Axios House: Creators become brands' new power brokers

CANNES, France — The creator economy has outgrown its origins, and the brands, agencies and platforms that haven't caught up are getting left behind, business leaders said at an Axios Live event this week.

Why it matters: Creators are increasingly morphing from messaging channels to the brand's actual product, media company and increasingly investor, United Talent Agency CEO David Kramer said.

• "The exponential value proposition for the artists is palpable right now," he said.

Axios' Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn moderated discussions with Kramer and Grace Wells, a commercial video creator. The June 24 event was sponsored by Instacart.

What they're saying: The biggest misconception brands have about creators is that they're endorsers, not partners, Kramer said.

• "Brands have to relinquish some control," said Kramer. "Trust that if they're going to get into business with Alix Earle, she's got to have a creative say, or it won't be authentic to who she is. Her audience will sniff it out."
• Wells, who started her career making commercials for random objects during the COVID pandemic, said the same tension plays out in her own work. Her Samsonite campaign drove a click-through rate five times that of the brand's campaign running at the same time.

Between the lines: As AI blurs the line between human-made and machine-generated content, proof that it was made by people becomes a selling point, not just an aesthetic choice, Wells said.

• "Audiences are craving this stamp or proof of human creation," Wells said. "I think we're going to see a lot more behind-the-scenes content coming to the forefront, just because we need audiences to understand all the people that went into making this thing."

Zoom out: Cannes Lions is now the biggest event of the year for creators, Kramer said, because it's where brands and creators actually meet to do business.

• UTA brought over 75 creator clients and 100-plus agents this year to the event, Kramer said.

• Anthropic and OpenAI are now signing creator deals, a sign that even AI companies have figured out that trust is built through people, not platforms, Kramer said.

What's next: Creators are increasingly demanding long-term partnerships over single deals, Kramer said.

• "This notion of we're going to hire this creator for a one-off and never speak to them again is fortunately dying out," Wells said.
• Kramer said traditional Hollywood should lean in, "otherwise they're going to cede a lot of power." He pointed to YouTuber Curry Barker, who made the movie "Obsession" for $750,000 and that ended up earning millions worldwide.

Content from the sponsor's segment:

In a View from the Top conversation, Instacart general manager of advertising Ali Miller said a surge in retail media networks has created new problems for brands: too many places to buy and too little consistency in how results are measured.

• "Brands have told us they're reaching that breaking point — they cannot possibly manage all of these different individual touchpoints," Miller said.