Okay, we have a winner. Iâm sure eagle-eyed readers will remember our survey where I promised $50 to anyone who could make me laugh. I donât think our readers are going to win any comedy festival awards any time soon, apologies, maybe I was asking too much. But we do have a winner, the bright spark who just said âgimme 50 quid! đâ made me chuckle. The cheque is in the mail. Honourable mention to old mate Nick who pointed out my missed apostrophe in scoutâs honour. Itâs fair to say grammar hasnât ever been my strong point - it was entirely absent from my education. The consensus, you want to hear more about creators themselves, but otherwise keep on truckin. This week we feature our new AI for Creators section and link to the new podcast. The pod this week is slightly better than last week! Happy Thursday, Simon.
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In-house influencers?
The whole point of an external influencer is to take a fresh look at a business, but some brands want a closer relationship. Meal kit group, Blue Apron, recently announced plans for more direct partnerships with 100 creators. For brands this move is an attempt to reduce costs while also increasing campaign speed. It also shows influencer and creator marketing is becoming a stand alone channel and brands like Blue Apron want to âown the feedâ. Whether this makes things easier for creators on a financial level remains to be seen. The bigger question is do creators want to work with one brand alone? Will it dilute the industry?
LinkedIn embraces creator economy
Plans are afoot at LinkedIn to pivot into the B2B creator economy. The employment social platformâs new revenue sharing model is putting USD 12 billion on the table for B2B creators. The move comes as the wider B2B marketing spend grew 250% in the last year. LinkedIn has seen a 36% year-over-year increase in video views. It appears more professionals want TikTok styled videos to share authentic, thought leadership content. The platform has also released Thought Leadership Ads, where brands can sponsor B2B creator posts. Could make for some bizarre partnerships.
Social first is marketingâs future
A push for in-house influencers and LinkedInâs embracing of the creator economy are just part of a wider marketing industry move to social first. Social media is no longer an afterthought in any campaign, it is becoming the new core. 80% of marketers are relocating traditional media spend to social, and itâs expected this spend will reach USD 406 billion globally by 2029. The shift is simple, the audience is on social and creators are at the heart of this new marketing era. They just need to position themselves correctly to make the most of it.
AI for Creators by Erik Magelssen
This week I built an AI writers room with director profiles to critique my scripts. No sugarcoating. They were able to spot plot holes and weak dialogue immediately. Most people use AI for validation. I use it for honest feedback. Having a harsh critic available 24/7 with zero ego is how I get better work done. Plus the roasts are hilarious, and I donât have to take them personally, who would I even get mad at? I talk about it with Simon in our podcast AI for Creators here.
Cool Tools
I bumped into the most unexpected piece of film equipment - a vintage TV monitor that Christopher Nolan uses to check framing when shooting his movies. The thing receives UHF signals from the camera, basically turning broadcast technology from the '80s into a director's viewfinder. There's something beautifully stubborn about refusing to use a modern digital monitor while shooting a hugely expensive film.
Hot Tips
This creator is documenting the weird beauty of utilitarian markings - those production codes and warning labels that somehow ended up on $300 t-shirts. We've reached peak irony: fashion stealing the visual language of things explicitly designed not to be looked at. The bureaucratic aesthetic of shipping labels is now cooler than actual logos.
Viral Hits
People are recreating that Hamilton scene where Eliza begs him not to leave for his duel, except they're playing it as pure domestic annoyance. Creators lip-sync in makeshift colonial gear, escaping through windows like they're avoiding a conversation about whose turn it is to take out the trash. The historical inaccuracy is the entire point - turning America's most tragic founding father moment into the most relatable marriage content on the internet.
Stuff from us
We've been thinking about how to make recognition actually feel meaningful, and our recent Prudential project nailed it. We produced a video for their Ethics & Conduct Awards and captured profiles that showed the 2025 recipients as actual people - laughing, thinking, being themselves. These folks uphold the highest standards of integrity at Prudential, and they deserved a video that felt as genuine as their commitment.