Few market landscapes are as competitive as the food and beverage industry, particularly in the sports nutrition category. If you’ve ever watched ABC’s Shark Tank, you’ve likely heard this sentiment echoed numerous times by the likes of Kevin O'Leary, Mark Cuban, and Lori Greiner, who all agree that vying for limited shelf space is a constant, arduous marketing battle. However, just because it’s challenging doesn’t mean it’s impossible: numerous sports nutrition brands display notable creativity when connecting with customers via authentic, innovative influencer marketing.
In this blog post, we hold a magnifying glass to three top sports nutrition brands, and examine the influencer marketing strategies these brands have leveraged to get ahead.
GoMacro firmly established itself as a market leader in 2022, with its $4.7M Earned Media Value (EMV) total in H1 2022 representing a 57% year-over-year improvement. A key component of GoMacro’s success was the expansion of its partnerships with vegan athletes, who were encouraged to include GoMacro bars in their everyday nutrition posts. As a result, #PlantBased clocked in as one of the brand’s most successful hashtags, contributing $123.1k EMV via 24 posts.
Micro-influencer and ballerina Nina Nicole Cockrell (@ninanicolecockrell on TikTok) ranked as one of GoMacro’s most impactful influencers, generating $123.5k EMV thanks to numerous candid videos highlighting GoMacro bars as one of her favorite everyday vegan snacks. However, a new partnership with professional surfer Nathan Florence (@nathan_florence on Instagram) was GoMacro’s most powerful partnership by a wide margin, with the athlete contributing a jaw-dropping $2.4M EMV.
Despite experiencing a slight 6% YoY EMV contraction, Kind still enjoyed a productive H1, collecting $1.1M EMV. A focus on maximizing influencer potency helped Kind stay on track and avoid relinquishing a greater share of voice to competitors. Retained powerhouse influencers increased their EMV output by 50% YoY, rising from $97.7k in H1 2021 to $146.3k in H1 2022. Nutrition website Eat This, Not That! (@eatthisnotthat on Instagram) powered $40.2k EMV for Kind, a 108% increase over H1 2021, emerging as the brand’s No. 3 highest-earning advocate.
In keeping with Kind, influencer potency also proved a key contributor to Lärabar’s 15% YoY EMV increase. The General Mills-owned energy bar pulled in $736.2k EMV thanks to a 45% YoY surge in influencer potency, which was spurred mostly by a productive cohort of incoming influencers. New creators who mentioned Lärabar in H1 2022 generated $833.5k EMV, outpacing the $341.3k driven by creators who posted about the brand in H2 2021 before falling off in H1.
Among Lärabar’s most potent new creators was three year-old chef Kobe Wian (@kobe_yn), whose parents included the brand’s energy bars among Kobe’s snacks in a single post that delivered $87.8k EMV. Additionally, an official partnership with food guru Julie Resnick’s Instagram recipe account TheFeedFeed (@thefeedfeed) further fueled Lärabar’s H1 boom, with the account powering $84.5k EMV via 17 mentions.
Challenge breeds creativity, and leading food and beverage brands have risen to meet the occasion. As the industry continues to evolve, we’re excited to see how brands’ innovative influencer marketing strategies keep pace.