What's actually working in creator marketing

Hello and welcome back to the Walk Podcast. I'm Anna Hammel. Today we're looking at one of the fastest growing and arguably most misunderstood areas of modern marketing. And that's creator marketing. Spend on creators and influences exceeded $32 billion in 2025 with 61% of marketers planning to increase their investment and influence or creator marketing in 2026. It's a huge area of focus within the marketing and advertising industry right now, but valid questions remain about measurement and effectiveness. And many marketers still struggle with very practical questions. How much control should brands keep? How do you choose the right creators? And how do you know where the creator marketing is really building brands or just delivering the sugar rush of short term views? So today we're going to examine some of the creator work which is really core AI here at Walk, the stuff that's really working. I'm joined by my colleague Catherine Driscoll, she's commissioning editor for Amir at Walk and the editor behind our new report, What's Working in Creator Marketing. But before we speak to Catherine, let's hear from today's sponsor. If you're listening to this podcast, you'll know that Walk is the home of leading effectiveness thinking. And now we're teaching you everything you need to know about the fundamentals of strategy. Walk strategy fundamentals is our new digital course for junior or entry-level strategists. You'll learn from award-winning case studies and here directly from top strategists and Walk's own experts giving you the latest industry insights alongside proven practical frameworks. Shut up on up your skills to excel in 2026 with Walk Strategy Fundamentals. Available now at walk.com/learning Catherine, welcome back to the podcast. Thanks Anna, it's great to be here. So before we get into the themes, what prompted this report now? Why has creator marketing at a moment where it really needs this kind of deep effectiveness lens on it? We absolutely create a marketing. It's really moved from the margins to the mainstream. It's no longer something brands experiment with on the side. It's part of core brand strategy for many organisations. But with that growth, we're also seeing huge variation in outcomes. Some creator-led campaigns are delivering extraordinary business and brand impact, but others barely move the needle. So this conundrum was something we looked at in this report and also in more depth in the recent marketers toolkit as well. So thinking about this problem, you know, the aim of the report wasn't to say this is the one right way to do creator marketing, but to look across global award-winning case studies. And because I'm on what kinds of strategic choices are associated with better outcomes. What struck me reading the report is that it's not telling marketers exactly what to do, but it is showing how different strategies and creator campaigns can lead to, as you said, very different outcomes for different objectives. So let's get stuck in. Your first big theme is around creators as creative catalysts. But really, this is about when creators enter the process. Would you agree with that? Yeah, that's right. It's thinking about that balance between bringing in creators upstream as idea partners or more downstream as content producers and amplifiers. You know, it used to be the case that brands' brief creators, once the campaign idea was already locked, you know, doing that is operationally easier. It's more controllable. You know, and it fits with traditional production structures. But many of the strongest cases in the report show that creators that add most value is when they help shape the brand idea itself, not just executing it. And the report highlights freedom within guardrails is key to unlocking authenticity. Yeah, I think that's a big one. Freedom within guardrails. So do you have an example of a brand that really nailed this? Oh, yeah, there's a fun example from back in 2021 that's still a superk study from the skincare brand Deos. You know, they found a creator on TikTok named Carly Joy who posted a very raw and honest review of their shaving cream, referring it to it as a blessing for her coach. And instead of sanitizing the rather direct language or just boosting that post, Eels treated the creator insights, the creative idea, and they produced a limited edition product line using her exact phrasing. So bless your effing coach, definitely stood out on the shelf. I bet it did. So creative marketing is obviously really taken off in the last few years, but I think this case from 2021, which feels like a long time ago proves that the fundamentals of success really are timeless and creative marketing even as a lot of the details are changing. I actually remember the buzz around that product and it was quite a risky brand move for the reasons you just mentioned. What was the payoff? Yeah, the impact was big. Eels sold 150,000 units in a week and they saw 59% growth in quarterly revenue. So it shows that when you trust creators to shape the idea and validate their language rather than forcing your own, you know, it really unlocked a level of authenticity that brands just can't manufacture by themselves. Yeah, it's a really good case study and it really proves the value of leading go of total control and creating a stronger brand as a result. Yeah, there's lots more examples in the report. We saw a similar pattern with Vaseline Verified, you know, where they turned creator hacks into their own creative system. And there's a one from Coca-Cola in Thailand, where they let creators shape how the brand showed up in street food culture. Yeah, we actually spoke to the team behind Vaseline Verified on the podcast just a few weeks ago, and that's an amazing campaign creator centered. But again, they've learned so much from that to take into other parts of their marketing as well. But of course, bringing creators in