Owned Audiences: Why Creators Are Now a Structural Asset

Executive Summary The creator economy has flipped brand-building . Creators build audiences first, so brands need to think beyond agencies and build creator networks.

Brands can work with creators as promoters, ambassadors, agencies or business partners. The deepest partnerships often involve equity instead of fees .

Creators influence audiences because they feel relatable. Trust matters more than celebrity.

Networks of smaller creators can drive better sales than celebrity campaigns, especially for products people want to try first.

Creator partnerships require brands to give up some creative control . Brands that allow creators to work in their own style usually see better results .

Campaign success depends on setting clear goals and metrics before launch.

The strongest creator partnerships are built on long-term collaboration.

. For decades, brands were built by creating content and distributing it through established channels such as television, print and record labels. The creator economy has turned that model on its head, with creators building audiences first and monetising them later. Roshan Abbas explored what this shift means for business leaders and how it is changing the way organisations approach media, agencies and brand investment.

. AD BC: The Inversion of Distribution For decades, media has followed a trajectory of content production first and distribution second. The new landscape can be described as ‘AD BC’, or ‘after distribution, before content.’ Creators begin by building their audience and the content follows from that relationship. Traditionally an artist’s career needed to move step-wise – say from the small stage to radio to television and then to film, with each step representing a progression of audience, opening a wider network of distribution. Creators today no longer need to follow this linear path. Instead, they can expand their reach in a short span without involving legacy institutional intermediaries.

Solving the distribution problem once demanded creativity. In the early 1990s, a certain pager company that was trying to reach truckers bundled branded music cassettes with every device it sold. The logic was that cassette players were the only reliable way to reach that specific audience.

Today, creators are solving the distribution challenge by building trusted communities around themselves – but this changes the role of brands. Instead of asking which agency to brief, organisations need to identify the creators and creator networks that already reach their target audience. For some, that may even mean building creator capabilities in-house.

. The Four Levels of Creator Partnerships How brands work with creators depends on the depth of the relationship:

Integration: The simplest level, where a brand becomes part of the creator's existing content.

Ambassadorship: Built through sustained association rather than one-off endorsements. Prajakta Koli's long-running partnership with Gillette illustrates this approach, with regular content reinforcing credibility over several years. By contrast, celebrities who frequently endorse competing brands may deliver visibility but not trust.

Agency: Many creators also act as creative agencies, developing campaign ideas rather than simply executing briefs. Tanmay Bhat's Moonshot , the team behind several of CRED 's best-known campaigns, including the Rahul Dravid film, demonstrates how creators who understand platform audiences can produce ideas that traditional agencies often cannot.

Co-founder/Partner: This comes with the deepest level of engagement. Here, the creator becomes a partner and has equity or a commercial stake in the business. Nike 's partnership with Michael Jordan , which aligned commercial incentives through revenue sharing rather than a conventional endorsement fee, shows how relationships can evolve beyond advertising into long-term value creation.

. Trust vs Reach The effectiveness of creator marketing rests on trust. As social media makes public figures more accessible, the mystique that once gave celebrity endorsements their influence is fading. Audiences often follow celebrities closely enough to distinguish between genuine advocacy and paid promotion. By contrast, creators build credibility through regular interaction with their communities, making recommendations feel more personal and authentic. A creator with a smaller but highly engaged audience can often drive better results than a celebrity with millions of followers. The difference is that, in one case, recommendations feel like they come from a trusted source, while in the other, they appear to be what they are: a transactional endorsement.

For products that require trial or consideration, trust can have a direct impact on purchasing decisions. Skincare brand Minimalist built much of its early growth through nano influencers whose recommendations felt genuine and consistent. The same principle extends beyond metropolitan markets. Only a small share of India’s creator audience is concentrated in the top metros, creating opportunities for brands to reach new consumer segments through regional creators such as Life of Pooja , whose appeal comes from sharing her everyday life rather than presenting a carefully curated persona.

. Creator-driven campaigns Successful creator campaigns are built around the strengths of the creator rather than the preferences of the brand . Instead of prescribing every detail through a script, brands should define the problem they want to solve and allow creators to develop content in a way that feels natural to their audience.

Sprite’s effort to build a long-term association with comedy best illustrates what the creator-as-agency model looks like in practice. More than 2,000 jokes were sourced, tested with young audiences and adapted by creators in 13 languages, recognising that humour often translates poorly across cultures. Rather than relying on a single celebrity or a conventional agency brief, the brand worked with creators who understood the humour and language of their own audiences, helping the campaign reach over a billion people.

Similarly, when Tanishq wanted to promote a pair of interlocking diamond rings, the concept evolved through conversations with poet Gulzar , eventually leading to a film featuring Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar . Their decades-long relationship gave the campaign an emotional authenticity that younger actors could not have replicated, reinforcing the idea that the right creator is not always the biggest celebrity, but the one whose lived experience best fits the story.

Cadbury adopted a similar approach for a Valentine's Day campaign. Rather than asking a creator to perform a scripted emotion, it partnered with a newlywed spoken-word poet to write about falling in love. The campaign drew on an experience the creator was already living, making the content feel personal rather than promotional. The role of the brand was to create the opportunity, while the creator supplied the authentic voice.

. Trade-offs Working effectively with creators requires brands to give up a degree of creative control. Content may not always match traditional brand guidelines. A creator may pronounce a brand name differently, use a less polished production style or interpret a brief in unexpected ways. However, these imperfections often make the content feel more authentic to audiences. Trying to over-script creator content can undermine the very trust that makes it effective.

Success also depends on setting clear expectations before a campaign begins. Brands should agree upfront on the objective, whether it is awareness, engagement or sales, and define how success will be measured. Without clear metrics, proving return on investment becomes difficult, particularly when campaigns involve large networks of creators rather than a single ambassador.

Ultimately, creator partnerships work best when brands treat creators as collaborators rather than media channels. The most successful campaigns start with a clear problem, allow creators to solve it in their own voice and build relationships that extend beyond one-off promotions.