This is Contagious

Creator marketing myths: what brands get wrong about creators

Episode Summary

Becky Owen, CMO at social agency Billion Dollar Boy, joins Contagious to challenge the received wisdom about how brands should work with creators – from the three-second rule to the idea that good content is all that matters. Drawing on new research, the latest Contagious podcast explores how brands should work with creators, from using emotion and microdramas to build audiences, to deliberately creating imperfection to fight AI slop. We also look at why creator fandom can now come before the streaming deal, and how brands are having to rewire themselves to keep up.

Episode Notes

Becky Owen, CMO at social agency Billion Dollar Boy, joins Contagious to challenge the received wisdom about how brands should work with creators – from the three-second rule to the idea that good content is all that matters.

Drawing on new research, the latest Contagious podcast explores how brands should work with creators, from using emotion and microdramas to build audiences, to deliberately creating imperfection to fight AI slop. We also look at why creator fandom can now come before the streaming deal, and how brands are having to rewire themselves to keep up.

We’ll explain:

• Why the three-second rule may be tanking your campaign performance
• Why creators are deliberately embracing messy bedrooms and mistakes to prove they're human
• How the same emotion can boost performance in one category and tank it in another
• How creators have become data-driven marketers, not just media channels
• Why some brands are exploring equity and longer-term relationships to make creators genuinely invested in their success
• How social creators are using micro-pilots to build fandom before getting picked up by streaming platforms
• Why Argos turned everyday kettles into gallery-worthy objects