upstream, it is a riskier approach for brands. That's true. I mean, bringing the creators in earlier, it means more uncertainty, having to make faster decisions during the creative process, and also having more trust in external partners. So, you know, rather than saying, yes, it does work, but rather than saying everything needs to be created, and the report we try to reframe the question is, you know, what role do we actually need creators to play to solve this business problem? You know, are they there to inspire, to explain something as a cultural translator or an amplifier? Yeah, I think that's really important. I like that structure for thinking through what the actual role of creators is in a campaign. You know, what is the exact specific goal and how do you find the right people to match that? And if you think about it, if the challenges, for example, cultural relevance or creative freshness, keeping creators out of that idea development stage, it may actually be the bigger risk. Absolutely. The second theme is about creators as cultural amplifiers. So, is this about scale? It is about scale, but it's kind of a specific kind of scale, and one of the reasons you'd bring creators in in the first place. You know, it's about turning an idea into a movement, not just reaching people, but about sparking participation and changing behaviour. We're seeing that creator campaigns that invite remixing or speculation travel much further than those that are just broadcast to people. That makes a lot of sense. So, how would you frame debt marketing decision? I think the challenge to think about here is whether you're optimizing for message consistency or designing for participation and momentum. Many brands, you know, they still approach creator marketing with very tightly scripted briefs to disseminate to new audiences via creators, you know, and they're looking for that reach. You know, and it feels safer from a brand governance point of view. But the campaigns that really achieve disproportionate cultural impact are usually those that invite people to reinterpret remix or speculate or not just repeat. And that's where participation really matters, right? Yeah, there's some lovely examples in the report. You know, one's doves response to the bold glamour filter and other famous campaign, you know, the brand didn't just release a statement, you know, it worked with creators to turn the brand point of view into a simple social action. And so people physically turn their backs on use of the filter. Or another sort of classic example from back in 2019 is Elf's Iveslips face challenge where the format itself was designed to be copied and adapted by millions of users in the end to drive awareness of the brand. It was a really conscious decision to do that. And Elf continues to really lead the charge in creator space years later. Yeah, they learned a lot from that campaign and continued to do some really amazing work in their creator space. So the Super Bowl is coming up and this kind of user engagement is becoming a key tactic there to one of the biggest advertising moments of the year. And we are seeing more brands using this big game, big moment as a tent pole to advertise in clever ways that build on top of the end game ed or work around the event itself. Yeah, it's absolutely, you know, it's going to be really interesting to see what the standout campaigns are this year. I mean, from 2024, a Serivese, the obvious example, you know, they wanted to win the Super Bowl conversation, which they essentially did, but they didn't just buy a 30 second spot and hope for the best and they fueled momentum before the game by using creators. Right. And that was the Michael Sira conspiracy. Exactly. They united a fake conspiracy that the actual actor Michael Sira was the actual founder of Serivese and they seeded this with dermatologist, gossip channels, meme creators and built a huge rumor mill by the time the Super Bowl had aired. They generated 32 billion earned impressions. 32 billion earned impressions is pretty incredible really. Yeah, I mean, it's an enormous amount of coverage and commercially it worked too. It delivered Serivese highest single week moisturizer sales and it also boosted overall sales by 25%. Yeah, pretty amazing campaign. So I guess the takeaway here is that creators can accelerate ideas into culture in a way that maybe traditional paid media can't do alone in the world that we live in these days. So you're inviting people to really kind of play with the brand and interact with it, not just watch it, but obviously as we've mentioned, participation also means losing some control over exactly how the brand shows up. It does, you know, designing for participation really means accepting less uniform messaging, more creative variability and outcomes that, you know, we're honestly harder to predict in advance. So again, it's a trade-off, you know, in this report we're not saying that close band brand control is wrong, you know, sometimes it's needed. But, you know, it helps marketers if they ask, you know, is this a campaign where consistency matters most? Or is it where conversation momentum matters more? Because if you want culture to carry your idea, you know, you have to leave room for culture to interpret it. So I'd like to focus a little bit on creator marketing effectiveness because this has been a huge topic in recent months on walk as well. It was a chapter in our market as toolkit. It's a really interesting data analysis by CreativeX found that 45% of creator spend on meta is wasted due to poor execution. Only 14% of creator ads were watched beyond the first three seconds. That's a pretty alarming step. How can marketers avoid being part of that statistic? Yeah, it's a big one. I mean, this actually works well with the third theme in the report of creators as authentic voices. And, you know, thinking about how to do that well. So it really speaks to how brands choose creators