Creators are building brands beyond the feed. But will their audiences buy them?

Creators looking to build sustainable businesses are increasingly being told to grow beyond social media feeds. The much-parroted solution is intellectual property, or put simply, owning something beyond content itself.

But two launches in recent weeks have exposed a tension in that playbook: what happens when the audience you've built can't, or won’t, pay for what you're selling?

This week, Kai Cenat unveiled his long-awaited fashion label Vivet at New York Fashion Week, following months spent documenting its development.

The launch was livestreamed and saw fellow streamers Duke Dennis, BruceDropEmOff and Ray walk the runway, but its pricing also came under scrutiny, with a $550 streaming backpack and $1,195 jacket among the pieces on sale.

“I can't imagine spending $1,000 on streamer merch,” said one fan following the unveiling. 

Across the Atlantic, a similar debate played out around UK creator Isobel Lorna, who built much of her audience around career, money and lifestyle content.

Lorna launched Agende, a luxury leather planner system, earlier this month, with full sets priced at £324 ($433) and a launch-edition suede set at £350. The pricing drew criticism from some followers who had come to associate Lorna with her “save the pennies” mantra.

Even so, the criticism did not translate into a lack of demand. More than 100,000 people joined Agende's waiting list before the product was revealed, with the brand selling out its initial launch run.

The two launches get at a question that will only become more important as creators build businesses beyond their content. Having an audience creates distribution, but once a price tag enters the equation, how much does that tell you about who is prepared to become a customer?

Audience versus customer

Creator economy expert Lindsey Gamble told The Daily Influence that one of the difficulties for creators moving into products is separating the value of having an existing audience from evidence that there is actually a market.

“What people are willing to engage with and what they're willing to buy are two different behaviors,” he said. “A large audience is a distribution advantage, but it isn't automatically a customer base.”

Bronagh Quinn, founder of Ireland-based talent agency Enhance Management, echoed that distinction, saying creators need to understand their followers' existing buying habits ahead of launch. 

“If an audience follows you for affordable, accessible recommendations and you suddenly launch a very high-end product, there can be a disconnect,” she noted.

Cenat, however, has stood by Vivet's pricing. Responding to the criticism, he said lowering prices would mean compromising on the materials used.

“I don't wanna lower the price... I don't wanna lower the vision,” he said.

Testing demand

If lowering the price is not necessarily the answer, Gamble said creators should make greater use of the access they already have to potential customers before deciding what to launch and how to price it.

“Creators have hundreds of thousands or millions of people they can tap into for research and insights,” he said. “Why not ask them what products they actually want, what they'd be willing to pay, and what would make them interested in buying?”

Quinn said that should include putting actual price points in front of audiences before investing heavily in a launch.

“Engagement can tell you that people are interested, but asking questions around price, product features and what they would actually buy can give you a much clearer picture of genuine purchasing intent,” she said.

Emily Trenouth, creator marketing consultant and founder of benchmark agency, said deeper research is needed to understand who is actually likely to buy.

“They also need a clear understanding of their audience’s demographics and existing purchasing behaviour: how old are they, what can they realistically afford, where do they already shop and what would persuade them to switch?” she said.

She also pointed to smaller initial drops as another way to test demand before committing to a larger collection, but cautioned against treating early sales as proof of a sustainable business.

“The longer-term test will be whether the brand can sustain that demand, encourage repeat purchases and continue attracting customers beyond the creator’s most loyal followers,” she said.