Creator-led movies like "Obsession" helped the summer box office break all-time records, and brands are racing to capitalize on their creator partnerships and refine creator media for a wider audience. Experts warn that brands still have lessons to learn.

"Stop being afraid of the risk-taking aspect," filmmaker and creator Gray Fagan said at Advertising Week New York, recounting how HBO Max handed control of its social media brands to college interns, including himself, and saw massive success. "They gave us control. They took that risk, and a bunch of brands followed after because we were one of the first on there."

The panel discussion at Advertising Week's creativity stage brought together creators, producers, and entertainment executives to discuss the accelerating shift of brands from advertisers to entertainment studios, and what's getting lost in translation.

Why brands are obsessed with creators right now

Budgets that once funded 15- and 30-second advertisements are now funding full shows in the creator economy, according to Tim McArdle, co-founder and chief content officer of digital entertainment studio Wildcatter.

"YouTube is the most watched platform in people's living rooms," McArdle said. "You have vertical blowing up. You have micro dramas blowing up. You even have 'Obsession' and 'Backrooms' becoming huge hits in traditional Hollywood."

Momentum is building toward original IP development, according to Adam Wescott, CEO and founder of Mindchatter Media, who has spent two decades in the creator business and produced Tubi's most-watched original, "Sidelined."

"What I get most excited about is developing original IP with creators like Gray, because there's more opportunity than ever to come in as an early stage partner and really put a format in place," Wescott said.

Brands are moving from influencer marketing, where creators promote existing products, to entertainment partnerships, where brands fund original content from conception. Influencer marketing remains important, Wescott noted, but "where we're now seeing the biggest opportunity is diversification."

The critical difference between creators and influencers

Creators distinguish themselves from influencers through their approach to content, according to Fagan, whose work has attracted millions of fans across film and live entertainment.

"An influencer in the traditional sense is famous for being themselves. They are telling you what to do," Fagan said. "But for me, I like playing characters. I like telling stories, and that's the creator side of it."

The distinction matters for brands because creators approach each piece of content as its own story rather than building a community around their personal brand.

"Each individual piece of content they create is its own story," Fagan explained. "My little sister could post this on her Instagram account with 12 followers, and it could get the same amount of engagement that I put on mine."

Creators maintain intimate relationships with their audiences, and those relationships provide valuable insights, according to Chloe Forero, creator and host of "Chloe Explains" on Lyrical Lemonade.

"Big advertisers in Hollywood, they are at times disconnected from the nitty-gritty," Forero said. "When we lean into creators, we allow ourselves not just to speak directly to our audience, but we also open up certain doors for conversations and considerations that we might not be thinking of otherwise."

Brands are returning to their entertainment roots

The current trend represents a return to television's origins, according to Wendy Calhoun, an award-winning writer, director, and producer behind shows like "Justified" and "Empire."

"If you look at Kraft, you look at Hallmark, you look at a lot of different legacy brands, they all started with this idea of making their own series, and now we're back to that," Calhoun said. She cited Procter & Gamble and Colgate's invention of soap operas to sell soap, noting that "we've gone back to the beginning."

Modern examples include Tubi making "Roomies" and Alexis Bittar creating their own Bittarverse. Even during Calhoun's work on traditional shows, brands were embedded in storylines: Pepsi had a three-episode arc in the second season of "Empire," and Lincoln came to the "Empire" writers' room to integrate its new car model into storylines for the character Lucius.

Brands have always sought integration into entertainment, but mobile-first consumption and lower production costs for microdramas enable more experimentation.

"They can take more chances because the price point of making them is completely different," Calhoun said, adding that immediate data on retention and engagement provides faster feedback than traditional television.

When brand partnerships fail

Creators unanimously agreed that brand partnerships fail when companies exert too much creative control after hiring creators for their authentic voice.

Fagan recounted a recent brand partnership where the company cut crucial storytelling elements. "I told them I was like, this video will not do well. You're cutting out everything that is going to draw the attention, and they were like, oh, it's fine, and then it didn't do well," he said.

Forero's audience prizes authenticity. "When I have been given opportunities where I get to truly work with a creative team, and they're leaning into my ideas, I'm leaning into theirs, and it is a mutually beneficial relationship where both people are listened to, that's when the advertisements land," she said.

Brands can fix this by entering partnerships earlier in the development process.

"The aspect of a brand coming in at the forefront at the beginning of it is super exciting because then you could fuse it in there," Fagan said. "People watch it and they're like, I didn't realize that was an ad. And that's the best compliment I think you can ever get."

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