Here’s How Holdco and Challenger Brands are Shaping Digital Advertising in 2025

It’s no secret that investment in digital advertising, namely influencer marketing, continues to rise. In fact, US influencer marketing spending will grow 14.2% YoY in 2025, more than either social ad spending (13.6%) or digital ad spending (12.5%), per our forecasts.

Thanks to this, the advertising industry’s dedication to digital is on the ascent once again, particularly in beauty. This time, legacy parent companies are leading the charge. Goldman Sachs estimates that the creator economy is worth $250 billion and will grow to nearly $500 billion by 2027. It’s no wonder everyone is after a slice of the pie.

In recent years we’ve seen the democratisation of social commerce, heavily-fuelled by the likes of TikTok Shop, make way for social-native brands to take centre stage. Their approaches to digital marketing speak to the fast-paced, authentic, and culture-first desires from modern consumers, which holding companies have previously struggled to lift off with. 

But things are changing.

While we’ve been privy to the uptick in influencer marketing spend by legacy parent companies in recent years, we’ve perhaps been underestimating the finer details. What we once thought was led by brands born out of social media, such as Made by Mitchell and REFY, influencer marketing is quietly being dominated by more and more Holdcos with bigger budgets, vast experience, and global awareness. 

These brands – think Unilever, PNG, Pepsico – may already have the budgets and awareness, but do they really know what to do with them? Let’s explore.

What place do Holdco brands have in an influencer-driven era?

Holdco beauty brands, historically built on traditional advertising methods, are now playing catch-up in a space where agility, real-time engagement, and cultural relevance are key. It’s no longer enough to just bring big budgets and legacy to the table. Speaking to consumers through relatable creators and influencers and adapting to social-first, community-led approaches is what truly drives success in 2025.

One brand in particular catching onto this is Unilever. 

In his first public appearance since being newly appointed, Unilever CEO, Fernando Fernandez outlined his goals for the company’s ambitious marketing boost. At the helm? 20x more influencers than the conglomerate already has existing relationships with. More specifically, influencers in every individual zip code throughout India and all 5,764 municipalities in Brazil, moving spend on social media from 30% to 50%. It appears that Unilever is shifting towards a model similar to L’Oréal’s, a leader in social-first marketing. While L’Oréal holds a 14% global market share in cosmetics, it commands 23% of paid voice and 30% of influencer voice.

However, Fernandez isn’t pushing this blindly, he is aware that it will require a “machine-like approach to content creation”, even citing AI as a potentially-credible source in getting there. 

While the marketing world stops steadily in its tracks, jaws agape, following Unilever’s new, slightly-incomprehensible, strategy, the floor is opened up for a wider discussion surrounding the use of influencer marketing for other Holdco brands vs social-native challenger brands; one which sees more and more legacy parent brands caught up with the modern world. 

However, this transition isn’t without its hurdles.

Holdco brands, while benefiting from massive budgets and established consumer trust, must contend with slower campaign turnarounds, bureaucratic marketing processes, and the perception that their collaborations can sometimes feel less genuine compared to the more organic content from challenger brands. A prime example of overcoming this challenge is Garnier Philippines’ 24-hour TikTok livestream event held in 2023. Despite being a large, established brand, Garnier tapped into fun livestream segments to create an engaging and authentic experience for consumers. Its ‘Sleeping Beauty’ segment led to over 2.4 million views and 225,000 engagements alone, driving a 1.4x sales increase, helping the brand exceed its sales goals by 106%.

@garnierph

We’re still on a high from our first ever 24HR Livestream Marathon 🤩 Here’s an exclusive BTS of our Sleeping Beauty segment 🩷 #garnierph #garnierpowerthroughthenight

♬ original sound – garnierph – garnierph

While these types of campaigns are the new norm, the legacy structure of brands such as this means that getting approval, maintaining consistency, and adapting quickly to changing trends can be a slow process. However, recognising this and continuing in pursuit of a refreshed strategy is the key to succeeding in this rapidly-changing landscape.

