Why Ray-Ban’s Future Looks So Bright 😎 (HBBIP #110)

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The weather might be getting colder, and the sun’s power might be dimming a tad, but the creator economy’s future has never been brighter. 

Don’t just take my word for it—take the word of CreatorIQ at large! Look no further than our latest State of Creator Marketing Report, which I’ve already talked about once or twice, if you do want to take my word on it after all.

Alternatively, Deloitte is saying this stuff, too. Just in case you want to hear it from someone else after all.

This is a lot of set-up for a relatively mundane, cliched punchline, so groan along with me as I reach it: the future of the creator economy is so bright (how bright is it?) that you’re going to need sunglasses to look at it. 

But not just any sunglasses! Just as the creator economy is evolving into the bold new forms, so too must your eyewear. Why look at the future with sunglasses that aren’t built for that future?

Fortunately for you and me, there’s a brand out there that’s building such sunglasses. Plus, in an appropriately creator-centric twist, our favorite social media stars have played a key role in promoting that futuristic development. So put on your favorite pair of augmented reality-inducing yet eminently chic glasses, and dive into the spectacular (spectacle-ular?) growth of…

The Top Brands of All Time (of the Week): Ray-Ban & Ray-Ban Meta Glasses

If I’ve learned anything in my time writing this newsletter, it’s that sometimes the numbers don’t tell a clear story. Granted, if you’re a brand being featured in this newsletter, the story is usually ‘growth.’ What’s often less clear is just a matter of ‘why?’ 

The flipside of that is that sometimes, the numbers tell an extremely clear story. For example, some months ago, when I first flagged Ray-Ban as a brand worth investigating due to its impressive growth, I wondered whether it had anything to do with Ray-Ban’s work with Meta on an array of AI glasses.

A point of clarification: both Meta and Ray-Ban tout these glasses on their respective websites, and their collaboration ultimately constitutes its own third thing: a brand unto itself. Within our data systems, we have both Ray-Ban, which covers all mentions of the iconic glasses in any context, and Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, which covers mentions of, well, Ray-Ban Meta Glasses specifically. The vast majority of mentions of Ray-Ban Meta Glasses also count towards metrics for Ray-Ban, but mentions of Ray-Ban don’t necessarily count toward Ray-Ban Meta Glasses. It’s sort of a square/rectangle situation.

ANYWAY, caveats aside, the main point is this: I suspected that Ray-Ban Meta Glasses had the potential, in terms of how we measure growth, to drive some momentum for Ray-Ban at large. So did it?

Let’s start, as we so often do, with creator count. After all, the number of creators who are talking about you tends to have a pretty significant impact on how content about you resonates across social media.

Ray-Ban & Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Creator Count, 2020 - 2025

Now look. I’ve inspected a lot of graphs over the last 110 weeks, and in my semi-expert opinion, this sure does look like Ray-Ban’s creator count was pretty flat from 2020 to 2023, at which point RBMG started boosting the brand’s momentum. Take note of how the January-to-September 2025 totals for both Ray-Ban and Ray-Ban Meta Glasses are much higher than their whole-year 2024 counterparts. That’s a pretty dramatic influx of new creators.

Ray-Ban and Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Post Count, 2020 - 2025

A similar trend plays out for both brands’ post counts, but in this case the reversal of momentum is even more pronounced. While Ray-Ban’s post count fell every year from 2020 to 2023, it surged to new heights in 2024, and has already bested that total in 2025. Once again, that growth sure does seem to stem from content related to Ray-Ban Meta Glasses.

Ray-Ban and Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Engagements, 2020 - 2025

I’m seeing nothing to complicate that thesis when it comes to engagements, with both brands displaying similar patterns to what’s already been established. What I like is that the 2024 engagements total for RBMG nearly matched the 2023 engagements total for all of Ray-Ban. In other words, RBMG completely reshaped and revitalized creators’ digital engagement with Ray-Ban as a whole.

