Full-funnel marketing and public relations agency recognized for influencer work in retail, eCommerce, and campaign ROI

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Brilliant made the 2026 Global Influencer Marketing Awards (GIMA26) shortlist in two categories: Best Retail & eCommerce Influencer Strategy and Most Effective Campaign for ROI. Brilliant is a full-funnel marketing and public relations agency for consumer lifestyle brands.

The Global Influencer Marketing Awards are run by Hello Partner. Each year they recognize the best influencer campaigns, talent, and innovation in the industry. An independent panel of judges scores every entry. Only shortlisted work reaches the ceremony, where winners are named. This year's field was one of the most competitive yet.

Nex Playground outsells PS5 during Black Friday

The retail and eCommerce shortlist recognizes Brilliant's Black Friday work for Nex Playground, the active-play gaming console that gets kids off the couch. The brief was simple. Sell through at retail during the busiest shopping week of the year, up against the PS5.

Brilliant hired 10 parent-focused TikTok creators and aimed them at the moment that closes a sale: the real trip down the Walmart aisle. Creators filmed the honest shopping run and the gift reveal at home, casting Nex Playground as the present parents actually grab off the shelf. Brilliant then put paid spend behind the posts that performed best, so content that already worked organically kept selling all weekend. That content drove Nex Playground to outsell the PS5 across the Black Friday window.

United Parks & Resorts drives annual pass sales

The ROI shortlist recognizes Brilliant's annual pass campaign for United Parks & Resorts. An annual pass costs real money, and people think hard before buying one. Views alone would not move that number. The work had to send people to checkout.

Brilliant built a multi-day, cross-country trip across three of the company's parks, including SeaWorld San Diego, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa that included custom events and VIP experiences. To keep our diverse group of partners posting, Brilliant rented a private plane and a party bus and gave creators a trip they could not get anywhere else. It worked. The 32 influencers kept posting about the parks long after their contracted deliverables ran out, which stretched the budget well past what it paid for.

The campaign produced more than 14 million impressions and 526 pieces of content, and drove millions of dollars in annual pass sales.

"These two categories reward impact, not vanity metrics and that's why the shortlist means a lot," said Dan Chizzoniti, SVP Influencer Marketing at Brilliant. "We build influencer programs to sell products and prove ROI. Seeing that work stand out against the best in the industry is the recognition we care about most."

The shortlist caps a busy year. Brilliant recently launched BASE (Brilliant Analytics & Strategy Engine), a proprietary platform that tracks how AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity discover and recommend brands. BASE shows clients where they appear in AI answers and how to rank higher. Brilliant also made Inc.'s 2026 Best Workplaces list and is a past honoree on the Inc. 5000 list.

What Brilliant Does

Brilliant has worked with consumer lifestyle brands across baby and maternity, toys and games, tech, housewares, haircare, and food & bev, including Conair, Oriental Trading Company, Goodcook, The World of Eric Carle, Veer, Mira Fertility, Napa Cellars, MindWare, United Parks & Resorts, Nex Playground and Kindred Bravely. The agency helps these brands grow through public relations, paid media, influencer marketing, social media, and experiential campaigns. Learn more at www.brilliant-agency.com.

Questions, Answered

What did Brilliant get shortlisted for? Brilliant made the 2026 Global Influencer Marketing Awards shortlist in two categories: Best Retail & eCommerce Influencer Strategy, for its Nex Playground Black Friday campaign, and Most Effective Campaign for ROI, for its United Parks & Resorts annual pass campaign.

What are the Global Influencer Marketing Awards? GIMA is an annual awards program run by Hello Partner. It recognizes the best influencer marketing campaigns, talent, and innovation. An independent industry panel judges every entry.

How does a campaign make the shortlist? Agencies and brands submit their work. A panel of industry judges scores each entry, and the top scorers are shortlisted. Shortlisted work then competes for the win at the ceremony.

When are the winners announced? Winners are revealed at the GIMA26 awards ceremony on September 3, 2026, at The Londoner Hotel in London. The night includes a champagne reception, a three-course dinner, and a live reveal of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners.

What does Brilliant actually do? Brilliant is a fully remote marketing and PR agency for consumer lifestyle brands. The team runs PR, paid media, influencer marketing, social media, and experiential work.

Is Brilliant hiring? Yes. The remote team is growing, and open roles are posted at www.brilliant-agency.com.

About Brilliant

Brilliant is a next-gen growth marketing firm that blends cutting-edge creativity with data-driven strategy to fuel brand impact. We believe that marketing should be as dynamic as the world around us—constantly evolving, creatively inspired, and results-driven. That's why we pour our heart and soul into developing performance-driven campaigns across paid media, influencer marketing, social media, PR, and experiential activations. Our diverse team leverages emerging trends and innovative technologies to help brands scale, engage, and dominate in today's fast-evolving marketplace. Discover how we turn bold ideas into measurable success at www.brilliant-agency.com or follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Media Contact: Christianna Pally [email protected]

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