in the first place. And it's where that effectiveness evidence becomes really important. Because, you know, on the surface choosing creators with the biggest audiences feels efficient. But what we consistently see is that the best performing cases is the credibility and fit matter far more than follow accounts. Yep, that's incredibly important. And I would point out listeners to some recent IPA research from late in 2025 as well, which is really powerful on this point. So that research showed that influencer and creator marketing can be one of the strongest long-term brand building channels. And in many cases outperforming TV in terms of long-term multiplier effects. So creators absolutely can build brands, not just drive that short-term engagement. But the same research also shows that outcomes, as you mentioned earlier, are highly polarized. So creative marketing can work extremely well or not really make much of an impact at all. So what makes the difference? Yeah, so as I said, the credibility of that connection between creator, message and brand is key. You know, if they're selected purely for reach, but there's no natural link to the product, the category, or the brand role, you might get views, but you don't build memory or persuasion. And where we see strong results is when the creators bring something the brand itself can't, whether that's lived experience, specialist authority, or trust within a specific community. Right, so which collaborations made the cat in the report for this thing? One was the Skoda Reddit edit, you know, such a fun campaign. They partnered, you know, with the Reddit community that already loved the Skoda Octavia car. And they didn't try and pose a message. They just elevated the voices of real fans who are already there. And then that came campaign, let's retell orders, beating forecasts by 255%. Yeah, that's a really great one, that Skoda campaign. We actually had a video episode on the podcast about this campaign last October, as well, which listeners can find on Walks YouTube channel, really recommend getting into that one. Skoda was obviously connecting with mega fans that then became a successful broader campaign. What about when Reach is the specific goal of a creator campaign? How does that work? There's a fun, then, maybe slightly silly campaign from a Heineken and APAC that went a lot of PR awards in the report. And Heineken Silver wanted to communicate smoothness. But instead of using the usual language about beer or a typical male demographic of creators, they created an actual beauty cream infused with the same barley and hops and worked with beauty and skincare creators who already own that language of texture and softness. And the product benefit became more tangible and more believable. But also the initiative bridge different beauty, lifestyle and beer fan door audiences. So it kind of generated PR coverage in lots of different areas and built engagement with the creator content across different types of creators, not just that sort of "beerfook" beer fans. It really shows that alignment doesn't always mean staying in your exact vertical or category. It's about aligning on the concept. This was a stunt example, but it did work. And we're seeing this with brands partnering with community insiders, not just category celebrities. When they're really trying to reach new or skeptical audiences. But prioritising fit over reach likely means a slower initial scale app, right? It can. And that's the trade off optimising for reach may deliver faster visibility while optimising for credibility in long-term partnerships, maybe more slowly. But what you're building is trust, meaning and that important mental availability over time. And also that's where that IPA evidence that we were talking about really gives marketers confidence because it shows that when created partnerships are well matched and sustained, they can contribute to long-term brand growth, not just short-term spikes. That's right. So the strategic question here for marketers is, we're using creators for immediate attention, which is a valid goal, or to build durable brand associations over time. It's really a brand strategy decision. So if there's one thing that marketers should take from this report, what would you say there is? I'd say it's creator marketing isn't a single tactic. And it's certainly not just a media tactic. It's a set of strategic choices throughout your brand planning. So it's about where creators enter the process, how much control bounds keep, what kind of growth they're trying to drive. You know, it's important because this investment in creator marketing grows. The cost of getting those decisions wrong also grows. You know, for example, focusing on authenticity doesn't mean unbranded. Yeah, and it's worth flagging here as well, the recent walk podcast episode we did in early December 2025 with Becky Owen, who is CMO of creator agency Billion Dollar Boy, four marketers talker. And she emphasized that creative content still needs to work as advertising. So you still need to breathe for where the essay will live and how it will perform and all of the things that you normally would. Absolutely. And I love Becky's insights. And also our new future of media report includes some powerful analysis of how creator marketing is evolving. You know, we get into it more in that report, but of course, measurement is also key. Most creator marketing works indirectly. So relying on clicks or last touch attribution will really undervalue creators and risks cutting activity that's actually working for long-term brand building. Katherine, thank you so much. That was incredibly interesting and useful. Anna, thank you for having me. If you'd like to explore the four case studies and evidence behind these themes, you can find the Watts Working and Creator Marketing Report, live now on walk.com. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time on the walk podcast. [MUSIC]