SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Kiko Milano nearly matched Charlotte Tilbury in a new UK beauty influencer marketing ranking, despite working with far fewer creators.

Analysis by Kolsquare showed Kiko achieved almost the same result with a much smaller creator roster.

Maybelline topped the ranking with Earned Media Value of GBP £3,451,247. Charlotte Tilbury placed second with GBP £2,789,041, while Kiko ranked third on GBP £2,671,435.

Kiko’s performance stood out because it worked with 298 creators, compared with 1,221 for Charlotte Tilbury. That 76% gap was accompanied by a much higher engagement rate for Kiko, at 17.3%, versus 2.5% for Charlotte Tilbury.

The figures point to a shift in how beauty brands approach influencer marketing on Instagram. Rather than relying on the largest possible creator rosters, several brands in the ranking appeared to achieve stronger results through more selective partnerships.

Space NK and L’Oréal Paris completed the top five. The broader table also highlighted lower-ranked brands that posted strong engagement rates despite using smaller creator groups.

Refy Beauty, which ranked tenth overall, recorded a 14.4% engagement rate. Armani Beauty reached 15.5%, again while working with fewer creators than many brands above it.

Bellami surge

Bellami Hair provided one of the clearest examples of that pattern. The hair brand generated more than GBP £718,522 in Earned Media Value from just five creators and posted a 30.8% engagement rate, the highest among the leading brands covered by the analysis.

That performance lifted Bellami Hair 342 places to 34th in the ranking. Marc Jacobs Beauty climbed 298 places, Unicorn Cosmetics rose 254 places, Spectrum Collections gained 183 places, St. Tropez moved up 169 places and Yepoda advanced 96 places.

Alicia Van Der Meer, UK marketing manager at Kolsquare, commented on the broader trend in the latest figures.

“For years, influencer marketing has often been treated as a numbers game, with brands believing the more creators they worked with, the greater the impact. These rankings suggest that approach is changing.

“The brands seeing the strongest results are becoming much more strategic about who they partner with. Relevance, authenticity and audience engagement are increasingly proving more valuable than simply recruiting the biggest creator network.

“Consumers are becoming increasingly selective about the creators they trust. Brands that invest time in finding creators with highly engaged, loyal communities are often generating better commercial outcomes than those simply chasing reach,” Van Der Meer said.

Mixed fortunes

Not all brands moved in the same direction. Milk Makeup fell 57 places, while Olaplex, Benefit Cosmetics, e.l.f. Cosmetics and Lancôme also dropped in the standings.

The ranking suggests beauty brands face a crowded, fast-moving social media market, where performance can shift quickly as attention moves between creators and campaigns.

The study was based on 92,991 Instagram posts published by 47,675 creators mentioning more than 2,400 beauty brands over one month.

Earned Media Value estimates the value generated through influencer engagement and is commonly used by brands to compare creator marketing performance across campaigns and competitors.

Kiko’s rise was one of the biggest among the leading brands, with the Italian cosmetics group climbing 12 places while almost drawing level with a rival that used more than four times as many creators.

The innovative farm, home to 28 Dutch Meuse-Rhine-Issel cows, was established in May 2019 by Peter and Minke van Wingerden in the Port of Rotterdam.

Jeremy Clarkson visited the farm last year on Clarkson’s Farm and demanded Britain builds floating farms across the country’s docks in a bid to protect the environment.

The ex-Top Gear presenter suggested the idea be taken up in cities such as London, Liverpool and Manchester.

He wrote in the Sunday Times after visiting: “I was there with Kaleb, who thought he knew all about cow farming. But he was stunned by this.

The groundbreaking floating dairy farm in the Netherlands has been put up for sale after facing numerous regulatory challenges. (Image: Newsquest)

“Peter and his wife, Minke, have also opened a farm shop. It’s just like the one we have at Diddly Squat; he even has a neighbour who writes to the council every day urging them to close it down.

“I left the floating farm, genuinely surprised by the elegant simplicity of it all.”

