetric's Brand Ambassador Marketing 2025 Report
BoF: The landscape of brand ambassadorship has undergone a significant transformation. Historically, partnerships were centered around celebrity endorsement, which proved a straightforward avenue for visibility.
However, as consumer expectations evolved, so has the role of brand ambassadors. Now, 65 percent of consumers rely less on fashion influencers compared to previous years, according to BoF and McKinsey & Co.'s The State of Fashion 2024 report.
In fact, BoF's Brand Magic Index — a novel, quantifiable and trackable metric to evaluate a brand's marketing efforts by measuring the distance between brands and their customers — reveals that brands with smaller followings can outperform larger counterparts in engagement. For instance, Jacquemus, with its 6.4 million Instagram followers, consistently gleans hundreds of thousands of likes per post, while in compassion, Dolce & Gabbana — despite having over 30 million followers — typically receives fewer than 10,000 likes per post.
Brands that are aiming to foster deeper connections with audiences should prioritise engagement metrics and authenticity of influencers — recognising that a highly engaged community often holds more value than a vast, but passive, follower-base.
Launchmetrics Report: The role of the brand ambassador has transformed dramatically. Where icons such as Audrey Hepburn or Michael Jordan stood as monolithic figures of glamour and greatness, today's ambassadors — Zendaya, Emma Chamberlain, Bad Bunny — operate within a much more complex matrix of influence.
These figures aren't just endorsers — but multi-hyphenates, cultural translators and co-creators who bring lived identity, social values and community relevance to every brand moment.
Modern ambassadorship is less about image and more about narrative alignment — a dynamic exchange between talent, audience and brand. Today's partnerships are judged as much for their symbolic resonance as their reach.
BoF: In an evolving landscape of brand ambassadorship, visibility is no longer the sole indicator of success. As the digital realm becomes increasingly saturated, the true measure of an ambassador's impact lies within amplification — the extent to which their message resonates and proliferates across various platforms.
Social platforms are democratising user engagement and content reach — TikTok, for instance, introduced Stitches as a format. This allows for one creator's video to be integrated with another, facilitating responses from other community members, content creators and brands directly.
Launchmetrics Report: In a media environment driven by a constant stream of content and short attention spans, visibility alone has become commoditised. What matters now is 'indirect echo' — the ripple effect of a campaign across third-party media, creator content, cultural commentary and fan engagement — which can be discovered through Launchmetrics' new 'Voice Echo' reporting.
Seventy-seven percent of media impact value (MIV) comes from Indirect Echo, on average, in the case of official ambassadorships — proving that the real power of ambassadorships lies in what others say in response, not just what the ambassador or brand posts.
A prime example of this was Roger Federer's nod to the film Challengers during Zendaya's On campaign — which drove $422k alone in MIV. It's not just about who is posting, but who is talking back, and why.
BoF: In 2024, the dynamics of cultural impact have shifted decisively. While celebrity endorsements once guaranteed attention, today's influence is built on resonance, not reach. The deepest cultural connections are those aligned with a brand's values, their communities and their creative direction.
By contrast, campaigns that chase virality or 'shock value' often burn fast and fade faster. Strategic partnerships — built on shared values, co-creation and cultural fluency — are proving to be more impactful. These are becoming essential to long-term brand equity.
Launchmetrics Report: The most successful partnerships are defined by strategic alignment, not just star power. Consider Zendaya's collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which generated $25.3 million in MIV through a combination of storytelling, cultural fluidity and Gen-Z relevance; or Lewis Hamilton's long-term ties with Dior and IWC Schaffhausen, which continue to deliver consistent results — earning $5 million and $2.9 million in MIV respectively within just one month.
Equally significant are rising voices like Nara (Aziza) Smith, whose campaigns with Marc Jacobs and H&M, while operating at a smaller scale, delivered standout performance thanks to her micro-aesthetic fluency and editorial credibility. H&M's campaign with Smith saw owned media jump from the typical 10 percent to 41 percent of total MIV — indicating the extent to which aligned storytelling can drive deeper brand investment and audience traction.
As Virginia Ritchie, chief marketing officer at Tommy Hilfiger, notes: 'It's not about the size of the name anymore, but how naturally they speak to the brand's values.'
BoF: The integration of artificial intelligence, or AI, into ambassador marketing is revolutionising how brands access and enhance the impact of their partnerships. Beyond streamlining content production, AI tools are now pivotal in decoding complex consumer behaviours and cultural trends — enabling brands to make data-informed decisions that resonate with their target audience.
Such integrated data analysis systems allow brands to track the reach and impact of their ambassador campaigns in real life — identifying which partnerships drive meaningful engagement and align with evolving consumer values.
As the marketing ecosystem becomes increasingly complex, the ability to harness AI for deep, actionable insights is no longer a luxury — it's a necessity. Brands that adopt these integrated analytical approaches are better positioned to navigate the nuanced landscape of cultural influence — ensuring their ambassadorships are both authentic as well as effective.
Launchmetrics Report: Traditional return on investment (ROI) tracking explains what happened. But AI-powered qualitative analysis reveals why it mattered. By parsing thousands of media articles, campaign assets and social conversations, Launchmetrics' proprietary system surfaces value themes — such as 'nostalgia,' inclusivity' or 'performance lifestyle' — that define each ambassador's cultural contribution.
This enables brands to choose talent based on not just their follower count or past campaigns, but on the values that they consistently evoke. For instance, AI flagged 'African inspired craftsmanship' as a recurring theme in Hamilton's Dior coverage — a nuance that would be missed in standard metrics.
AI brings meaning to scale. It's a strategic tool, not just an analytical one.
BoF: Brands are increasingly focusing on community engagement and co-creation in order to build authentic connections with their audiences.
Cultivating genuine communities can be one of fashion's most powerful means of engaging consumers and building brand loyalty — particularly in times of economic uncertainty, according to BoF's latest case study: How Brands Build Genuine Communities.
The study highlights that successful brands are those that move beyond simply transactional relationships and instead foster environments where consumers feel a sense of belonging and shared purpose. By creating spaces for meaningful interaction and co-creation — these brands not only enhance consumer loyalty but also build resilience against market fluctuations.
In an era where consumers seek more than just the products available, the ability to build and nurture genuine communities stands out as a critical differentiator in the industry.
Launchmetrics Report: As the industry looks forward, the next era of brand ambassadorship will be defined by 'ecosystem thinking' — how ambassadors engage, not just as spokespeople, but as co-creators, cultural catalysts and community conduits.
It's no longer about who can post the loudest, but who can co-create the most meaningfully. The future belongs to brands that see talent as partners in cultural authorships — not just vehicles for product placement.
Discover more insights in the report, from the evolving landscape of brand ambassador marketing in fashion, lifestyle and beauty, ROI metrics like MIV, Voice Echo analysis, 2024's top performers and standout case studies featuring Nara Aziza Smith, Zendaya, and Lewis Hamilton.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Launchmetrics as part of a BoF partnership.