News20th Oct 2025

Are You Still Undervaluing Your Most Powerful Digital Channel?

WPP Media Nordics

New IPA research proves what many marketers have long suspected: Content creators are not just a social tactic, but a strategic media channel delivering the strongest long-term brand effects in digital. Here’s why advertisers should rethink their media strategies now.

A major inflection point has arrived in digital marketing. New evidence from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) – the UK’s leading body for marketing effectiveness – shows that creators are the first digital channel proven to build brands in the long term. For brands, this is more than a media opportunity; it’s a wake-up call to rethink how digital storytelling is planned, measured, and valued.

At WPP Media, we’ve seen this shift building for years. What began as influencer collaborations has evolved into something far more strategic: creators as full-fledged media partners capable of driving both immediate results and long-term brand growth. Now, the numbers back it up.

The Numbers That Change the Conversation

The findings stem from a groundbreaking econometric analysis – the first to treat creators as a media channel in their own right. The study spans:

220 econometric studies
£133 million in creator investment
28 markets, 36 categories, and 144 brands

The conclusions are unambigious:

Short-Term Power: Creators deliver an ROI index of 99, almost identical to Linear TV (97) and outperforming standard Paid Social (86).
Long-Term Supremacy: With a long-term ROI index of 151 and a multiplier of 3.35 (surpassing even TV’s 3.27), creators generate the strongest long-term effects of any digital channel. Over a two-year horizon, they deliver the highest total ROI of all.

This changes everything about how we think about digital brand-building. Many still assess influencer and creator marketing through a short-term lens, focusing on immediate engagement or campaign ROI – and prematurely write off its long-term impact after a single activation.

Why Creators Belong Alongside Influencers

The IPA study doesn’t distinguish between creators and influencers – it analyses them together, showing that both play a proven role in driving brand growth over time. This isn’t about one replacing the other but about expanding the toolkit, so brands can unlock more value from their investment. At WPP Media, we talk about both influencers and content creators because we see how each discipline contributes to something distinct.

We like to say: All influencers are content creators, but not all content creators are influencers.

Both groups create engaging, authentic content shaped by platform trends and audience preferences. But where influencers use their personality and following to inspire action and shape opinions, content creators primarily produce branded content – often for use on a brand’s own channels – built for relevance, creativity and fluency. Together, they form a powerful ecosystem that understand the nuances of digital storytelling and audience engagement better than anyone else. But influencers and creators are not trained marketers. They don’t define brand strategy or growth objectives – and they shouldn’t.

That’s where marketers must step in. The real opportunity lies in marketers leading them strategically, not simply hiring them.

“When empowered with creative freedom, within well-defined briefs, creators and influencers excel at translating commercial messages and brand communication into highly engaging, trend-savvy content that truly resonates”, says Rikke Lundberg, Director of Influencer Marketing at WPP media. “As an agency, we act as the strategic link between brand and creator and turn that creativity into brand value – by advising on the right strategy, shaping the brief, and ensuring every piece of creator content serves both performance and long-term brand goals.”

Lead Strategically, Not Transactionally

“At WPP Media, we’re already treating creators not just as a brand-building channel, but as an integrated part of the paid media ecosystem” says Lundberg. "Content creation has become a core pillar of our influencer and content portfolio, driven by growing client demand. Using our systems, tools, and network, we match each client’s objectives and KPIs with the right creators to amplify brand communication through authentic, engaging storytelling. This allows us to activate creators across the full funnel – from awareness to conversion – while balancing short-term impact with long-term brand equity and applying the same strategic discipline and creative expectations as any other media channel.”

To unlock the full potential of creators and influencer, marketers should:

Treat creators as a strategic channel: integrating them into media planning with the same rigor as TV or digital video.
Lead the creative platform: defining the big idea and emotional appeal that the creator content should express.
Ensure strong brand-creator alignment: match creators to your brand’s values, tone of voice, and visual identity for authenticity and consistency.
Empower creators to adapt: using their unique voice to translate brand ideas authentically to their audience.
Focus on long-term brand value: shifting briefs away from short-term sales to enduring equity.
Prioritize creative quality: ensuring every piece of creator content feels distinctively “on brand” and emotionally resonant.

This approach echoes the best traditions of advertising – strategic clarity, creative excellence, and accountability – applied to the new frontier of digital storytelling.

Shaping the Next Chapter of Digital Brand Building

For years, digital marketing has been chasing the balance between reach, authenticity, and long-term impact. This new research shows that influencers and creators can bridge that gap. They’re the missing link between performance media and brand media, and bring together scale, relevance, and emotional connection – now with proven long-term business results.

“We need to approach influencers and cretors with the same professionalism and expectations for accountability as any other partner in the media mix, and measure their success based on their ability to create lasting brand value. This is the digital lifeline no one expected, and it demands that we take our marketing responsibilities seriously”, concludes Pernille Rahr, Business Director at WPP Media.