Business of Creators 💬

Industry latest

📣Vidcon kicks off this week in Anaheim, California and YouTube is coming in with a packed agenda of headliners and speakers. Some talks will be live streamed too! 

🧸Toys R US rumbled some backlash among creatives after dropping a generative AI ad. Whilst the company has been touted for its values in creativity and the power of imagination, its latest campaign is publicized as the first brand filming using Sora - OpenAI’s text-to-video tool. 

✊TikTok is launching two new initiatives under the "Supporting Our Artisans and Retailers (SOAR) Together" program to support small businesses, including a 6-week training program for women-owned businesses and scholarships for LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs, aimed at enhancing their in-app presence and growth through marketing and business resources.

Platform round-up

Leverage the latest updates and features across digital platforms to help you get ahead of the game…

🖼️Pinterest has introduced improved board sharing, allowing users to showcase their collections across other social apps

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Cannes Lions Festival goes all out for creators

While creators have been somewhat a fly on the wall of the festival for years, this year marked the first time Cannes Lions hosted a dedicated creator program, signifying a shift and humbling moment for the media and ad industry. 

While creators like Emma Chamberlain and Alex Cooper had previously participated in the likes of panels, this year saw an unprecedented integration of social media influencers into the festival's fabric. Paris Hilton’s DJ set featured the TikTok-viral "Man in Finance" song by creator Megan Boni and even Pop Crave (not to be confused with sister troll-account Poo Crave) covered the biggest creators during Spotify’s beach party. 

Social media platforms, influencer and talent agencies, and brands expanded their partnerships with creators, with TikTok flying out influencers like Leo González, Josh Richards, and Markell Washington, and Snapchat inviting Nikki Lilly and Savannah Demers to speak on panels. Meta featured voices like Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry, Nadya Okamoto, and Grace Wells, who highlighted the growing convergence of social media and traditional marketing.

United Talent Agency (UTA) more than tripled the number of creators it brought to Cannes this year, featuring prominent names like Alix Earle and Robyn DelMonte. The festival's welcoming stance was seen as a crucial legitimization of the creator space, allowing influencers to participate as key speakers rather than mere attendees. Ali Berman, partner and co-head of UTA Creators, emphasized the shift from passive listeners to active contributors, while DelMonte highlighted the importance of the creator perspective in discussions about the creator economy. UTA's "ZCannes" event, spotlighting Gen Z creators, further exemplified this integration, with sponsorship from brands like eos, PopSockets, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat, underscoring the vibrant collaboration between creators, brands, and marketing platforms at Cannes.

TikTok’s new phone to billboard campaigns for UGC creators 

TikTok is working with brands to expand campaign promotion beyond the platform with its new offering that enables brands to use TikTok user-generated content across the likes of billboards, in-store displays, cinema promos etc. 

The offering, coined as “Out of Phone: Branded Mission”, comes off the back of its launch in 2022 which enabled brands to post participatory campaigns when creators could then choose to participate in. Film studio, Lionsgate, were among the first to leverage this IRL activation campaign during the release of last year’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. The Hunger Games fandoms saw their videos take the iconic screens of Times Square. 

We’re looking forward to seeing how this style of campaign develops over the next year…