At Traackr’s 2025 IMPACT events, senior marketing leaders from L’Oréal, Coty, Meliá Hotels International, Michelin, Charlotte Tilbury, Dove, Snap, YouTube, and more came together to discuss one big question:
How can brands move from running creator campaigns to building scalable systems for advocacy?
The answer? A mindset shift.
Creator marketing isn’t just a cool add-on anymore. It’s a core growth engine that needs the same strategic thinking, measurement, and cross-team alignment as any other business function.
Here’s what the most future-ready brands are doing (and how you can steal their best plays).
1. Creators Are Strategic Growth Partners—Not Just Channels
Why pay a creator once when you could build an empire together?
Creators today aren’t just content machines. They’re launching brands, building empires, and rewriting what marketing partnerships look like. But more importantly, they’re the ones that hold consumers’ trust. Brands that want to stay relevant in this new landscape must move beyond commissioning content and start co-creating value.
“A lot of these ideas and projects are untapped. I think brands have a huge opportunity here to go out to creators and say, ‘We love what you do. Where are you headed—and how can we support you on that journey?’” — Camilla Krum, Top Creator Partnerships Manager at YouTube
That kind of co-creative mindset is starting to take root. At Dove, the team has gone beyond one-off partnerships and worked to embed creators into the brand’s ecosystem, showing what it looks like when brands invest in long-term relationships built on trust and shared vision.
“We integrated creators right from the start. It's not just about paid or owned—our creator community is embedded across every touchpoint of the brand experience.”— Sarah Potter, Global Dove Director - PR & Social Influencer at Unilever
Key Takeaway: Don’t just brief creators—co-create with them.
2. Feedback Is a Growth Lever—For You and Your Creators
The most effective creator partnerships don’t end when the content goes live—they evolve. Yet 85% of creators say they never receive feedback from brands. That’s not just a missed opportunity but a missed system for scaling.
“I study my analytics inside and out. But if I don’t get any data back from the brand, I don’t really know what worked for them.” — Content Creator, IMPACT London 2025
Feedback isn’t just valuable for creators—it’s a goldmine for brands. Which content drove conversions? Which creators sparked meaningful engagement? Sharing performance insights helps strengthen top partnerships and surface hidden stars.
Key Takeaway: Feedback isn’t a formality—it’s a feedback loop that benefits everyone.
3. Cross-Team Alignment Is a Competitive Advantage
Too often, paid media, organic content, and creator activations operate in silos—leading to fragmented messaging and wasted spend.
“You have the creator, the organic team, the paid media team—and no one’s talking. That’s where things fall apart. Without coordination, you risk wasting budget and damaging relationships.”— Jamie Gutfreund, Founder of Creator Vision
When these teams align, brands not only improve efficiency but also strengthen trust with creators and communities.
Key Takeaway: Build integrated workflows that unify creator, media, and organic content teams.
4. Organic Advocacy Is a Force Multiplier
Some of the best content isn’t commissioned—it’s spontaneous. But those breakout moments often go unnoticed without the right systems.
“One of our creators posted about a product completely organically—we caught it right away and boosted it. That one moment turned into a massive reach and measurable impact. Speed made the difference.” — Luca Rovere, Global VP Advocacy & Social Commerce at Coty
At Coty, Luca and his team has systematized what they call natural advocacy—organic mentions from creators who are already engaging with their brands.
Instead of guessing what to promote, Coty’s team analyzes creator performance in real time, and then amplifies the content that best aligns with brand goals and audience fit.
Key Takeaway: Spot high-performing organic content early and move quickly to amplify what’s already resonating.
5. Performance Is More Than Vanity Metrics
Likes and reach are no longer enough. Today’s leading brands are measuring performance based on impact: conversions, traffic, and more.
“We moved from vanity metrics to a unified measurement model—now we track everything from brand awareness to eCommerce impact across markets. It’s the only way to scale effectively.” — Santiago Garcia Solimei, Head of Social Media and Brands PR at Meliá Hotels International
But advocacy only scales when it’s measurable. Start by asking the right questions: Are we measuring value, not just volume? Are we optimizing cost efficiency? Are we tracking creator performance over time?
Key Takeaway: Build smarter benchmarks that can be standardized across teams and markets.
Get an in-depth look at how Meliá Hotels used Traackr to bring consistency to its influencer marketing program across global teams by unifying KPIs and market-level benchmarks.
6. Creators Collapsed the Funnel – and That’s a Good Thing
The traditional marketing funnel is disappearing. On platforms like TikTok, a single piece of content can drive awareness, engagement, and conversion (sometimes in the span of seconds!).
“We used to build awareness first and hope sales followed. Now, the same piece of content can drive discovery and conversion in seconds.” — Nick Tran, President and Chief Marketing Officer at Lobos 1707 Tequila and Cîroc Vodka
That shift isn’t theoretical—it’s already happening on the ground. At L’Oréal, Jack Timpany, UK TikTok Shop Director, shared how his team tracks click-through and conversion data in real time to pinpoint which creators are actually driving commerce.
“We’re watching performance in real time—click-through rates, conversions—and learning how to adapt instantly. Creators aren’t just awareness drivers anymore. They’re our commerce engine.” - Jack Timpany, L’Oréal UK TikTok Shop Director
Key Takeaway: Creators don’t just spark interest—they drive conversions. Treat them like full-funnel partners.
7. Use AI to Empower, Not Replace
AI isn’t here to steal jobs—it’s here to kill guesswork. That means using AI to uncover insights faster, spot performance trends, and optimize with precision.
“AI is very good at solving puzzles. It can get us to an answer faster, but it’s not going to crack a mystery. The creator space is rich with both, and you need to know the difference.” — Nikki Howley, VP of Business Development at Sundogs
That’s why smart marketers are using AI to power decisions, not replace intuition. But there’s a risk—Nick Tran warns that the industry may be approaching “Peak Social,” where everything starts to feel the same.
Remember, AI can help you identify what works, but it’s human strategy and storytelling that make content meaningful. The brands that stand out will be the ones who use both in tandem.
Key Takeaway: Use AI to remove creative guesswork and sharpen your instincts.
The Bottom Line?
The creator economy is maturing. It’s no longer about chasing trends but building systems. Traackr gives you the infrastructure to organize globally, optimize intelligently, and strategize sustainably.
When done right, creator marketing doesn’t just drive awareness—it creates desire at scale.