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Could social influencers end up transforming the creative advertising industry, becoming a primary source of a brand’s creative marketing output? While it might sound like a bold prediction, this shift is already happening.
More and more brands are now turning to influencers to replace traditional ad agency creatives as the creator economy continues to grow rapidly, with its value expected to reach $528 billion by 2030. The majority of this revenue will likely come from brand deals.
The introduction of Lions Creators at this year’s prestigious Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity is evidence that brands and advertisers recognize the significant role content creators now play in creative marketing strategies. With their ability to produce authentic content tailored to audiences’ interests, moods, behaviors, and desires—and at a fast pace—are we witnessing the beginning of the end for traditional advertising as we know it?
Authenticity is Key
Globally, consumers are increasingly making purchase decisions based on content that feels authentic and resonates on a personal level. The days of audiences engaging with overproduced, studio-shot content are fading.
The first step for brands is to find the right influencers—those who already follow the brand, have shown interest in similar brands, or create content relevant to the brand. This ensures that the partnership feels genuine, with the content aligning with the creator’s usual output and resonating with their followers—the brand’s target audience.
Take the sports brand Gymshark, for example. From the beginning, they collaborated with Instagram influencers to build brand awareness. They later moved to TikTok, posting over 40 TikTok videos per month to stay top of mind with their audience. By working with micro-influencers who had an average engagement rate of 18%, Gymshark was able to build genuine connections with Gen-Z audiences, creating an online community aligned with their values. By focusing strategically on authentic content, they grew to over 5.5 million followers and 100 million likes on TikTok, significantly increasing their reach and engagement, which contributed to their $1 billion valuation.
For brands, micro-influencers offer the advantage of creating high-quality, social-first content without the high costs associated with top-tier influencers, even if the latter have a larger reach. Properly onboarding influencers from the beginning secures their buy-in and ensures they genuinely support the brand, leading to co-created content that is more heartfelt and engaging.
Consistently working with the best-performing influencers throughout the year helps build a credible brand presence, as familiarity and trust grow with repeated, genuine endorsements.
The real challenge for brands and agencies comes in relinquishing creative control to the creators themselves. However, brands must remember that influencers know their audiences best and understand what will resonate with them. It’s then up to the brands to select the best ideas to be deployed tactically or strategically, marking a pivotal new role for influencers as true content creators.
The Role of AI in Content Creation
AI is playing a transformative role in the evolution of the creator economy. We’re already seeing AI being used to predict campaign effectiveness and profitability, as well as to accelerate influencer search capabilities, matching suitable candidates to brand campaigns. This ensures that the influencers themselves are safe to associate with the brand and will not post controversial material. AI can also measure the effectiveness of campaigns.
AI management and measurement technology allows marketing organizations to manage a large pool of influencer creators, enhancing marketing teams’ ability to commission and manage talent at scale. This enables marketing teams to expand influencer programs and run multiple campaigns simultaneously without a proportional increase in workload.
In addition to efficiencies generated by AI-driven chatbots that engage with audiences in real-time, we’re also seeing the licensing of influencers’ own images. These AI-generated avatars can be used to create online content for brands, though this does raise questions about the authenticity of such content.
Does This Mean the End of Agency Creativity?
The simple answer is no. However, it’s clear that creator advertising is likely to extend from social media content to big creative ideas used for TV, posters, and radio—areas currently dominated by agency teams. Moreover, it’s also poised to create assets that work not just for social media but for other dynamic digital media channels, including online commerce, apps, AVOD, and DOOH.
The Financial Impact
When it comes to return on investment, brands are seeing returns of $5.20 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing—with the top-performing 13% of businesses seeing returns of $20 or more per dollar spent. Coupled with the fact that content can be produced at a fraction of the cost (and time) of traditional studio or location shoots, influencer marketing is a clear choice from a cost perspective.
As traditional advertising struggles to keep pace with the fast-moving digital world, the creator economy has a prime opportunity to gain a strong foothold. With authenticity, speed, and efficiency being key factors in the rise of influencer marketing, we’re likely to see brands take a collaborative approach, combining traditional advertising with creator content. By integrating both channels, brands can maximize reach, impact, and return on investment.