We’re still buzzing from CreatorIQ Connect Europe, our conference on all things creator economy. Read on for a recap of the special day, including key themes and notable moments. Be warned: if you couldn’t make it, this blog post may inspire a crushing sense of FOMO. Fear not, though: you can channel that FOMO into making sure that you attend our next CreatorIQ Connect event in Los Angeles on October 10th!
But let’s not get too far ahead of myself. For now, we’ll stick to an overview of London.
Setting the Scene
Held at the stunning De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, an event space in London’s historic Covent Garden neighborhood, CreatorIQ Connect Europe unfolded across 10 hours, two stages, and many mimosas. With 453 guests and 60 CreatorIQ employees, the De Vere made for an unforgettable backdrop for 500+ creator marketing devotees.
Grand Hall during CreatorIQ Connect Europe
Snapchat Emerges as Force in Creator Marketing—and CreatorIQ’s Product
One of the day’s biggest content themes was Snapchat: both its resurgence as a platform (ask your Gen Z cousin) and its recent partnership with CreatorIQ. That’s right: we’ve officially integrated our platform with Snapchat’s Creator Discovery API.
Now you can discover, activate, and report on the success of Snapchat creators, and fully integrate the channel into your brand’s influencer marketing strategy. Pretty cool, right? This is certainly one benefit that won’t just…disappear.
One big reason why brands are excited by Snapchat’s creator marketing potential is the platform’s access to new audiences. As we learned in one of the day’s first sessions—Snap Stars: Why Creators Are Embracing Community on Snapchat—43% of daily Snapchat users aren’t on TikTok everyday. There are other social media frontiers to be discovered, and CIQ is committed to helping our clients explore to their hearts’ content.
If we can flex for a second (within a blog post that’s pretty much one big flex), our Snapchat integration provides further confirmation that CreatorIQ is on the cutting edge of social platform innovations. We’re always looking for new ways to meet the demands of our innovative customers, and fuel experiments on emerging creator marketing channels.
Attendees during session at CreatorIQ Connect Europe
But Wait, There's More
While we’re touting the product, there are several other exciting announcements from CreatorIQ Connect London that we just can’t help but share.
As underscored in an awesome product session from CreatorIQ’s Bhavin Desai and Nate Harris, Snapchat is just the latest example of our approach to multi-channel excellence. The integration builds on enhanced AI-powered Creator Discovery capabilities to help marketers identify a greater quantity of reliable, perfect-fit creators. The combined power of searching by brand mentions and identifying look-alike creators not only saves marketers time, but dramatically increases the potential for lasting partnerships.
When paired with new customizable brand safety and compliance measures to ensure creators and their content meet brand standards, CreatorIQ customers can spark efficiency and gain confidence in their programs, all while improving results.
Jon Namnath, CEO of CreatorIQ
The Creator Economy Has Gone Global (and So Have We)
You would probably expect an all-day conference hosted by an influencer marketing software company and filled with people who work in influencer marketing to promote the message that this whole influencer marketing thing is very cool and economically viable and not going away anytime soon. And guess what—it did!
But it wasn’t just buzzwords: throughout the day, our amazing speakers brought the facts to prove that creator marketing has turned into a global, swiftly growing industry.
Just ask Ava Donaldson, Senior Marketing Manager, Global Talent + Creators at Google, who stated that “creators are now at the center of our marketing, not just a part.” Or ask our many friends at Publicis, who noted that the company is seeing more spend on Meta ads than television. Alternatively, take it from Lisa Bobroff, VP of Global Communications and Consumer Engagement at Olaplex, who noted that “creator marketing fuels the whole funnel.”
We couldn’t agree more, Lisa—in fact, we agree so much that we wrote a whole report about it.
Regardless of the subject matter, each session reinforced the resounding strength of the Creator Economy, which is set to hit over $50B worldwide by 2028. Many of the sessions also drew from our most recent research report, The European Creator Economy Is Heating Up. If you want a little taste of the European creator economy without flying to London for a day-long event, this is probably your best option.
Kory Marchisotto during CreatorIQ Connect Europe
Kory Marchisotto Brings Down the e.l.f.ing House
It was 3:30—the late-afternoon lull before we could all go drink—and we needed somebody to step in and send us off on a high note. Thankfully, Kory Marchisotto and her 140 slides came to the rescue. (And yes, Kory, the marketing team was initially a little scared about that slide deck, but it all came together in the end.)
Actually, it more than ‘came together,’ because Kory did more than send us off on a high note: she brought down the e.l.f.ing house. Rather than slapping together a few anecdotes and platitudes and calling it a day, Kory delivered an impassioned, ultra-detailed deep dive into the brand’s history, mission, and recent success. Did you know that e.l.f. is the top-performing stock on the NYSE?
But more than touting e.l.f.’s financial success, of which there’s plenty, Kory highlighted the brand’s commitment to creating a more just and equitable world. By positioning itself as ‘more than a beauty brand,’ and making significant strides as a full-fledged entertainment company, e.l.f. is better positioned than ever to fight for social change. This mission corresponds perfectly with e.l.f.’s ethos of hiring “bold disruptors with kind hearts,” per Kory.
These disruptors have kept busy by developing many notable campaigns over the last several years, such as an inclusive expansion of e.l.f.’s shade range, an initiative to increase the number of women in corporate leadership positions, groundbreaking partnerships with female athletes, and work to celebrate female gamers while protecting their safety. But it wasn’t just female external partners whom e.l.f. was trying to elevate. Thanks to its NYSE success, e.l.f. has distributed $150M in equity to brand workers—which, as a tech employee, I can confirm is a very high number. Look no further than Kory’s ‘fully vested’ approach to her coworkers at e.l.f., whom she views as fellow creators, rather than just employees.
Kory’s talk was both educational and deeply inspirational. Having written about e.l.f. for years, and having long respected the brand for its innovative campaigns, creative products, and Sabine’s with TikTok (e.l.f. was, in my estimation, the first major beauty to embrace and master the platform), I learned a ton from this presentation, and I can’t wait to put these learnings to use in future writing projects!
So thank you to the team of creators at e.l.f. for all that you do, and thank you to Kory for delivering on that high note, which was sustained throughout the cocktail reception and orchestra recital that followed.
Admit it: if you didn’t have FOMO before, you do now. Well, don’t worry, because:
Entrance to CreatorIQ Connect Europe
CreatorIQ Connect Will Return, Bigger and Better Than Ever
Whether you feel nostalgia for having attended or FOMO for having missed it, channel those feelings into moving heaven and earth (or at least one of the two) to make sure that you’re there for CreatorIQ Connect LA on October 10th this year.
Mark your calendar for another iteration of the greatest event in creator marketing, or really the greatest event in anything. With sessions that are sure to provide entertaining and actionable insights from the world’s greatest creator marketers, and networking opportunities that are sure to provide your brand with the connections to bring your influencer marketing strategy to the next level, you won’t want to miss it. The future of creator marketing unfolds at CreatorIQ Connect—be there from the very start.
CreatorIQ team at CreatorIQ Connect Europe
From all of us here at CreatorIQ, we can’t wait to see you there.
