The influencer marketing playbook that worked before 2020 doesn't work anymore, and much of the industry hasn't caught up.

In this episode of Field Notes, Sarah Crow and Lily Comba compare influencer marketing before and after 2020. Before, gifting reliably led to posts, creators took commission deals, and programs were built on community. Now brands deal with talent managers, flat fees, mass outreach and much more competition for creators' attention.

They get into why one-off posts stopped working, why long-term rebooking became the key to scale, and why the 2020 DTC boom made it harder to stand out. They also cover why newsletters and long-form YouTube are bringing back the original creator formats.

Field Notes is the operator's playbook for brand, creator, and growth, hosted by Lily Comba, Founder + CEO of Superbloom and Sarah Crow, Head of Creator Strategy at Superfiliate.

Black Friday creator marketing isn’t won during Black Friday. For most brands, the work starts months earlier.

In this episode of Field Notes, Sarah Crow and Lily Comba sit down with Kelly MacIvor of Omnilux to break down how one of beauty’s most considered purchases prepares its creator program for the biggest promotional period of the year.

With a roughly $400 medical-grade device and a customer journey that can stretch up to a year, Omnilux can’t rely on a discount code to create demand overnight. Kelly shares how her team uses creators to educate consumers and build trust months before BFCM, how they identify creators whose audiences can actually convert, and why the holiday season is the time to double down on proven partners rather than chase volume.

They also get into the role discounts actually play in conversion, why creator trust matters more than the offer, how Kelly thinks about testing in the months leading up to Black Friday, and whether she’d rather activate 100 new creators or 20 proven revenue drivers.

In this episode:

- Why Black Friday creator strategy starts months before the sale
- How Omnilux uses creators to educate consumers on a $400 product
- Why trust often matters more than the discount
- How to tell whether a creator’s audience can actually convert
- 100 new creators vs. 20 proven partners
- When to test new creators before BFCM
- Why Black Friday is the time for your “tried and true” creators

Field Notes is the operator’s playbook for brand, creator, and growth, hosted by Lily Comba, Founder + CEO of Superbloom and Sarah Crow, Head of Creator Strategy at Superfiliate.

Meet Lily Comba and Sarah Crow, the hosts of Field Notes, a podcast about influencer marketing, creator partnerships, brand strategy, and growth.

In this episode, Jay Hunter, CEO of k2o by Sprinter, joins Sarah Crow and Lily Comba to unpack what it takes to launch and scale a brand at speed. From going live days before Coachella to building a creator program designed for both awareness and conversion, Jay shares the operating principles behind k2o’s first $4.5M in sales. They get into why 70% perfect can beat waiting for 100%, how to structure creator economics when most partnerships won’t become breakout performers, and why the best creator programs make it easy for creators to earn across TikTok Shop, Instagram, Meta, and beyond.

Field Notes is the operator’s playbook for brand, creator, and growth, hosted by Lily Comba, Founder + CEO of Superbloom. and Sarah Crow, Head of Creator Strategy at Superfiliate.