Mastercard’s Creator Marketing Masterclass (HBBIP #123)

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As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve tried to eat an egg in the last few years, life has gotten pretty expensive lately.

I’ll level with you: I am not an economist. I do not do that sort of research and/or insights. The whole ‘creator economy’ thing is sort of just a name. Sure, there’s supply and demand involved, and I understand that it’s all pretty lucrative if you play your cards right, but working in the field does not qualify me to opine on the finer notes of macroeconomic theory. And yes, obviously I understand that inflation is a sustained broad-based increase in the general price level of goods and services resulting in a persistent decline in the purchasing power of a given currency—like, duh—but still, I repeat: why egg cost more?

Omelettes aside, maybe I’m just in a price-oriented state of mind because I live with a partner now (not to brag or anything), and she demands a certain level of comfort, i.e. art on walls, unsoiled furniture, and the like. After a solid run of filthy male bachelorhood, I am coming to realize that not only are chairs not typically found on the sidewalk with a “FREE” sign taped to them, but that when you do shell out for them, they do not in fact cost $20. Also, they’re not supposed to hurt your back? News to me.

This is a rather long-winded way of telling you that in this week’s newsletter, I’m going to write about a credit card company. Also, if anyone has any lamp recommendations—idk why we can’t just use the light that comes out of the ceiling, but okay—please reply to this email.

The Top Brand  of All Time (of the Week): Mastercard

I’m not just writing about a credit card company because my life expenses have changed: I’m writing about a credit card company because financial institutions and fintech brands are getting in on the creator game. The creator economy is merging with the regular economy, and even if that doesn’t mean that I understand the regular economy any better, it at least gives me a chance to profile some cool trends.

Take Mastercard, for example. Founded in 1966, a once-plucky upstart in the emerging world of credit cards has become a global behemoth, boasting an iconic brand promoted by a wide range of partnered creators.

Plus, in one of my favorite true facts that I’ve ever had the pleasure of sharing in this newsletter, Mastercard’s corporate headquarters are located at 2000 Purchase Street, Purchase, New York. We love a brand with a sense of humor just as much as we love nominative determinism.

And you know who else loves Mastercard? The citizens of social media! This graph proves it:

Mastercard Creator Count, 2020 - 2025

The number of global creators tagging Mastercard in their content increased a little more than 3x from 2020 to 2025. This rise is especially impressive given that half of that period—2021, 2022, and 2023—was spent in something of a holding pattern. We’ll see that same dynamic play out for other metrics, though keep an eye on Mastercard’s creator count surge in 2024, which is a bit of an anomaly given how the brand trended in other areas.

Mastercard Post Count, 2020 - 2025

We see something similar for post count, which also experienced a >3x growth during this period. By the way, note to all brands out there: please use almost exactly 10k as your starting point for all metrics—it makes it way easier for me to do the math.

Mastercard EMV, 2020 - 2025

EMV is where we start to see an interesting wrinkle. The numbers diverge a bit from the trajectory we observed for creator and post count: steady growth in 2021, 2022, and 2023, followed by a decline in 2024 and a big spike in 2025.

Given that EMV is tied quite closely to engagements, is this something we can expect to see for that metric, too?

Mastercard Engagements, 2020 - 2025

The answer is yes, but even more so. But if you want an even more so version of “yes, but even more so,” I recommend you check out Mastercard’s impressions:

Mastercard Impressions, 2020 - 2025

For this metric, both the drop and the rise are far more precipitous. The growth is also on a completely different scale, with Mastercard increasing its impressions a whopping 27x from 2020 to 2025. Boasting a 220% YoY growth in impressions between 2024 and 2025 will do that for you.

So what did this highly engaging, highly impressions-forming content about Mastercard actually look like?

In terms of platform metrics, Mastercard was up across the board in 2025, though total engagements were still pretty lopsided:

Mastercard Share of Engagements by Platform, 2025

Instagram is king here, with YouTube taking up a fair slice of the pie. Despite Instagram’s dominance, the picture is shifting:

• Instagram engagements, YoY growth: 27%
• YouTube engagements, YoY growth: 131%
• TikTok engagements, YoY growth: 207%

Viewed from that angle, YouTube and TikTok are creeping up to eat the whole pie! But how do things shake out for impressions, where we’ve seen such massive growth for Mastercard since 2020?

Mastercard Share of Impressions by Platform, 2025

A greater share for TikTok, but is the growth breakdown between these platforms what we came to expect from engagements?

• YouTube impressions, YoY growth: 79%
• TikTok impressions, YoY growth: 242%
• Instagram impressions, YoY growth: 260%

If you had “yes, but more so,” then I’m sorry, but no. In this case, TikTok and Instagram are neck and neck, indicating that just as no single channel has been responsible for Mastercard’s impressions growth so far, no single channel will determine the brand’s future. Instead, Mastercard will continue leveraging its multi-platform approach to great effect.

How does that strategy play out in practice? What sort of content is fueling Mastercard’s rise?

On the one hand, you might think that Mastercard is at a disadvantage when it comes to creator content—after all, it can be hard to make financial services seem glamorous. On the other hand, Mastercard means money, and money means things people like. So on that level, Mastercard actually has maybe the biggest in-built advantage that any brand could possibly have: it’s the gateway to literally anything consumers want.

In most cases, particularly for TikTok creators, that entails travel. Whether it’s Miled & Melissa documenting their magical day in Paris, or Jul Martinez chronicling his tour of Hong Kong, or Aaina Pahwa sharing how Mastercard helps her discover all the hottest travel hacks, the brand excels at finding enthusiastic creators to share engaging, enticing content.

One thing I loved about Mastercard’s travel initiative was its focus on smaller-scale creators: Aaina, for example, is a micro-influencer with ‘just’ 67.4k followers, while Jul is a smidge above the micro-influencer cutoff with 114.1k followers. But that didn’t stop these Mastercard fans from sharing some of 2025’s most impactful content about the brand, because they know what resonates deeply with their audiences, and that’s what matters in the end.

Beyond travel—and there’s a lot more content where that came from—Mastercard enjoyed a boom stateside thanks to its work with Major League Baseball. By hosting creators like Westy Wilson at MLB games, and empowering these Mastercard Ambassadors to speak out about causes near and dear to their hearts, the brand forged a powerful new stream of content: the official social accounts of both the MLB Network and the MLB at large ranked as two of Mastercard’s top five EMV-drivers in 2025, powering a combined $6.3M EMV. Talk about a home run!

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of sports, Mastercard also benefited from a partnership with some dude named Leo. But take note: remember how I said that micro-influencers form deeper connections with their followers?

• Leo Messi, 511M followers, one Instagram Reel: $198.3k EMV
• Our friend Aaina Pahwa, 67.4k followers, one TikTok post: $209.2k EMV

Fit over followers, folks. You won’t see a starker example anytime soon.

By savvily tapping into active spaces in the creator economy, like travel and sports TikTok, and by partnering with creators big and small, Mastercard has successfully secured something money can’t buy: momentum. Plus I hear they’ve got you covered for all the things money can buy, too.

*All data, unless otherwise specified, stems from CreatorIQ's public-facing brand leaderboards. We will never share performance metrics from a customer's CreatorIQ profile, or any brand's private information.

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