Trends defining a new era of brand and creator collaboration
Reports
Today we’ve launched ‘Next Gen Influence’, a report examining trends impacting the creator landscape, and what these mean for brands. In this blog, our Global Chief Strategy Officer, Mobbie Nazir, outlines the trends from the report and highlights some of the creators who are driving them. Download your free copy of the full report now.
One glance at the content made by today’s creators, and we see a culture in flux. Everything from tone, to topics, to production norms have shifted in the decade since influence’s infancy. Creators and brands are having to keep pace with an increasingly professionalised landscape. But it’s also changed audiences, with the demand for original and authentic content escalating, even as understandings of ‘originality’ and ‘authenticity’ grow murkier.
It’s a vibrant arena, but the ground is shifting. For today’s brands and creators, it’s essential to have one eye trained on the next gen of influence, and our report outlines what this next generation will look like.
To ensure the trends have longevity, We Are Social conducted a mixed-methodological approach to analysing influence, using quantitative, qualitative, and cultural analysis. Through contextual desk research, expert interviews, and using influencer identification platform Tagger to identify recent months’ fastest-growing creators, our Cultural Insights department used thematic analysis to identify five emergent trends shaping the influencer marketing category.
These are outlined below – to read the full trends, as well as all the featured creators and the brand implications, download your free copy now.
The Right to Reinvention
Social loves a ‘journey’, but in today’s creator economy, this focus on the journey has complicated our idea of authenticity. Authenticity used to require consistency, but today – with child influencers growing up, and mainstays ageing out – audiences used to watching people change. In this context, creators are planning their evolutions to draw in new viewers.
Aussie Lucinda Price aka froomes has evolved from a young woman chasing the spotlight to a multifaceted entertainer and writer. She’s won audiences over by candidly sharing her journey of self-reinvention, navigating challenges like disordered eating and mental health issues, and shifting her focus toward connection, humour, and self-acceptance.
Aspirational content is the bread and butter of influence. But today – with most people striving for stability, not luxury – aspiration is having to change shape to stay realistic. Now, creators peddling ‘the good life’ are having to reappraise what that life looks like to make it feel relevant for real people. This means lifestyle content that’s less about glamour and luxury, and more about calm and stability.
Sarah Rani, a local hobbyist gardener turned educator, is on a mission to help one million people grow their own food. Her content feels relatable and inspiring to audiences looking for alternatives to consumption-driven urban lifestyles, offering practical guidance on self-sufficiency and sustainable living.
In recent years we’ve seen creators engage in acts of altruism to demonstrate their ethical credentials – a trend embodied by Mr. Beast’s loud charitable endeavours. But in this context, there’s increasing concern that philanthropy is being used for the purpose of online clout. As audiences become sceptical of moral posturing, creators are swapping work that claims values for work that actively disrupts or challenges the status quo.
On today’s social channels, a new wave of culturally impactful creativity is at play, driven forward by creators who’ve mastered ‘very online’ modes of communicating. These approaches – from making work inspired by fanfic to repackaging vulnerability as entertainment – are pushing the creative bar higher for everyone, but especially for brands, who have to be as entertaining as their human counterparts, but without the human charm or licence for imperfection offered to real people.
Passion and fan experiences are at the heart of online creativity. Kayo Sports taps into this by working with creators like Rachid Elmerkaoui, a well-known sports fan whose first-person perspective resonates with fellow enthusiasts. Through his content, Kayo provides exclusive access to fan-driven moments, allowing viewers to experience the excitement of sports through the eyes of a true fan.
The ‘dead internet theory’ is one of many laments of how bots, trend cycles, and garbage content have thrust online creativity into crisis. For today’s creators – who find themselves wading through a sea of content that’s loud and fast-moving, but often lacking in creative merit – it’s difficult to stand out. As the next generation of creators navigate this space, they’re leaning into the unusual and extreme, trying to break the internet’s unspoken rules to make an impact.
To combat this sea of sameness, creators like Nedd Brockman are pushing the broad space of sports content to its furthest extreme, with lo-fi, relatable, and yet inspiring content showcasing elaborate feats of human achievement.
October 3rd 2024, I’ll be attempting to break the world record for the fastest time to cover 1000 miles (1610km) on foot, while aiming to raise 10 million dollars to help Aussies experiencing homelessness in the process. The current record stands at 10 days, 10 hours, 30 minutes and 36 seconds. This record has stood since 1988, and for good reason. To break it down, that’s roughly 160 kilometres a day for 10 days in order to break the record. It would be ridiculous of me not to honour the people who have gone before me as (I think) I understand the depths one must go to achieve such a thing. Held by one of, if not the greatest ultra runner of all time, Yiannis kouros’s feat of endurance is simply mind blowing. However, if you’re going to do something, don’t go in half assed, throw everything at it. Everything. Sometimes you’ve just gotta ask yourself, “what if” I must state just how excited and grateful I am at the opportunity to put myself out there and lay it all on the line again in order to make a change in the world (no matter how small). All in the hope to leave a lasting impact well after I’m gone. We only get one chance at this life and I’d hate to die wondering. There’s no turning back now, the fun is just about to start 🚀 time to get to work. Yes, 403 laps of the 400m Olympic park track a day. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp” More to come.🚀🚀🚀 #tothemoon
Download the full report to see more creator examples, and discover what this means for brands. And if you’d like to chat about what these mean for your brand specifically, get in touch.
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