Ray-Ban and Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Impressions, 2020 - 2025

Impressions is where the figures start to get pretty crazy. From 2023 to 2024, we’re looking at a roughly 5x growth in impressions for Ray-Ban over just one year, corresponding with a roughly 7x (technically a 6.58x, but who’s counting?) growth in RBMG’s impressions. 

Nowhere else was the growth quite this stark for the Ray-Ban empire. While both brands haven’t quite matched their 2024 impressions totals in 2025 yet, they’re on pace to do so, meaning that whatever you might think of AI—future, bubble, both?—the glasses are still pretty popular.

As far as the platform breakdown goes, we’re not seeing major differences between Ray-Ban and Ray-Ban Meta Glasses. Here’s an attribution of Ray-Ban’s impressions from October 2024 to September 2025, and which channels those impressions come from:

Ray-Ban's Impressions by Channel, Oct 24 - Sep 25

A pretty even split between Instagram and TikTok, though Instagram still holds a clear advantage. Meanwhile, YouTube isn’t exactly a sliver, but it’s not quite doing Discord numbers, either.

Though I’ve already told you that RBMG is similar, I’m going to show you the chart anyway, just for completism’s sake:

Ray-Ban Meta Glasses' Impressions by Channel, Oct 24 - Sep 25

A little more of a skew toward TikTok, a little less for Instagram and YouTube, but overall pretty comparable.

Yet all of this continues to beg the question: just how much of Ray-Ban’s rise can be directly attributed to Ray-Ban Meta Glasses?

To answer that question more definitively, I took a look at the creators who posted about each brand from October 2024 to September 2025 after having not done so during the prior 12 months. What I found was a core group of 4.9k creators who generated $59.7M EMV for RBMG and $65.1M EMV for Ray-Ban. Those EMV figures accounted for 71% of RBMG’s total EMV during that time period, alongside 45% of Ray-Ban’s EMV. 

From that, I think we can draw several conclusions:

• The rise of AI glasses is attracting a significant number of new creators for both Ray-Ban and RBMG.
• These newcomers represent a greater overall share of RBMG’s totals, but are still responsible for a large portion of Ray-Ban’s totals, and for sparking the brand’s broader revival.

Equally interesting, at least to me, is how content related to AI glasses rises to the top for both brands—in other words, how both brands have made sure that this content features creators front and center.

When I reviewed the most impactful content for both Ray-Ban and RBMG, it was clearer than ever that discourse around the AI glasses was driving growth for Ray-Ban at large. It was also clear that Meta’s expertise with social and creator strategy was paying off big time. 

Everywhere I looked, creators were using the glasses to craft the kind of content that resonated deeply with their audiences. Not only did the glasses fit seamlessly into their everyday routines, but both brands also allowed creators the freedom to play around with the product, and show it off in a way that felt authentic to them—and engaging to their followers.

This high-performing content tended to feature creators enjoying experiential moments—traveling, spending time with family and friends, even doing chores—while wearing the glasses. These posts emphasized the product’s seamless integration into everyday life, as well as its (you know) augmentation of experiences. 

Whether it was Jack’s Dining Room sampling beignets in New Orleans, fashionista Xóchitl Gomez thrifting for outfits with her mother, lifestyle creator Giovanna Ramos getting a customized sushi-inspired nail design, or numerous creators trying out the glasses at LA’s Meta Lab pop-up, it was immediately clear how much creators loved the product, and how much followers loved the content that the product helped create.

With immersive, colorful, and highly experiential content that helped audiences see life through a new lens, Ray-Ban and RBMG sparked an incredible turnaround on social media—and in profits. They did it, of course, by leaning on creators to simply be themselves. Always a winning strategy. 

I’m looking forward to seeing where the wearables industry goes from here, and how Ray-Ban and Ray-Ban Meta Glasses continue to leverage creators for impressive growth. Here’s one suggestion: maybe RBMG can show folks how fun it is to write a newsletter with the aid of augmented reality glasses? If so, I know just the guy to send them to…

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