Among the clutch of London’s top tastemakers, 30-year-old Cora Delaney, founder of creative agency EYC LTD must be one of the most no-bulls**t. EYC LTD were early adopters in fashion’s shift towards influencer marketing and are now one of London’s hottest up-start agencies bringing together stars from across the cultural spectrum to create the kind of viral moments brands salivate over.
Influencer has become a dirty word, she tells me at one point during our interview. “We call people content creators because of the amount of skill and effort that goes into their output but from a brand’s perspective, you’re still using someone as a marketing tool, to influence others to buy something or to buy into something. They’ll find other, less cringey, words but it’s all influence.” See? No bulls**t. Later when I ask what makes a good fashion week party she shrugs, “no queue at the bar”.
Over the past five years, EYC LTD has built a roster of digital talent and worked with some of fashion’s most blue chip brands, including Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Prada. They’ve also expanded into every corner of the fashion ecosystem from event activations (the wildest party they’ve ever thrown, Delaney says, was in a crypt under Trafalgar Square with J Hus), shoot casting to creative strategy. Most recently, they’ve even launched their own record label with Atlantic Records. “It’s exciting, we’re signing some really cool artists,” she says.
Delaney is now one of the few women leading a top London creative firm. We are meeting in EYC LTD’s office on Charing Cross Road - a blank white space, when I visit, other than a coffee table stacked with Polaroids of the creators that they work with. They outgrew the premises almost as soon as they moved in last year, Delaney tells me. “We were considering a storefront in Soho but this is practical and was ready for us.” It’s an exciting time for EYC LTD. As well as the record label, they’re getting ready for fashion month - the usual mix of parties and placing their talent at shows, she says. In the past that has included one of their early signings, poet and model Kai Isaiah Jamal, walking for Louis Vuitton, the first black trans model to walk for the brand. “We work with a lot of rappers, as well,” she says, “helping arrange for them to be at Paris Fashion Week. I think between musicians and influencers, they’re the ones who’re really getting eyes on the shows.”
When Delaney started working in this industry, in the early 2010s, the world was on the cusp of a digital revolution within fashion and advertising that has seen power slowly move away from brands and publications and towards individuals. The age of the influencer has had its critics but it’s hard to deny that it has democratised fashion in a way that traditional media never did. The influencer marketing industry is set to grow to $24bn in 2024 and the power of content creators has been such that, now more than ever, brands scramble to attract the best talent to their shows - and to create the kind of viral moments that will beam their wares to millions, rather than a select few.
For Delaney it all started with just a single client, Leo Mandella aka gullyguyleo back when he was just 14 years-old and when the word ‘influencer’ didn’t really exist. “He was one of the first people doing [out]fit pictures - influencer culture wasn’t a huge thing then, it was only just beginning and he was so young, I felt like I wanted to look after him, to make sure that brands weren’t taking the p***.” That was 2014 and Delaney wasn’t an agent or talent manager so much as a twentysomething with business sense and some good contacts.
Musicians and influencers are the ones who’re really getting eyes on the shows
She grew up in Kent (Herne Bay, an area she still loves, she tells me) and got a degree in design from Westminster university which mainly taught her that she didn’t want to be a designer. “I had no interest in studying,” she laughs, “I liked socialising and being around creative people - I think I just wanted to meet people.” She made friends with the likes of Nasir Mazhar (the one-time menswear designer turned artist has collaborated with Skepta) and super-stylist Anna Trevelyan. “So many great, interesting individuals… they’re all high up in the creative world now. I feel like we've all grown up together.”
After university she circled various industries - she created content for ASOS, worked as a stylist, curated events. She met Mandella while she was working as a creative consultant for Lily Allen. “So I was on tour in America with Lily and doing stuff for Leo at the same time.” The time on tour taught her a lot about how all the various worlds involved in image making slot together, she says, “how shows work, how styling works, how creative works, how it all goes hand in hand with socials.”
The agency was a natural progression as more clients signed on and everything that’s come after has happened organically, she says. “Now there's a new influencer agency popping up every single day, with a very similar bio to everyone else, you know? At the beginning, I'd find it really stressful and upsetting, but I don’t let it bother me any more.”
The plan, she says, is to keep diversifying. “The thing about this industry is that it has the potential to become oversaturated. The internet's open to all of us and I guess we‘re all content creators in some way. There's so many agencies opening all the time and so much more talent coming out.” That’s why her advice to her creators is to always have an eye on what’s next. “And I think many content creators get to a point where they’re bored of being paid to make content. They want more, they want to be more fulfilled.”
