What is the difference between creators & influencers?

And a celebrity beauty brand's financials show how content can double as marketing.

This post is about:

• the difference between creators and influencers

• why that matters for TV producers

• The financials of Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand Rhode, and what they tell us about how content-as-marketing works in the direct-to-consumer space.

I recently did a talk for various TV executives, on the theme ‘How TV producers can – and should – engage in the creator economy’.

Before answering that question, the first issue to address is: what do we mean when we use the word creator? It is bandied about so much, and only through conversation does it become clear that many people are using it to mean different things.

This isn’t unusual: a common characteristic of working online over the past 20+ years has been the lack of consistent language and labels, which means we often can be talking past each other without realising. For example, multiplatform, transmedia, crossplatform, 360 commissioning - lots of words used to mean roughly the same thing. As an attempt to encourage similar language, here are a few thoughts on what is a creator and how that relates to those working in TV and film production.

A bit of background

The word creator not only has a different meaning to different people, that meaning has also changed over time. Previously, a creator was closer to an artist or creative practitioner often hired to do a specific job - a photographer for example, employed by a brand for a photoshoot. Then as social platforms emerged and the iPhone was launched in 2007, so did the phenomena of vlogging - or video blogs, which are video journals where the vlogger chronicles their lives, opinions and interests in a freeform style.

• History of vlogging

These vloggers - especially on YouTube, thus the name YouTubers - started to get a lot of attention. And so, the concept of an influencer emerged too, where an online personality with their own following would create content such as videos, images and increasingly podcasts; and the appeal to their audience is usually founded on their personalities and sensibilities. They would share aspects of their life including products, services and experiences to their followers, often in return for payment, free trips or products.

The video below from Zoella in 2011 is a great early example, where she’s listing her favourite skincare products (primarily Liz Earle’s Cleanse and Polish). Interestingly there is a little disclaimer in the copy saying ‘I am not affiliated with the company and I’m not being compensated for my review’. In other words, she just authentically really loves Liz Earle’s products.

Scroll forward, and the relationship between Zoella and Liz Earle is a gold standard example of influencer brand partnerships:

• she’s a long-term genuinely authentic fan and has consistently mentioned the brand for 14 years

• her audience of teen girls were unlikely to have come into contact with a brand like Liz Earle via other marketing channels, however Zoella’s endorsement put these products on a pedestal for her followers to aspire to

• as this audience aged up they became customers.