Conceived as a futuristic solution for sustainable food production, the farm operates independently of traditional land-based farming, featuring on-site facilities for feeding, milking, slurry, and dairy production.

Despite its popularity and the interest it garnered from hundreds of thousands of visitors globally, the farm is now being sold due to running out of permission to stay in the port and what the owners describe as “ridiculous outdated demands”.

Owner Peter van Wingerden explained that the city and port’s plans to redevelop the area for residential housing were the initial reasons for the farm’s impending closure.

However, regulatory complications added to the decision to sell.

Around two years ago, the farm encountered issues with its specially designed low-emissions floor, which started to bulge, causing problems for both the cows and a robotic scraper.

The owners replaced it with another low-emissions floor made in Germany, which, despite the farm’s regular emissions monitoring showing compliance with optimum levels, was not certified in the Netherlands.

As a result, Rijnmond Environmental Service, known as DCMR, sanctioned the farm.

Despite the farm’s emissions remaining within permissible limits, the lack of certification for the new floor led to sanctions.

This prompted the owners to opt for selling the cows and the farm, which can be relocated globally.

Producing approximately 600 litres of milk daily, the farm’s high-protein, butterfat-rich milk is primarily processed into milk, yoghurt, and cheese.

The floating farm was not just a novelty but a pioneering initiative in sustainable urban farming, highlighting the potential for food production in non-traditional environments.

However, the closure underscores the challenges faced by such innovative ventures in navigating regulatory landscapes.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Urban Jungle has partnered with IKEA to launch home insurance for IKEA customers in the UK, marking IKEA’s first insurance partnership in the British market.

The range includes contents insurance, buildings insurance, and combined buildings and contents cover, with contents policies starting at £60 a year. Policies are available through IKEA’s website and price comparison sites, and customers can change or cancel cover without a fee.

The launch gives IKEA a new service category beyond home furnishings as retailers look for additional revenue streams and closer customer relationships. For Urban Jungle, the deal expands its white-label insurance model with a major consumer brand.

Contents cover offers protection of up to £120,000 and is aimed at renters, flatshares, students, and other households. Buildings insurance provides up to £1 million of cover as standard, with optional extras including accidental damage, home emergency, out-of-home cover, and legal expenses.

The companies are entering the market as underinsurance remains an issue in the UK, particularly among renters. Urban Jungle said only 57% of private renters currently have contents insurance.

Founded in 2016, Urban Jungle has served more than 300,000 customers in the UK across home and travel insurance. It sells directly to consumers and through partnerships with other brands.

Retail push

The agreement also broadens IKEA’s “life at home” services offer in the UK, which already includes home move and set-up services and a branded credit card. The insurance product is positioned as part of that wider push into services linked to household needs.

Insurance sold through retail and affinity partnerships has become a more established route to market for specialist providers, particularly in home, travel, and embedded finance products. These arrangements allow retailers to offer adjacent services without building their own regulated insurance operations from scratch.

Jimmy Williams, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Urban Jungle, said the deal was a significant milestone for the company.

“We are delighted to partner with IKEA, and this marks a significant milestone in Urban Jungle’s mission. We believe in fair insurance for everyone, and by joining forces with IKEA, we can bring our technology-driven, AI-powered, accessible home insurance to an even wider audience. We are proud to be the first insurance provider to collaborate with IKEA in the UK, offering insurance that truly puts the customer first,” he said.

IKEA said the product forms part of its effort to support customers beyond furnishing purchases.

“IKEA’s mission is to create a better everyday life for the many people, and that extends to feeling secure and protected in your home. By partnering with Urban Jungle, we are bringing a simple, functional, and affordable home insurance product to our customers, ensuring they have peace of mind that their homes and belongings are protected. As part of our wider life at home services offer, this partnership helps us support customers beyond home furnishing, making everyday life at home a little easier,” said Callum Leavy, Country Customer Experience Manager, IKEA UK.