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- Friday, February 20th
Friday, February 20th
Top Creator News, Stories & Tips
Paul Boulet
February 20, 2026
Hey, marketers & entrepreneurs,
It’s Paul from Click Analytic 👋
Welcome to our 54 new subscribers, who are joining a community of 56,000+ marketers & founders building with creators every day.
HUGE events in the creator space this week!
→ Sydney Sweeney just rang the NYSE bell after bringing ~790,000 new customers to American Eagle.
→ Rhode flew Hailey Bieber to Australia and turned a pop-up into a media machine.
→ And BIG platform shifts across Snapchat, Pinterest & Meta 👇👇
🗓️ Quick Recap:
And more…
Estimated read time: 3 minutes or less
📊 Did you know?
Warner Bros. reportedly paid 2,000+ influencers to “post nice things” about Wuthering Heights.
(World of Reel, 2026)
🔔 Top Creator Stories
📈 Sydney Sweeney rings the NYSE bellAfter driving ~790K new customers and ~40B impressions, Sydney Sweeney was invited by American Eagle to ring the NYSE opening bell alongside the CEO. |  |
🎙 ESPN taps Lily ShimbashiESPN is finalizing a two-year deal with sports creator Lily Shimbashi for major event coverage. |  |
💰 Night raises $70MCreator management firm Night just secured $70M to expand across gaming, music, and sports. |  |
🏅 Olympic athletes level up socialFrom Eileen Gu to rising Olympians, athletes are doubling down on content strategy. Sponsorship value now depends as much on engagement as medals. |  |
🇦🇺 Rhode’s Australia Launch / What You Should Copy
Rhode just launched in Australia & New Zealand!
And it wasn’t a quiet retail rollout.
They followed the same playbook that they used for their London launch, and it was SMART 👇️
What they did:
• Flew Hailey Bieber to Australia
• Hosted an immersive, limited-time AP Bakery pop-up in Surry Hills
• Created queues, scarcity, and social buzz
• Activated local creators of all sizes
Examples:
• Brooke Upton (97K followers, 64% AU audience)
• Billie Jean (28K followers, 12% engagement, 77% AU audience)
• Amelia Marni (441K followers, 45% AU audience)
Notice the pattern?
Not just mega names.
Local relevance + strong audience match 🔥
They used the same blueprint in London previously with pop-ups, limited drops, and massive queues.
The goal wasn’t instant sales.
It was:
Events → posts → FOMO → long-term demand.
And it’s working.
Rhode is now projected to exceed $360M in annual sales, remaining E.l.f. Beauty’s fastest-growing brand.
What you can steal 👇️
✔️ Bring your ambassador physically to the market
✔️ Build limited, immersive pop-ups to create FOMO
✔️ Mix micro + mid + bigger local creators
✔️ Turn invites into aspiration
✔️ Make posting feel like a ticket to future access
This was one launch event…
I also recapped how Rhode reached a $1 billion valuation in less than 3 years, despite offering only a few products.
The whole breakdown in 30 pages 🔥
Want the full Rhode breakdown with data, strategy maps, and creator analysis?
📱 Social Snapshot
👻 Snapchat is testing creator subscriptions, giving top creators a new direct revenue stream
💰 Snapchat+ reaches 25M subscribers
🔎 Pinterest claims it sees more search volume than ChatGPT
🛍 Reddit is testing AI shopping search
🔌 Meta is shutting down its Messenger website
⌚ Meta is reportedly planning to launch a smartwatch this year
🌍 Russia blocks WhatsApp, Facebook & Instagram access
What did you think of today's insight?Help me make the next insights 📈 even more useful ✅ |
That’s it for this week 👊
More insights, case studies & campaign breakdowns coming next Thursday!
Until then → keep building, keep testing, and create moments worth sharing.
— Paul from Click Analytic