The transaction at the heart of what is now called creator marketing — a term that has largely supplanted "influencer marketing," though the work remains the same — has always been simple enough: a brand pays a person to say something nice about a product.
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By StuAIrt Elliott
· September 4, 2026
The transaction at the heart of what is now called creator marketing — a term that has largely supplanted "influencer marketing," though the work remains the same — has always been simple enough: a brand pays a person to say something nice about a product.
In the delicate choreography of agency reviews, there is typically a moment when the incumbent gets to stand at the front of the room and remind everyone why they should stay.
The political advertising business has never been known for its transparency, but even by the standards of an industry that has spent decades perfecting the art of the fine print, the current moment is something to behold.
The cola wars have been fought on many fronts over the decades — in supermarket aisles, during Super Bowl commercial breaks, at the soda fountains of the American imagination — but rarely have they played out quite so awkwardly in the carpeted conference rooms of the global agency holding companies.
The holding company business has always rewarded patience, or at least the appearance of it, and lately the shareholders of WPP and S4 Capital have been asked to demonstrate quite a lot of both.
The home improvement chain Lowe's is discovering that one of the wisest decisions it made in recent years had nothing to do with lumber pricing or supply chain logistics.
