Are in-house agency creators the next step in the influencer economy?

Thought Leadership

In this piece, Sam Grischotti, Amsterdam Managing Director, explores how, as creator fees continue to rise, brands are responding by embedding them within their own teams. Read on to learn more on why this is essential for both brands and agencies.

The influencer economy was built on brands renting access to someone else’s audience. Then came the creator economy, which shifted the value towards craft; the ability to make platform-native content that actually cuts through.

But right now, brands are being squeezed on both sides. Creator fees keep rising, and the demand for fresh, high-performing assets never slows. That combination creates a cycle of dependency, cost, and risk. It’s not sustainable.

The new inflection point

We’re now seeing the next step: brands aren’t just hiring creators for reach or the odd one-off hit. They’re recognising them as cultural operators – people with an instinct for what matters online and off. They’re not just faces for hire; they’re ethnographers, entertainers, and storytellers.

And agencies are responding by embedding creator talent directly into teams. It gives brands the speed, cultural fluency, and scrappiness of creators, combined with the consistency, control, and brand knowledge that only agencies can provide.

Bringing creator talent into client teams changes the energy: faster cycles, more reactive work, fewer bottlenecks. This way, agencies can rapidly have great, platform-native content – without losing brand alignment.

Bringing creators into the agency

Traditional production is linear: briefing, pitching, scripting, shooting. Creator craft is the opposite – fast, iterative, and platform-first. These people learned their trade in the wild, on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. They think in memes, hooks, and cuts, not 30-page decks.

From our own experience, some of the best finds aren’t even online. We’ve brought in people from comedy schools, universities – even one creator we first met in our local pub during our Christmas party, where she was working part-time behind the bar. Spotting that kind of raw talent and giving it a platform is a vital part of the jigsaw.

Similarly, one of our very first Amsterdam hires wasn’t a traditional art director or strategist, but a young TikTok comedian. That decision shaped the DNA of the office from day one: creator craft embedded at the heart, not bolted on at the edges.

Of course, these creators are also used to flying solo. Part of our role as an agency is to build the protective layers – talent management, clear processes, sensible feedback loops – that let them thrive without losing their edge.

Done right, the result is stronger creative work and more authentic brand presence. Audiences can feel when content is made by someone who gets it. For example, all of the content on the Booking.com Tiktok is shot by internal creators.

Why brands want it

Brands like this model because it’s efficient, repeatable, and embedded. The risk goes down too: the people making the work live inside the brand’s world.

There’s also the opportunity to work with central teams that need to balance global consistency with local cultural sharpness. Embedded creators need to deliver work that feels relevant in Berlin, São Paulo, and Sydney – not just in London or the Netherlands.

It’s not for every business. CMOs need a clear vision for why this model works for them – and the courage to let agencies and creators experiment, iterate, and yes, sometimes fail. That’s how culture works.

Why agencies need it

For agencies, the upside is huge: more value for clients, better creative, and significant cost savings compared to the old “influencer-for-hire” model. But hiring is everything. These people are hard to find, harder to keep, and impossible to fake. Agencies need the right culture and product to convince them to join.

Working rhythms also change. Creators thrive on freedom and rapid feedback loops, while agencies often default to slower, layered approval structures. Bridging that culture gap is the job – but when you do, the results are transformative.

For global brands, this model scales beautifully. Creator craft can be embedded across markets, with local talent providing cultural nuance while working within a consistent global framework. It’s one of the most exciting shifts we’re seeing: distributed creator teams working together like a new kind of creative department.

Where it’s going next

This won’t become the blueprint for every brand. There’s a finite pool of talent who want to work this way, and those who do will quickly realise their value. Many will go on to become the next generation of creative directors.

Follower count will matter less and less. What matters is cultural impact. A comedian with 20k followers may be more valuable than an influencer with 2m. And agencies will be the architects – building the systems that make creator craft scalable, repeatable, and truly valuable for brands.

Agencies, from what we’re already seeing, can make creator craft at scale work for the long term.

That’s where the future is heading. In some cases, it’s already here.

This piece was originally posted on Creativebrief. Read more here.