There was one week in November 2020 when four different beautiful movie stars announced they had nabbed powerful new jobs — not in Hollywood, but at wellness and jewelry startups.
On the 17th, buzzy sexual wellness company Maude announced Dakota Johnson had joined as co-creative director. On the 18th, Jennifer Aniston alerted her Instagram followers that she’d become Chief Creative Officer at the popular collagen powder company Vital Proteins. On the 19th, Cara Delevingne joined sex-toy company Lora Dicarlo as co-owner and creative adviser; and Kerry Washington joined DTC fine jewelry brand Aurate as an investor and collaborator.
These were just the most recent examples of a trend that had already been bubbling up of celebrities partnering with brands in new, seemingly more influential ways. In September, for instance, Issa Rae joined clean textured hair-care brand Sienna Naturals not just as a face, but as a co-owner as well. There are other examples that go further back: Marc Jacobs, Alicia Keys, Rihanna and Lady Gaga were all once creative directors for Diet Coke, Blackberry, Puma and Polaroid, respectively, but these PR stunts were brief and few and far between.
In lieu of traditional celebrity brand deals where a brand might pay a famous face to star in its ad campaigns and wear its clothes at public appearances, post on social media or create a one-off collaboration, some brands and celebrities are now linking up in more permanent ways. In these new arrangements, celebrities convey a vested interest in the company, and the company may hand over some responsibilities and even a title to the celebrity (whether or not they have experience in the field).
So are celebrities actively looking for different kinds of opportunities? Or are brand marketers trying to evolve the ways they work with talent? It’s a bit of both.
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