How to close the value gap in brand-creator partnerships

Creators are coming to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with a clear north star: how to scale their business sustainably. In unison, marketers are seeking brand partners that can help to unlock growth.

Brands and digital stars share the same orbit at the festival. But are their goals always aligned, and how can partnerships bring value that truly benefits both sides? 

As the creator economy matures and multiplies, it’s redefining how the entire ad industry operates. With over 300 million creators globally, according to Adobe, and CMOs rapidly pivoting from traditional to social-first strategies, it’s creating unprecedented opportunities for brand-creator partnerships to scale.

Essentially, all partners are now calling for the same shift. It’s a move from transactional deals to genuine connection and transparency, and LIONS Creators is the Cannes Lions program where the right conversations happen.

The rise of creators at Cannes Lions 

The Cannes Lions community is increasingly diverse. Meta, Amazon, WPP and P&G now rub shoulders with Netflix and YouTube, alongside actors, athletes and entrepreneurs. Social stars are now an essential part of that ecosystem — and their presence is growing.

Speaking on panels and broadcasting live from the Croisette is part of their increasing profile. But more than that, the creator community is in Cannes to invest in their business as delegates and a central part of the new creative workforce.

This year’s LIONS Creators is expanding, moving from the Palais rooftop to a beachfront space where brands including BDB, Linktree, Manychat, Microsoft, Vercel, Primetag, Whalar, Unilever, Wasserman, #Paid, CAA and iHeart are activating. Live content creation is accelerating, too, with editing suites and content studios enabling creators to stream live from the festival.

Where partnerships fall short

There’s still work that needs to be done, though, to foster partnerships that work for both creators and brands.

Creator content doesn’t always deliver value to satisfy the C-suite, and the metrics aren’t always clear. After all, 53% of creator ads don’t feature a brand in the first three seconds, yet only 14% are watched past that point, according to WARC and CreativeX data. 

Creators, meanwhile, are bringing their own concerns to the table. Contracting, IP protection, payment terms and long-term security are all being raised.

While the opportunities are great, there’s still a gap in understanding how great partnerships operate.

Community-first collaboration  

Community is currency in a social-first world, and this is creators’ natural domain. Brands are building essential trust and authenticity with fans by tapping into creator communities, in ways it’s impossible to do alone.

But for partnerships to hold real value, they must be mutually meaningful. Brands and creators should be asking harder questions: Does this partnership feel authentic, or is it misaligned? Does it serve both the brand’s goals and the creator’s community?

For alliances to have real impact, they must be co-built — focusing on a long-term commitment over short-term objectives, shaping audience behavior and campaign impact together over time.

Creators are business-builders 

Brands are now building entire campaigns and experiences around creators; it’s no longer just about one-off sponsorship deals.

Meanwhile, influencers are finding increasing freedom. They’re empire-building at rapid speed, launching agencies and negotiating deals as fully-fledged CEOs. Operating as all-in-one media companies and entertainment models, they’re building subscription models and monetizing their product simultaneously.

AI makes creator campaigns possible by developing creative, shooting and editing content and even managing distribution and analytics at the touch of a button. 

This is the new backdrop behind every partner negotiation.

Successful partnerships are built on mutual value and alignment, from contracting and creative freedom to long-term commitment and measurement. In the creator economy’s expanding universe, brands and creators must partner effectively to coexist and scale in the long term.  

This op-ed represents the views and opinions of the author and not of The Current, a division of The Trade Desk, or The Trade Desk. The appearance of the op-ed on The Current does not constitute an endorsement by The Current or The Trade Desk.