Cool, classy and corporate: the rise of the celebrity Creative Director

Not so long ago, celebrity was symbolised by a tiny dog, oversized sunglasses and a casual frequenting of yachts. Those days are long gone. The latest accessory for the rich and famous? A Creative Director job.

Last week, ex-Love Islander Molly-Mae Hague became Creative Director at fashion brand Pretty Little Thing (PLT), Kendall Jenner, second to youngest of the Kardashian clan, was appointed to the same role at online luxury fashion retailer FWRD and model Bella Hadid became co-founder of the non-alcoholic beverage company Kin Euphorics. 

Aged between 22 and 25 years old and having skipped the undignified years of unpaid internships and late nights working towards a years-in-the-making promotion, the three women lack the experience and qualifications typical of a Creative Director or co-founder (though Hadid’s position probably has something to do with investment into the start-up). So why did these brands hire them?

The influencer is a contemporary invention, a bi-product of celebrity and social media that made being cool, beautiful or personable a lucrative career. Social media and reality television slowly chipped away at the mystery of the old-school celebrity. These beautiful and rich individuals were no longer mystical figures caught in snapshots in gossip magazines, but real people speaking to you from your phone, letting you know what they had for lunch that day. 

These fading boundaries between the everyday person and the celebrity meant that we no longer just want the products these people endorse; we want the products they actually use. Their beauty, success and fame feel closer, more achievable. If only we could find out how to eat, drink, smell and dress like them. This thirst for authenticity has created the perfect environment for the social media influencer to blossom. 

The typical celebrity has their assistant post picture-perfect images of them on Instagram, whereas the influencer posts intimate vlogs of their everyday life and shares the products they use, morning to night. Brands have taken note, sending their products to these people who, for whatever reason, are appealing to watch. What began as innocent attempts to capture everyday life or make friends online has now become a chance to influence the consumer choices of others and make millions.

In 2021, the influencer is a cemented part of our modern life and a recognised, if often sneered at, career. In fact, a 2019 study of 11 to 16-year-olds found that 17 per cent wanted to be social media influencers when they grew up, outranking teacher or vet, and one in 11 wanted to be a YouTuber. The impact of the influencer on the digital generation is clear. It is no longer the fashion magazine or the expensive ad campaign that guides consumer impulses, but the teenage girl creating videos in her bedroom.

Whilst Molly-Mae Hague, Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid lack the on-paper qualifications for high-level in-house job positions, each possess the proven quality to build a following: Hague has six million followers on Instagram, Jenner 183 million and Hadid 45.5 million (although Jenner and Hadid’s following is assisted by family fame). By creating in-house positions for these women, the brands are capitalising on this audience engagement, hoping to turn the followers into customers. In doing so, they have created a new hierarchy of influencers with product ambassadors at the bottom and Creative Directors at the top.

Though the brands have not confirmed the ins and outs of the roles (does Molly-Mae get an office in the PLT HQ?), the role of the celebrity Creative Director is likely to be different to that of a non-celebrity Creative Director. Answering questions about her new role on Instagram, Hague told fans: “So basically I have creative input/lead within multiple areas of the brand eg marketing, buying, influencers,” adding, “it’s a 24/7 role… sharing ideas, coming up with incredible new concepts, having input on shoots, events, you name it.” It remains to be seen just how much power or responsibility they will have. 

Despite the furore around these celebrity appointments, this is not a brand-new phenomenon. Chloe Sevigny, Solange Knowles, Alicia Keys and Rihanna have all held Creative Director roles, to varying levels of success. After all, the celebrity world does come with unique access to the fashion industry and years of experience, if not in a marketing department, featuring in campaigns and rubbing noses with the world’s best creatives.

If all else fails, PLT and FWRD can be sure that appointing a celebrity Creative Director is a quick and easy way to push their brand into the public eye for a few weeks. This technique was recently employed by the e-sports and gaming agency DDB FTW, putting their own industry spin on the move and hiring Jerry Smith, the cartoon father figure from the popular series Rick and Morty, as their latest Creative Director. The brand announced the appointment on LinkedIn and created a full profile for the character, going semi-viral in the process. Who knows what’s next? Perhaps M&S will announce Percy Pig as their next CD.

In a 2019 interview in Columbia Magazine, Professor Sharon Marcus, author of The Drama of Celebrity, predicted that, for celebrities, “the new prestige could involve limiting access rather than providing it.” But this underestimates the entwinement of consumerism and celebrity. Instead, the influencer or celebrity’s visibility, prestige and authority are only growing; we are entering a new era of influencer, and they’re coming to a brand near you.