Are brands still underestimating the marketing power of creators?

As more of our lives are being played out online and on social, the role of creators in marketing is growing. Creators have built dedicated audiences online and know those audiences inside and out; in reaching communities, they can be invaluable to brands.

At this year’s RISE conference, Helen O’Donnell, Vice President of Content and Creator at BBC Studios, shared that: “Creators are their own directors, creatives, marketers, producers, editors and distributors.” Forging positive creator relationships can be fruitful for brands. They can bring a ready-made audience and are a partner who is an expert in their craft. 

Yet still, despite their expertise and pulling power, some marketers remain unconvinced. Creativebrief’s Social Sells 2.0 report found that while 83% of brand marketing leaders have increased budgets within social and creator marketing in the last 2 years, 65% still struggle to demonstrate clear and measurable returns. 

With this tension in mind we asked industry leaders: Are brands still underestimating the marketing power of creators?

The days of questioning whether creator marketing works are behind us. The real question is whether brands are making the most of what they offer.

Cannes this year made one thing abundantly clear: creators have moved from the edge of the marketing mix to its very centre. We saw more than 500 creators take to the stage, conversations dominated by the growth of the creator economy, and brands like Unilever building World Cup campaigns around an ecosystem of 50,000 creators. The shift isn't just in budget, it's in mindset.

Creators have repeatedly been viewed as a way to extend reach or produce content. Increasingly, they're being recognised for something much more valuable - their expertise, cultural proximity and understanding of the communities they speak to. Whether it's a niche subject matter expert, a founder or a CEO, influence has moved from channel count to credibility.

The biggest strides are taken by moving beyond creator marketing as a channel and embracing creators as a strategic part of how campaigns are shaped. That’s where the magic happens.

The short answer is yes – but the extent varies wildly by industry, and by category maturity and business model. At one end, many beauty and fashion brands run sophisticated, multi-layered creator ecosystems: seeding, affiliates, ambassadors, always-on activity, experiential. At the other, some of the world's biggest enterprises across FMCG, consumer tech and beyond are yet to truly understand creators.

The issue isn't always that brands ignore creators – it's that they underestimate the breadth of what creators can do. Too often, creators are treated as a broadcast channel, a low cost route to social assets or an opportunity to spike awareness once a year, even though influencer marketing has the power to build real full-funnel impact that compounds in value over time.

That mindset shows up when brands hand creators generic advertising scripts and expect influence, while stripping out the very things that make creator content work: native storytelling, audience understanding, credibility and cultural context. Others still place creator marketing under PR or see it as an annual tick-box exercise, limiting its true potential rather than recognising its role across advocacy, consideration, conversion and long-term brand building.

Encouragingly, many brand teams on the ground already understand this. The next step is bringing leadership along by proving the results that make the case. Because creators are not just a media channel; they are one of the most effective ways for brands to earn attention, build relevance and influence audiences who are increasingly resistant to traditional advertising.

I don't think brands underestimate the power of creators anymore. If anything, they've bought in. Creator marketing investment is projected to grow 26% year on year, proving this is no longer an experimental channel, it's become a core part of the marketing mix.

The bigger question for me is whether brands really understand the difference between a creator and an influencer.

They're often used interchangeably, but they play very different roles. An influencer is typically brought in because of the audience they've built. A creator is brought in because they know how to make content people actually want to watch. That's what matters most today. Algorithms don't care how many followers you have; they care whether people stop scrolling, watch, share and engage.The brands seeing the best results have figured that out. They're not just buying reach anymore; they're investing in people who understand the platforms, know what resonates with audiences and create content that feels native rather than like an ad.

Of course, influencers still play a huge role. If your objective is to tap into a new audience or borrow credibility, they're incredibly valuable. But if you're looking to make your budgets work harder, creators are often the smarter investment. You're not just paying for reach; you're investing in people who understand the platforms, know how to stop the scroll and create content that continues to perform long after it's been posted. People buy from people. This is the main reason we've built a full-time team of content creators who produce platform-first content for brands every single day.

I think some brands have mastered the power of creators. M&S has really smashed not only ambassadors but also creators on campaigns like their recent National Picky Bits day which was IMPOSSIBLE to miss across social. But bigger companies with more red tape are still struggling to find the balance between working with creators and actually letting them create. Too often the C-suite gets involved in the creative itself, when the whole point of using creators is their creativity. That's what makes the best work.

In 2026, the argument is no longer whether brands should be using creators, but how.

I’d argue that too many brands are overestimating the impact of creators in the short term, and underestimating their value in the long term. 

Too many brands still see creators as a quick win, and judge the results accordingly. Short term measurement, focused on vanity metrics is where the power of creators feels flimsy. Views and engagement rates might look good on a spreadsheet but are far less meaningful in contributing to future demand.

Long term, it’s a different story. The latest IPA Influencer Benchmarking Report from 2025 paints a crystal clear picture. In the long-term, creators deliver the highest long-term multiplier of any channel - ahead of linear TV, the bastion of long-term brand building. Through a social-focused lens, System1 data suggest creator ads deliver 23% uplift on Brand Memory Lift in comparison to brand ads. That’s a powerful lever to pull, but it rests on the right deployment and strategy.

The smartest brands are the ones willing to play the long game here. The data makes it clear: influencers punch above their weight, but it requires a holistic approach. Bring creators along for the ride. Embed them in your storytelling. Build meaningful long-term partnerships that cement positive association and reap the rewards long term.

It’s a mixed bag. We are making headway here in the UK, with more independent studies such as the IPA influencer effectiveness study putting some numbers behind what we already knew anecdotally. It was great to clearly see from that study that creators objectively deliver the highest total ROI of any channel and delivers a short-term ROI comparable to linear TV. 

Brand perspectives here tend to vary by vertical. The ones who adopted creator marketing early such as beauty, FMCG, wellness and travel tend to be more mature with their thinking and understand its true effectiveness. Those brands doubling down on creators now are the ones who will have the exponential advantage later.

Brands in the USA have completely embraced the marketing power of creators. Budget allocations there rival or exceed broadcast for many brands, which shows how they're thinking about it. Even the Pepsi USA CMO Mark Kirkham said it at Cannes: “Influencer and content strategies are not cheaper. They require more investment in order to be effective. Those seeing failure are not investing properly.” I couldn’t have said it better. A very clear understanding of how to look at the category strategically rather than as a tactical add-on.