“They’re not getting paid for it”: Charnelle Merritt on the untapped market for trade creators

Tradespeople are building sizeable audiences online and attracting interest from major brands, but many are still taking free products instead of payment. Charnelle Merritt, founder of talent agency Build and Bloom Management, says that makes trade one of the most overlooked opportunities in the creator economy.

“For your tilers, for your painters and decorators, all of these people, they get sucked up into an ambassadorship because a brand has approached them and they’re not getting paid for it,” she told The Daily Influence.

“They want to work with that brand because they want the free stuff for their tools, and I’m like, but you have such an opportunity.”

Merritt launched Build and Bloom last October after years around the DIY and trade world, and after seeing friends and family in the creator space work with agencies she felt were not serving them well. She had spent her professional career in communications, and secured a family member two five-figure brand deals within three weeks of helping with his creator business. A voluntary redundancy offer came the same week, and she turned the idea into a full-time company.

Build and Bloom now represents five creators, with a sixth joining shortly, spanning DIY, home renovation, interiors and the trades. Its roster includes professional DIYer Scott DIY, Surrey House DIY founder Becky Russell, interior designer Kate of Renovate Like Kate, and architect and TV presenter Laura Jane Clark.

“For me, I think it’s about representing the trade community because they don’t really have representation at the moment, or they don’t have representation that feels comfortable for them,” Merritt said.

Brands are already spending in the category, with Merritt’s creators notching partnerships with the likes of UniBond and WD-40.

“A lot of the time, it’s product promotion or product placement, and it’s putting their products in real homes or showing people how to use it, how to install it in a way that is relatable to your everyday person,” she said.

Business-minded creators

That commercial potential is also reflected in the creators themselves, with Merritt saying she is drawn to talent who already possess an entrepreneurial spirit.

“We always want to take our business-minded people,” she said. “I want them to have that entrepreneurial, business-minded mindset.”

It also shapes how they want to be represented. Merritt says exclusivity contracts can be a point of contention, with the trade creators she encounters often unwilling to sign them.

Build and Bloom’s contracts are non-exclusive, letting creators pitch and negotiate their own partnerships alongside deals the agency brings in.

“The people that naturally come in because of that are entrepreneurial, because they want to have that relationship with the brand, and the brand wants that relationship with the creator too,” Merritt said.

The agency also has an off-roster network of around 70 creators it can draw on for larger campaigns – a pool, Merritt says, of people who want access to commercial work without full management.

The opportunities are also stretching beyond conventional brand partnerships. Build and Bloom has fielded requests for creators to appear at Grand Designs and the Ideal Home Show, and Merritt sees more crossover between television and online talent.

“A lot of TV talent are coming to me and saying, ‘I really wish I had what Scott DIY had,’” she said. “We’re trying to upskill the TV talent to be content creators. In the same breath, we’re trying to get the content creators more access to TV opportunities or YouTube opportunities.”