An oil-field worker’s skin-care routine is helping SharkNinja make the case for partnering with unexpected creators.
In May, Kevin O’Connor (@kevin_0connor_; 460,000 TikTok followers), who works on an offshore oil field supply vessel, posted a video using the Shark FacialPro Glow, an at-home facial cleansing and exfoliating device. It attracted over 10 million views, more than 131,000 likes and 3,500 shares, according to SharkNinja. Stacy Carpenter, the company’s svp of global social media, said the appeal was the combination of the unexpected demonstrator and the oil-and-exfoliant residue collected in what she called his device’s “gunk tank.”
“Those are the sorts of stories we’re trying to collect because that is what moves the needle,” she said. “The effectiveness of the product, the wow, the unexpectedness of the person in that situation are really what drive part of that conversation.”
Now, SharkNinja is building more formal ways to recruit and reward those storytellers. On October 20, it announced First Fans, a creator program for its more than 4,100 global employees, and SharkNinja Storytellers, an affiliate program for consumers. The latter will put participants to work on product recommendations ahead of holiday shopping, with commissions starting at 8% and reaching 15% for its invitation-only VIP tier.
The company already works with celebrity partners, macro and mid-tier influencers, and affiliates, including those selling through TikTok Shop. First Fans and Storytellers add employees and everyday consumers to that mix, rather than replacing existing partnerships. SharkNinja’s brand and creator content generated more than 19 billion impressions across more than 200,000 posts this year, according to the company. Carpenter said thousands of inquiries arrive weekly from creators and consumers interested in working with it.
The new programs expand a strategy that includes celebrities, professional influencers and affiliates. To promote its beauty products, Carpenter said only a minority of the company’s creator roster would be classified exclusively as beauty influencers. When choosing creator partners, the team considers hair type, age, lifestyle and the particular problem a product might solve.
The Storytellers program gives interested customers a defined route to earning money. Its everyday creator tier offers 8–10% commissions for content including unboxings and reviews. Professional creators, such as stylists and estheticians, can earn 8–12% and access paid briefs and masterclasses. VIPs earn 12–15% commission. To be considered, applicants must currently live in the U.S. and have at least 1,000 total followers.
First Fans, meanwhile, gives employees training, content prompts and rewards, including commissions where eligible. Carpenter wants to bring engineers, research and development staff, and test-kitchen employees into the storytelling. Earlier employee content suggests they have an audience: A video featuring engineers behind the Ninja CRISPi Microwave generated 2.9 million views across Instagram and TikTok in its first week, according to the company.
Carpenter wants employees to show “the spills on the floor” and “the messy pieces of how we bring products to life.” One participant is Mariana Menezes, a quality engineer who was already making Portuguese-language videos about curly hair, fitness and everyday life for about 18,000 Instagram followers, according to the company.
But attention and purchases serve different purposes. O’Connor’s engagement figures illustrate the former; SharkNinja has not disclosed sales attributed to his video or the new programs.
“The shift we’re making is actually away from categorizing people by their following and more [toward what] they do for the business,” Carpenter said. Some creators are entertainers who reliably attract millions of views, she added. “But they might not drive sales.”
To measure that, the company uses its internal “social signal engine” to combine organic, influencer and paid content with point-of-sale data. The team looks for correlations to inform repeat partnerships, new product assignments and expansion into other markets.
Next, the company will be prompting its creator partners to participate in holiday wish lists, storefronts and gift-guide challenges. SharkNinja is even considering putting a customer-created gift guide on its homepage. For fans already telling everyone what to buy, the company is offering a reason to keep going: a cut of the sale.
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