What followed was not just a conversation about social content—it was a blueprint for how brands can activate their most powerful and underutilized creator network: their employees.
This is the story of how Rainbow Shops embraced employee-generated content (EGC), scaled it with structure and strategy, and drove measurable impact across engagement, reach, and sales.
Rainbow Shops is one of our fastest-growing partners—and a standout example of how to do this right.
Employee-generated content is not a trend. It's a movement waiting to be unlocked.
According to a BN-commissioned study,
The willingness is already there.
Rainbow's program started with a simple observation: during a store visit in Texas, the executive team noticed associates were already creating content on their own. Instead of letting that momentum remain informal, they built a formal program around it.
The takeaway? The desire to create exists. Brands simply need to activate it.
Willingness alone doesn't create consistency. Structure does.
1 in 3 employees who felt reluctant to post would be more inclined to do so if they had creator resources like templates and content ideas.
That insight shaped Rainbow's approach.
Within BN Influencer, Rainbow created structured "content activities"—essentially briefs that provide guardrails without stifling creativity. These activities can be:
Every submission is automatically reviewed through Brand Networks' proprietary brand safety technology, ensuring content aligns with brand standards before it ever goes live. Employee authenticity and brand safety don't have to be in conflict.
The result? Authentic, community-driven content that feels personal—not produced. And the business value extends beyond individual posts. Rainbow's employee content functions like R&D for brand-level social strategy.
"We're always curious to see what employees come up with, ideas we never would've thought of, and which ones actually perform. If a concept has legs, we can bring it to the corporate level, though sometimes it only works in that local, authentic context."
And there are tangible outcomes for the creators themselves:
Rainbow's associates weren't just posting—they were building communities.
Sustaining momentum requires motivation.
1 in 2 Millennial and Gen Z employees say tangible incentives (bonuses, gift cards, rewards) increase their likelihood of posting.
Within BN Influencer, we co-developed a customized gamification and leaderboard system for Rainbow that tracks participation and engagement metrics, rewards content submissions and performance, and aligns incentives across employees, store leadership, and regions.
When speaking about the power of gamification, David noted:
"Districts compete with districts and regions compete with regions. Once they see this content drives business in their stores, it motivates the whole chain. Stores that embrace it are already seeing better performance."
Gamification didn't just increase participation—it made the program a core part of the culture at each store, and across the brand as a whole.
The most successful employee creator programs are living and evolving and Rainbow leaned into that from the start.
Rainbow tested trends, content formats, styling videos, try-ons, in-store experiences, and seasonal storytelling. The results spoke for themselves:
Content variety not only drove engagement—it reinforced trust.
Rainbow's program didn't grow slowly—it accelerated rapidly.
Most importantly, Rainbow successfully tapped into existing employee behavior—and transformed it into measurable reach, engagement, and sales impact.
Employee-generated content isn't new. But empowering employees as true creators—at scale, with brand oversight and gamified motivation—is still in its early stages.
Brands that activate now are ahead of the curve. Rainbow Shops proves what happens when you:
The question isn't whether employees want to create. The data says they do. The question is whether brands are ready to empower them.
Sources: BN-Commissioned Study and Rainbow Program Data
.jpg)
