Observed Signal · Jul 28, 2026 · Interview · Source: Hello Partner · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Creators Urged to Return to Creative Roots
At CreatorFest 2026, Emily English (nutritionist, cookbook author, and founder of Epitome) and Sasha Jeppesen (Head of Influencer and Creative at Charlie Oscar) argued that creator marketing has become overly focused on short-term ROI and algorithm-driven trends, causing creative fatigue. They recommend brands realign around clear strategy, measurement, and content redistribution, favour organic brand-creator fit, and emphasise emotional, less-produced content. Both predict the next major frontier for the creator economy is Creator Intellectual Property (IP), with creators building owned brands and agencies seeking to leverage that IP beyond sponsored posts.
Thought leadership highlighting a strategic shift toward creator-owned IP and creative-first approaches; relevant to brands, agencies, and creator platform strategies but not a major platform or policy change.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Emily English is a nutritionist, cookbook author, and founder of Epitome.
- Sasha Jeppesen is Head of Influencer and Creative at social agency Charlie Oscar.
- At CreatorFest 2026, they said creator marketing has become formulaic and needs to return to creativity, focusing on strategy, measurement, and content redistribution.
- Both predict 'Creator Intellectual Property (IP)' will be the next major frontier for creators over the next 12–18 months.
- Charlie Oscar released an industry report referenced by Sasha Jeppesen in the discussion.
Connected Companies & Entities
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Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
CreatorFest 2026: Creators Take Center Stage
Hello Partner's CreatorFest 2026, a two-day creator-economy event that originated in 2024, brought creators, brands, influencer marketers and talent managers together. Speakers and sessions included Mia McGrath (Frugal Chic), Alex Hick (LADbible), Dom Smales (GloMotion Studios) and Annabel Harris (The Goat Agency). Key themes were creators taking greater control of their careers, brands becoming bolder with less scripted briefs, and the maturation of creator businesses into structured, sustainable operations with diversified revenue and teams. Sessions covered content recycling to extend shelf life, crafting a content career alongside day jobs, and reimagined creator-brand partnerships. Fringe-stage showcases highlighted creator monetisation outcomes. The piece is an optimistic event recap with takeaways for creators and brand/agency practitioners ahead of CreatorFest 2027.
Creators Are Driving Marketing’s Entertainment Era
At Cannes Lions 2026, creators moved from peripheral campaign talent to central partners in marketing, with talent agencies, brands and creative shops treating creators as media partners, production teams and IP owners. The festival highlighted a convergence between marketers and creators: brands increasingly hire creators or their representatives for longer, operational engagements (episodic/always-on content) rather than one-off posts. Agency and brand leaders — including figures from UTA, OpenAI, Bose, L’Oréal, Kraft Heinz and Unilever — argued creators supply authenticity, creative execution and audience relationships that traditional media and campaigns no longer reliably build on their own. Creators report mixed ROI for attending Cannes but see value in relationship-building and future commercial opportunities.
Creators at Cannes Focus on Briefs, Not Parties
At Cannes Lions 2026 creators attended with commercial intent: brands and talent are treating the festival as a working week of briefs, pilots and deals rather than a party circuit. MediaLink (owned by UTA) hosted an invite-only dinner for more than 70 creators, reflecting how creators are being courted as strategic partners who offer judgement as well as reach. Senior marketers from Unilever, Bose and P&G described a shift toward long-term, co-authored partnerships and internal reorganization to operationalize creator relationships. Creators and their managers are pitching “creator-native” approaches—sustained, always-on storytelling and IP-building—while brands ask how to scale and codify results. A March 2026 McKinsey survey cited in the piece shows high AI interest among marketers but limited workflow-level value capture and only modest team rewiring to embed AI into operations.
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