How Emma Chamberlain Has Exceled as an Influencer
After the explosion of her Youtube channel four years ago, Emma Chamberlain has become a household name and, more impressively, has sustained herself as one of the most adored celebrities of our time. With an invite to about every awards show, several major brand deals, and tens of millions of fans worldwide, Chamberlain has, whether strategically or not, taken advantage of her likable personality to become incomparably successful.
Chamberlain began her journey to stardom making relatable, light-hearted Youtube videos in the same format as other Youtubers — cooking tutorials, shopping hauls, and, obviously, vlogs — but it was her unique honesty that separated her from the rest. In her early videos, there was no holding back when it came to pretty much any topic, taboo or not; Chamberlain always appeared comfortable to curse freely and talk to the camera as if it were any other friend on a Facetime call, almost giving off a similar aura to Jennifer Lawerence á la the early 2010s.
Chamberlain also always presented her personal style candidly, and, with the exponential rise of her viewership, she unarguably began a major shift in Gen Z’s fashion. All of a sudden, young girls and teenagers everywhere began searching for vintage Levi jeans and Doc Marten boots similar to those Chamberlain regularly sported. Today, Emma Chamberlain’s Instagram is a regular, almost journalistic peek into current fashion trends that one could — and many do — cite for inspiration.
Of course, celebrity status attained with social media is often short-lived, but Chamberlain appears determined not to fall victim to this. It seems like almost every day Chamberlain posts a new, tasteful and creative campaign with a company or product, and her influence is powerful. Even CAVA, a new and popular Mediterranean fast food restaurant, just released its “Emma’s Fire Bowl” with all her (supposed) favorite ingredients. Storefronts across the country all feature posters and marketing materials advertising the new limited-time bowl with photos of Chamberlain herself artsily posed with the bowl.
It’s important to note that, sure, many influencers do ad campaigns to get by, but most are really underwhelming and transactional. Chamberlain’s PR deals all seem to keep the same whimsical, colorful theme that she keeps throughout her Youtube videos, Instagram feed, and overall taste. The fonts, colors, and themes all keep the consistency of her own personal content so that I, as a consumer, don’t immediately see ads on per page and compartmentalize them as ads. Instead of feeling like a commercial, they really do feel like she’s personally recommending the product.
Aside from her brand deals with other companies, Chamberlain also has built her own brand, with the creation of her coffee company, Chamberlain Coffee. Part of Emma’s brand was the ever-present iced latte with her in every Youtube video or Instagram post (again, another trend with young people that can somewhat be credited to her), and there is no better way to capitalize off of this than creating coffee products herself. Chamberlain Coffee sells coffee blends, mugs, glass tumblers, and totebags, all of which are almost always sold out and constantly being restocked. Even at Coachella this year, the company partnered with vegan ice cream brand Craig’s to sell a special coffee-flavored ice cream to festival-goers. In addition to her successful coffee brand, Chamberlain has also been maintaining a podcast called Anything Goes with new episodes coming out every Thursday.
These deals and endeavors of her own may be Emma’s doing or that of her well-known Los Angeles PR agent Cait Bailey but regardless, her marketing is objectively working in her favor. Chamberlain has manipulated the world of public relations in such a way that she is capitalizing fiscally, obviously, but still maintaining her identity and thus growing her viewership. With her creativity and innovative personality, Emma Chamberlain is a figure in our world today that has the potential to outrun influencer-culture and become a power larger than herself.
By Annie Levy