Creators as product partners

Brands are moving creators upstream, from paid posts to product and strategy roles that shape what gets made and how it is marketed. (iab.com) By November 2025, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said U.S. creator ad spend was projected to reach $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year over year. The same report said creator spending more than doubled from $13.9 billion in 2021 to $29.5 billion in 2024. (iab.com) Later’s 2025 survey of 214 U.S. marketers found 61% had elevated influencer marketing to “strategic infrastructure,” and 70% of leading brands had turned creator relationships into ongoing partnerships. The company framed the shift as a move from campaign buying to repeatable systems with dedicated investment and measurement. (later.com) That changes the job description. Edelman wrote in April 2025 that creators are becoming “strategic inputs,” not just distribution partners, as brands use them to read culture, test messages, and reach audiences that trust individuals more than institutions. (edelman.com) Edelman cited Trust Barometer data showing 60% of consumers trust what a creator says about a brand more than what the brand says about itself. LinkedIn executive Ashley Levey said creator content now outperforms other formats across the funnel, from awareness to conversion. (edelman.com) Billion Dollar Boy’s 2025 creator-economy research pushed the idea further, arguing that creators are becoming founders, brand builders, and “media moguls” as social commerce tools compress the gap between recommendation and purchase. Its report said 2025 would be the year brands and creators “craft genuine, seamless experiences” across the consumer journey. (billiondollarboy.com) That logic is pulling creator budgets into functions that used to sit outside influencer marketing, including product concepting, community feedback, affiliate programs, and paid amplification. The Interactive Advertising Bureau said sales now ranks among the top goals for creator campaigns, not just awareness and reach. (iab.com) The tradeoff is control. Billion Dollar Boy’s report, summarized by Influencer Marketing Hub in July 2025, said co-developed products can blur a brand’s identity if companies do not set rules on tone, claims, visuals, and category limits before launch. (influencermarketinghub.com) Creators are also asking for more than fees. Influencer Marketing Hub, citing Billion Dollar Boy’s research, said top creators increasingly want education, tooling, operations support, and community infrastructure, which is why agencies and platforms are building incubators and membership networks around them. (influencermarketinghub.com) The result is a different kind of partnership: creators are being treated less like ad inventory and more like product partners with audience data, taste, and distribution. The brands that adopt that model are reorganizing around longer contracts, earlier creator input, and clearer rules on who owns the story. (later.com)