Social media content creators are playing an increasingly prominent role in the advertising industry as brands shift toward creator-led content strategies. At the 2025 Cannes Lions advertising festival, influencers have become key participants, with many attending to forge direct relationships with major advertisers, per The New York Times.

The festival saw 26,900 submissions from 96 markets this year, with significant growth in creator-focused categories. The newly rebranded “Social & Creator Lions” category, previously known as “Social & Influencer Lions,” demonstrates this trend, with 18% of entries in new creator-focused subcategories.

Creators Investing in Business Relationships

Dhar Mann, whose YouTube channel boasts over 25 million followers, traveled to Cannes with his team specifically to pursue long-term sponsorship deals with marketers. Mann’s company, which employs 200 people, has primarily monetized through YouTube ads but now seeks to expand revenue streams through direct brand partnerships.

“Folks are realizing that creators have something special with their audience that paid media can’t get you,” Mann noted at the festival.

Similarly, fashion and lifestyle creator Coco Bassey, with approximately nearly 340,000 Instagram followers, paid her own way to attend, meeting with Ciroc marketers and joining a Meta-hosted lunch for creators.

Corporate Investments

Major corporations are significantly increasing their creator marketing investments. Unilever, one of the world’s largest advertisers, announced earlier this year that half its marketing spending would become “social-first” and that it would work with 20 times more creators than previously.

“It’s a significant part of the marketing transformation we’re driving, which is moving from the old ‘one to many’ communication model to what we call ‘many to many,'” explained Esi Eggleston Bracey, Unilever’s CMO.

Ad holding companies are also acquiring creator-focused agencies. Publicis recently purchased Captiv8 after acquiring Influential last year, while WPP has bought Obviously, the Goat Agency, and Village Marketing in the past three years.

Revenue Growth for Creators

For creators, the financial opportunity is substantial. Comedian Adam Waheed, who generates two billion views monthly across platforms, notes that his deals are currently “six figures,” but he anticipates reaching seven-figure advertising deals soon – a significant increase from when he “would do something for a free hat.”

The Cannes Lions program featured over 100 sessions, including creator-focused presentations such as UTA’s “The New C-level: How Creator Entrepreneurism Is Reshaping Business” and case studies from major brands like Duolingo, Kraft Heinz, and Amazon.