In a digital economy oversaturated with content but underdelivering on human connection, many brands  are struggling to keep up with audiences who scroll past anything that doesn’t feel real. Today,  Influencer, an official marketing partner of YouTube, TikTok, Snap, and Meta, is helping to bridge the gap  between traditional brand systems and creator instincts. 

“We created the Thinking Like a Creator Framework to address a key challenge facing modern marketers:  audiences are overwhelmed by the volume of content but only responsive to what feels real. We know  brand teams face huge pressure to stay relevant, so we built this framework to help,” said Ben Jeffries,  CEO and Co-Founder of Influencer.  

He continued: “Campaign cycles can be slow – especially for big brands with long approval chains  – while culture on social media moves at lightning speed, and audiences are tuning out anything that  feels contrived or inauthentic.”  

Caspar Lee, Influencer co-founder, chief visionary officer and an original YouTube creator, explained,  “Creators have figured out what really connects with their communities, and this framework gives brands  the structure, tools and the mindset to keep up by being braver, building trust and using AI to support, not  replace creativity.’’  

What looks like a platform shift is actually a psychological one: 

The accompanying Thinking Like a Creator whitepaper explores how audience expectations have shifted,  not just because of platform trends, but due to deeper emotional drivers.  

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According to the white paper: 

• People now scroll past 10,000+ messages a day, filtering out anything that feels irrelevant or  overly contrived 
• 80% of global consumers expect brands to speak with human qualities, not corporate language  
• 70% say they’re more loyal to brands that “act like people, not companies”  
• 68% of companies report losing business opportunities due to perceptions of inauthenticity 
• Trust deficits are costing brands over $2.5 trillion annually, while a lack of authenticity is linked  to $3.5 trillion in lost long-term value 

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At the same time, creator-led content delivers 12x higher engagement and 14x greater effectiveness than brand-generated posts, showing the power of emotional connection, relevance, and trust at scale. 

The takeaway is that emotional fluency and cultural relevance drive performance. Creators instinctively  know how to build trust, tell stories, and connect in real time, offering a blueprint for how brands can replicate  this to scale human impact without sacrificing strategy or control.  

The Thinking Like a Creator Framework is a full operating system – not just another campaign  toolkit. 

From cultural sprints and creator co-creation to pre-testing content with neuroscience-backed AI, the  framework brings order to agility, blending creative instinct with insight, while keeping the human story at  the centre. 

It’s structured around three core layers: 

• Principles – the mindsets that guide how brands show up 
• Practices – the behaviors that bring those mindsets to life through content, partnerships and  platform strategy 
• Tools – the infrastructure that supports consistency, speed and scale 

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“This is about helping brands think more like creators – not in how they look, but in how they listen, react,  and build trust,” said Jenny Penich, President of North America at Influencer.  

She continued: “We’ve worked with some of the world’s most forward-thinking brands, and they’re  all asking the same thing: how do we stay relevant without losing control? This framework gives them  the answer. It’s not guesswork – it’s a practical system for building cultural fluency, creative consistency  and commercial impact.” 

The role of technology in the framework: 

Brands are leveraging AI-powered tools to enhance speed, minimise friction, and effectively manage  growing content demands across various platforms.  

While these tools can enhance efficiency, they don’t replace the human qualities that enable  meaningful communication. These qualities cannot be generated solely by algorithms. 

The most effective brands recognise this balance. They apply technology to improve the creative process,  not override it

The framework in action, in-market

The framework has already been adopted by leading brands across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and  North America: 

• Shark Beauty x Sabrina Carpenter Short' n' Sweet tour, turning concerts into cultural beauty  moments 
• H&M x Creator Loyalty Campaign, positioning loyalty program membership as a passport to  experience 
• Nike “Style By” Campaign, evolving the brand into an everyday fashion staple 

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Across these campaigns, the framework has helped brands: Move at creator speed, without compromising  rigour; Deliver content that feels native to platforms and communities; and Scale performance while  maintaining creative integrity and emotional resonance. 

Think like a creator – or risk being filtered out. 

Today’s audiences don’t linger around if they’re not immediately interested in something. They expect  brands to show up in “the moment,” not just to exist in the market.  

The Thinking Like a Creator Framework is built for exactly that, by helping brand teams cut through the  noise, meet culture where it’s happening, and build the kind of relevance that lasts. Because if creators  are driving the cultural and commercial agenda, brands need to think like them – not just to be seen,  but to truly connect.