The creator economy is shifting from existing as a tool for publicity to becoming a component of business strategy. The State of the Creator Economy panel at CES 2025 discussed the new roles creators are taking on within brands and organizations based on a need for authentic connection with audiences.
Rethinking the Role of Creators
The discussion showed that today’s creators are no longer only storytellers or influencers, but serve as trusted business advisors (paid) and partners, offering unique consumer perspectives that can drive growth and development.
Kenny Gold, Managing Director, Deloitte Digital, says the idea that creators are solely a vehicle for advertising is a thing of the past.
“When your corporate structure does not include the voice of the customer, it doesn't include the perspective of the people who are out there, every single day, dealing with your customer base or audience,” Gold said. “The creator does not just live in the world with the CMO. The creator lives in the world with the C-suite. And if your CEO or your CFO are not talking about the impact of creators on your business, they are woefully behind where they need to be based on the modern business.”
Jules Terpak, digital culture analyst, noted the importance of businesses including creators on advisory boards, as they would like autonomy, but also experience in the business world. She noted the example of creators advising social media platforms.
“A lot of creators want to be integrated into the platforms that they're utilizing every day, and to help those be better for the future,” Terpak said. “Social media platforms [started to ramp up advisory boards] this past year, and so much insight has come out of that.”
For example, if Instagram beta tested removing a certain feature, some creators, who use the platform daily, might ask “why are you doing this? This doesn’t align with anything that we really want.”
Gold also noted that if you are bringing on creators for content or advising—it should not be a one-and-done campaign.
“Deloitte recently did creator economy research, and creators are seeking long-term deals—they know their value of being embedded in a company,” he said. “Have them sit in all-hands staff meetings, and they will become advocates.”
The Value of Good Storytelling and Format
Taylor Swift, one of the most famous people in the world, could be labeled as an extremely impactful creator, and the panel explained why her content is to be noticed and learned from.
“The best entertainers today do world building," Terpak said. “Taylor Swift delivers easter eggs to followers that ignite creativity within her audience.”
That creativity is produced through the democratization of creativity tools—easily accessible, usable and free video editors such as CapCut and Opus Clip.
“Four years ago TikTok was mostly dance videos, now clips, generated by fans of creators, are taking over social media feeds, Terpak said. “Creators are igniting imagination for audiences who then post their own creations on their own feeds.
Gold noted the recent evolution in storytelling from a marketing perspective.
“Marketers thought they could tell their own story better than anyone else, but consumers are smarter and less prone to fall for [messaging] tricks,” he said. “Creators allow for a different voice to tell a brand story that resonates—[which includes] trust and authenticity. Let [creators] bring you the brief on a story for your brand—then it comes from the voice of customer.”
What Will Define the 2025 Creator Economy?
Panelists also offered predictions as to trends that would define the creator experience this year.
Adam Wescott, CEO Mind Chatter Media, LLC, mentioned consolidation and the recent mergers and acquisitions of creator agencies.
“We've seen a couple of M&A announcements over the last couple of months, most recently Influential to Publicis for $500 million and Later acquired Mavely for $250 million,” Wescott said. “You have a lot of small creator economy companies doing things well, whereas collectively among a portfolio, they can do things really well, and at scale.”
Gold saw measurement as an upcoming opportunity and necessity.
“We are going to see the first universal metric to judge impactful success of the creator economy, and in turn, it's going to drive pay equity within the Creator economy, which is very important right now,” he said. “So building a way to understand the return on your creator investment, and how does that take into consideration the lifetime value of that creator to your business, and how that's impacting your bottom line…it’s like a Nielsen rating for creators.”
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.