Why Creators work better than Celebs

(2 min read) How to make content people share, the backlash against Creators by journalists, and why Creators will replace celebs as the faces of brands

Author

Avi Gandhi
September 05, 2024

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Jay was a previous Creator Logic guest, and I think his framework is worth every Creator spending some time thinking about.

The main takeaway: If you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one. So figure out who you want to please, and get comfortable with pissing off the group opposing them. Haters can serve you as much as superfans.

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t done a great job of this myself. As a long-time executive in the space, and as someone who consults for Creator-facing companies, I’ve been scared of being too controversial…but that hasn’t done me any favors.

I like this article because it forces my hand.

Here are the groups I’m trying to please via Creator Logic:

  • Creators who aren’t making as much as they want

  • Creators who have interesting and unique business models

  • Companies that serve these Creators

Here are the groups I’m OK pissing off via Creator Logic:

  • People who “teach” Creators that they should pursue view & follower growth at all costs (the MrBeasts of the world)

  • Companies that only care about big Creators

  • People who take advantage of or undervalue Creators 

I’ll aim to do a better job implementing a “spiky point of view” on these topics in the future.

Speaking of which…

The way creators are being mocked and belittled by so-called "established" journalists and observers online is nothing short of disgraceful. The entitlement, the arrogance, and the gatekeeping is appalling. While the viciousness of these attacks is upsetting, the backlash is not surprising. This is the same kind of protectionist behavior that has been happening in the media world for decades, as many invested in institutional power structures lash out amidst their dwindling influence. 

First, I’m a Taylor Lorenz stan.

Now that that’s out of the way, I love this article of hers because she sits at the intersection of  the old world and the new world.

If journalists are the cab drivers of media, Creators are the Uber drivers.

There’s no meaningful distinction between the two except an arbitrary line — drawn by the powers that be. For cab drivers, it’s the ability to buy a license. For journalists, it’s a certain degree or professional background. 

Either way, the service ultimately provided isn’t necessarily better and, as issues like false neutrality and sensationalist headlines for the clicks show, is often worse.

Taylor’s piece puts journalists on blast for their reaction to the inclusion of Creators as influential voices and purveyors of information at the DNC. Interestingly, there wasn’t as much backlash from the right-wing press around Creators’ similar inclusion at the RNC…perhaps because the lines are a bit blurrier on the Right.

Either way, I’m here for this truth to power perspective:

Journalism is not a profession that requires a degree or some kind of official certification. It’s a practice—one that involves gathering information, questioning power, telling stories, and engaging with an audience. Content creators often do all of these things with more authenticity and immediacy than traditional media.

Cetaphil has long been known as a brand recommended by dermatologists. According to [Cetaphil global president] Loftis, the brand is not breaking away from this history, but, rather, finding a way to evolve with it. Doctors are increasingly telling her they want to work with the influencer community to dispel the misinformation that has become so rampant on social media. 

We often see Creators as amplifiers in brand campaigns, but we rarely see them as the face of a brand or product…for now. I believe this is going to be the new norm in the future, especially from the subset of Creators known as “influencers”. 

Influencers as brand faces provide a happy medium between paying astronomical talent fees for a “celebrity” (e.g.  Kendall Jenner for Gucci) and taking a huge risk on turning an unknown actor into a brand face (e.g. Stephanie Courtney becoming Flo from Progressive).

Creator-influencers as brand faces have 3 major benefits:

  1. There’s some built in distribution via the influencer’s socials.

  2. When selected correctly, there’s already content-market fit between the Creator and the audience the brand is targeting; data shows this leads to higher performance on running influencer content as ads (e.g. on Meta, ROAS for Creator content run as ads is 15% higher than non-Creator content).

  3. The fees are generally much lower than celebrity fees, because there’s still a premium paid on recognizability via “mainstream” distribution channels like TV, Netflix, etc.

Cetaphil is being smart about their approach, and including dermatology influencers to maintain the medical credibility of their brand. 

Expect to see more Creators as brand faces in the future!

What do you think? 

Reply to let me know, and if you liked this article, please forward it to a friend.

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Written by Avi Gandhi, edited by Melody Song,
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