If you’ve been keeping up with the Kardashian’s, you’re more than aware of their fondness for #SPONSORED content. Today we’ve decided to turn the spotlight on Kourtney who is boasting more than 73 million followers (growing on average ~1mm new followers per month). The socialite, businesswoman, model, and mother of three has been entertaining viewers with plenty of reasons to follow along since her first post May 28, 2012. Now, 3,653 posts later a good portion of those are #SPONSORED.
Our team examined a cross-section of five pieces of SponCon, Kourtney posted in the last year to glean an insight on the brands she’s working with, how her audience responds, and if her followers are buying.
Calvin Klein
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We’re not surprised this Calvin Klein #ad is Kourtney’s highest performing #sponsored post of the year. Aside from her followers’ fascination with her (now ex) relationship, Younes Bendjima, Calvin Klein’s popularity had another big year in 2018 after driving nearly 40% of PVH’s $9 billion earnings in 2017. The post racked up 4 million likes (3.5x more than her average post) and 66,000 comments yielding a noteworthy engagement rate of 6.71%. Though Kourtney and Younes’ relationship may have been brief, Kourtney and Calvin were a match made in advertising heaven.
Fashion Nova
While many fast-fashion retailers saw sales decline last year, Fashion Nova star continues to rise due in part to major celebrity endorsements from the likes of Kourtney and her sisters. Best known for creating trendy, body-hugging knock-offs for all shapes and sizes, Fashion Nova provides a more modest alternative for the growing army of Kardashian klones to dress like their favorite member of the family. Kourtney’s sponsored post from last May earned her over 1.3 million likes (about 25,000 more than her average organic posts), proving Fashion Nova fits just as perfectly on her feed as her clothing.
Flat Tummy Co
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This wouldn’t be a Kardashian #sponcon round-up without a cameo from Flat Tummy tea. Despite harmful claims about detox teas and shakes, Kourtney worked with the brand three times in the past 12 months to promote the idea that drinking a special tea will give her followers the same stomach as her. Kourtney’s followers responded skeptical, with a declining engagement rate of 2% and a whopping 122,000 fewer likes compared to her average.
Amazon
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Appealing to her maternal side, Kourtney partnered with Amazon last March in a post promoting Amazon Baby Registry for sister, Khloe. Chalk it up to poor photo quality or a demographic that follows Kourtney more for style than for motherhood tips, but the post suffered a loss of 70,000 likes on average with only 2% of followers interacting with it. Based on Kourtney’s previous partnerships, working with clothing and lifestyle brands seem to fit her audience more authentically.
Hi Smile Teeth
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Grin and bear it — We saved the worst for last with Kourtney’s awkward video ad for Hi Smile Teeth. Although the video has been viewed over 7 million times, the post performed 5x worse than Kourtney’s baseline average – that’s over 1 million fewer likes. From a brand perspective the high visibility is a win, but it’s not exactly ideal to invest in a celebrity influencer when a post garners a mere .48% engagement rate. We’d be interested to see if Kourtney works with the brand again.