Challenger brands leveraging agility and authenticity in the digital age

Enter the challenger brands: agile, strategic, and perceptive. 

REFY, Made By Mitchell, and Glow Recipe, are all byproducts of social commerce’s influence on social media and are therefore considered experts in this field. Born out of platforms like TikTok, these challenger beauty brands are built on community and organic influencer relationships. They may not have the million-dollar budgets of their Holdco rivals, but they certainly make up for it with speed, authenticity, and a deep understanding of digital culture. 

Take Mitchell’s reign on TikTok Shop, for example. With community at the heart of it all, Made By Mitchell is able to leverage social listening to ideate, create, and release launches that resonate with what consumers truly want from beauty brands in 2025. TikTok Lives and starting conversations in the comment sections lessen the barrier between brand and consumer, allowing for a more direct line of communication when it comes to relaying not only what is wanted, but what is expected of the industry overall. 

@madebymitchell

@Clarice Mcsween🎀🫶🏻💖 YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL BABY!!! THANK YOU FOR JOINING US IN MBM WORLD. 💝 #madebymitchell #blursh #fyp #viral #makeup #glam #mua #fyp #viral #tiktokmademebuyit #transformation

♬ son original – Electro Anthology – Electro Anthology

This authentic approach has allowed the brand to grow rapidly, proving that it’s not just the budget that counts, but the strategy behind the spend.

On the other hand, the limitations when it comes to challenger brand approaches to digital advertising are clear. Without the same financial power as Unilever or P&G, some may struggle to scale their influencer marketing campaigns to the same level as the Holdco giants that can invest heavily in paid collaborations, multiple-tiered influencer strategies, and large-scale campaigns that can reach millions of consumers through diverse channels.

The digital landscape is increasingly saturated, also. Standing out on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, which are all crowded with content, requires constant innovation. The viral moments that fuel the success of many challenger brands are often unpredictable, forcing them to continuously evolve their content strategies and adapt to ever-changing trends in order to stay relevant. Though pivoting quickly is no hard feat for these social-native brands, constant innovation can be resource-intensive and runs the risk of leading to stagnation. 

We need to rethink success in digital advertising

The outdated notion that money automatically equals success has no place in digital advertising in 2025. 

As influencer marketing continues to evolve, Holdco-owned beauty brands will likely find it increasingly harder to maintain dominance through sheer financial power, alone. Instead, as influencer marketing becomes more nuanced and consumer-savvy, success will hinge on a brand or company’s ability to conduct effective social listening, adopt a community-led approach, and foster long-term relationships with creators rather than simply executing transactional deals.

Challenger brands, though smaller in budget, will continue to capitalise on their ability to move quickly and connect authentically with niche communities, setting trends rather than following them. However, once their Holdco counterparts can prove their dedication to transitioning over to a more authentic, community-led approach, the sheer scale of the campaigns that will follow will force them to face the music and figure out how to scale their operations also. 

It isn’t impossible to avoid this rut, however. Red Bull was once considered a challenger brand, but after disrupting the energy drinks category with curated, community-led experiences, it earned a 43% global market share in a highly competitive energy drinks market, proving that social-native brands aren’t destined to live in the Holdco shadows forever.

In the coming years, we’ll likely see both Holdco and challenger brands evolve and learn from one another. The most successful brands will blend the financial muscle and scalability of legacy parent companies with the innovative, culturally-attuned strategies of the challengers. Much to Fernandez’s delight, we’ll also see a significant surge in AI-led technologies, such as AI-powered analytics and automation, that will help streamline influencer campaigns, making them more scalable and cost-efficient for brands of all sizes. 

The brands that can find the balance between it all will be the ones to succeed.

Our influencer marketing agency and social agency are located worldwide, with our agency network based in the USA, UK, UAE and China.

If you want to find industry insights, visit our influencer marketing and social media blogs.

@sociallypowerful