Gregory Curtis Jr., Director of Influencer Marketing at Empower Media, believes most brands and agencies treat influencer marketing primarily as a brand awareness tool, missing opportunities to use creator partnerships throughout the entire marketing funnel.

“What you don’t need to do is think that influencer equals brand awareness. No, influencer marketing can be full funnel if supported right,” explains Gregory. Since joining Empower Media two years ago, he has focused on showing clients how creator collaborations can drive measurable results at every stage, from initial awareness through consideration to final conversion.

Empower Media, founded in 1985 and now owned and operated by CEO Ashlee Clarke, serves clients including Whataburger, PetSmart, Sprouts Farmers Market, and JD Sports. As a woman-owned, independent Chicago-based agency, Empower operates with a “client first” philosophy that Gregory credits for their success.

“When Ashlee crafted the values, ‘client first’ was the number one pillar, and that’s what really delineates us from all of our competition,” Gregory notes, adding that this approach often means having uncomfortable but necessary conversations with clients about what truly drives results rather than simply following trends.

When Gregory arrived at Empower, he was immediately integrated into the media planning team. “I had to come in and bolt that immediately right out of the gate, using all the different vendors, tools, and assets to build a real influencer strategy and capability solution for all of our clients from A to Z,” he recalls.

He now educates clients on the multiple benefits of creator partnerships: “Influencers often offer genuine engagement and trust. This helps with brand credibility and increases conversion rates online, especially when they’re running shoppable ads. And it reduces creative fatigue, which is another reason why I personally like it.”

The Power of the Pivot

Gregory distinguishes Empower from other agencies through what he calls “the power of the pivot,” an approach that enables quick adjustments when campaigns aren’t performing as expected. “Our model was actually built to flex,” Gregory explains. “We’re independently owned, and we have Ashlee, who’s intimately involved in a lot of these meetings, which allows for more agile, faster decisions to happen with fewer layers.”

As Gregory shares, this kind of agility has driven strong results. “One of Ashlee’s standout clients was trading at just $25 a share when she first partnered with them. Today, their stock consistently holds well above $160. That growth is a testament to her value-focused approach, commitment to performance, and authentic partnership.”

The flexibility extends to influencer strategy, allowing Empower to quickly shift resources to better-performing creator partnerships or content approaches. “Midway through campaigns, when we’re doing our monthly and/or bi-weekly check-ins with our clients, if we’re noticing quickly that things may not be able to drive the scale and get the KPI that our client is holding themselves accountable to. It allows for more agile, faster decisions to happen,” Gregory explains.

Beyond Surface Metrics

Gregory is adamant about moving beyond surface-level engagement metrics to demonstrate real business impact. “We need to kill vanity metrics in general,” he asserts. “We need to focus more on impact. Because we’re focused on the vanity metrics and the numbers, we’re not actually looking at real people having real conversations and the impact.”

This philosophy guided the aforementioned “standout” client in navigating heightened competition in key Texas markets. Gregory led a hyper-local influencer campaign across three cities, each designed to reflect distinct customer profiles and shopping behaviors.

“With strategic paid amplification, the client saw a notable lift in foot traffic and increased market share, both of which are indicators of awareness and conversion impact,” Gregory highlights the campaign results across the funnel.

The success of the program reinforces Gregory’s belief in the power of creator partnerships to drive not only brand visibility but also business outcomes. The campaign was recently recognized at “The Drum Awards – Marketing Americas 2025” for “Out of Home” effort, with influencer strategy serving as a complementary effort of Empower’s overall strategy for this activation.

Connecting Media Planning and Influencer Strategy

Gregory identifies several common differences between traditional media planning and influencer marketing that prevent brands from maximizing creator partnerships. He notes that C-suite leaders sometimes misjudge who their actual audience is. “There’s often a gap between the audience executives want to target and the audience they’re actually reaching,” he explains.

This misalignment often extends to messaging across channels. “You will see our clients’ branded assets say one thing, and then they try to supplement Influencer, and then it’s a disconnect in unified messaging,” Gregory observes. “I think that you’ve got to have an integrated marketing approach.”

The solution, according to Gregory, lies in viewing creators as media channels with unique personalities rather than merely creative assets. “The gap is media equals numbers, influencer equals vibes. And so we’re constantly trying to bridge that,” he says. “Creators are actually media. They just have the personality and the audience that you want to get in front of.”

Beyond building trust and reducing creative fatigue, creator partnerships offer access to specific demographics and communities. Gregory shares a personal example: “My sister, she’s currently 22 weeks pregnant. In addition to that, she also suffers from lupus. She is now following the journey of women who are further along in their pregnancy and have already had children as women navigating lupus.”

This example illustrates how creator content connects with audiences in deeply relevant ways. “If these women suggest a comforter, a pillow, the perfect soap for her newborn baby, it’s gonna give you access to a niche, hard-to-reach audience that’s having a certain type of conversation. And it’s real for my sister, it’s real for that content creator, and it’s real for the brand.”

The Nano-Micro Advantage

While many brands gravitate toward macro-influencers with massive followings, Gregory often finds greater value in partnerships with nano and micro creators who have more engaged, niche audiences. 

“The reason why we tend to lean in a little bit more with the nano and the macro influencer is that some of our brands are trying to captivate Gen Z. And Gen Z trusts people, they don’t trust brands,” Gregory explains.

This trust erodes when creators become too commercialized. “Once you start to become a brand as an influencer, once you hit that threshold looking like you’re for sale and you’re for everyone, they start to question your genuineness,” Gregory notes.

His method for selecting influencers goes beyond follower counts to evaluate engagement quality and audience trust. “I literally saw a young lady this morning who had maybe 22,000 followers. Her Instagram was very curated, and the follower count was high,” he recounts. “But when I looked at her engagement numbers and past collaborations, I was like, ‘I would not collaborate with her.’ I would be concerned about the engagement quality, the comments, the shares, the saves.”

In contrast, working with diverse nano and micro influencers allows brands to test various messaging approaches with different audience segments. 

For the award-winning campaign, Gregory assembled a team representing various customer types: “One was keto, was a healthy mom, like gluten-free, organic only for my babies. And then another one was looking for deals only. Having that diversification allowed for the media to showcase what made sense in the market.”

Predictions for Creator Partnerships

Gregory sees influencer marketing transcending its traditional boundaries and becoming more deeply integrated with other media channels. “Influencers are everywhere now. You can literally be on the side of a road in a major city and see an influencer on the side of a bus stop,” he observes. “The influencers are no longer just living in a mobile or digital space.”

A key priority for Gregory is strengthening the integration between Connected TV and influencer content. “We’re deepening our CTV and influencer integration by pairing creator content with media dollars where eyeballs are actually at in real time,” he explains.

Gregory is also carefully examining the emerging impact of AI on influencer marketing. While embracing certain applications, such as AI-powered casting with predictive analytics, he maintains a healthy skepticism about approaches that sacrifice genuineness. “I am cautious about what extremes some organizations are going to leverage it,” he admits. “Some organizations are so concerned about cost savings that they’ll end up losing that human part of the business, that genuine storytelling.”

On the other hand, Gregory has no plans to withdraw his commitment to true human connection. “What I love the most about influencer marketing is the personalization piece and how everyone has their own influencer that they adore for their own reason,” he reflects. “When you follow that person’s favorite influencer and you get to see that content, it tells you a little bit about who that person is and what resonates with them.”

For Gregory, this personal connection transcends traditional marketing objectives. “At the end of the day, we’re not just selling products, we’re selling a belief system,” he concludes.

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