Throughout the first half of 2026, Creativebrief surveyed more than 50 senior marketing leaders from brands including Surreal, Tinder, Unilever, Starbucks, Monzo and others to uncover how social and creator marketing are reshaping brand growth strategies.
The findings are brought together in Social Sells 2.0, Creativebrief’s latest industry report and the highly anticipated follow-up to its successful Social Sells series. The report offers an in-depth look at the evolving role of social and creator marketing, providing marketers with a clear view of the trends, challenges and opportunities defining the next era of brand building in this arena.
The research reveals where budgets are moving, how brands are embracing a social-first mindset, and the new ways marketers are partnering with agencies to build high-impact social and creator ecosystems for the years ahead.
Some of the headline findings include:
- 58% of brand marketing leaders described their marketing approach as either social-first or actively moving in that direction.
- 83% of brand marketing leaders have increased budgets within social and creator marketing in the last 2 years, yet 65% still struggle to demonstrate clear and measurable returns.
- 50% of brand marketing leaders said that AI is only having a gradual impact on how their teams approach social and creator marketing operations.
- Just 15% of brand marketing leaders said they still manage social and creator marketing through an existing creative, media or PR agency.
As investment in social and creator marketing accelerates, a new challenge is also coming into focus: measurement. The research found that whilst 83% of brand marketing leaders have significantly increased budgets within this space, 65% still struggle to demonstrate clear and measurable returns.
This challenge is made more complex by a growing disconnect between objectives and evaluation: despite 85% of brands now using social in some capacity as a lever for long-term brand building, more than half (53%) continue to prioritise short-term performance metrics when measuring impact.
The research also points to changing agency relationships, with just 15% of brand marketing leaders saying they manage social and creator marketing through a creative, media or PR agency. The finding suggests growing demand for specialist expertise and more dedicated social and creator capabilities.
The report points to a market undergoing significant transformation, as brands re-think not only where they invest, but how they structure teams, agency relationships and long-term growth strategies.
Speaking about the findings of the report, Charlie Carpenter, CEO at Creativebrief, says:
“From our vantage point at Creativebrief, we’re seeing social and creator marketing continue to evolve at an extraordinary pace. Many of the shifts highlighted in this report we’re witnessing in real time through our work with brands and agencies, often before they become more widely recognised.
What these findings show is that social and creator marketing have entered a new phase of maturity. The conversation is no longer about whether brands should invest in social, but how they build the capabilities, partnerships and ecosystems required to make that investment truly impactful.
What is eye-opening is that despite increased spend in social in the vast majority of cases over the last 2 years, and a stated intention by 90% of marketers to continue that trajectory in the next 2 years – 25% of CMOs also reported pressure from Exec and Board level to divert more spend into this arena.
When read in conjunction with the fact that still almost two thirds of marketers surveyed are still struggling to evidence entirely clear and measurable return from their growing investment here, it reflects just how much momentum social and creator has as a discipline right now.
It’s also notable that just 15% of brands are currently managing social through a creative, media or PR agency on their roster. This is a clear reduction from just three years ago and suggests a desire for greater depth and granularity of specialism within social again. More anecdotally, market sentiment appears to be that a large proportion of creative agencies specifically are not doing a credible enough job of convincing brands of their capabilities in this space.
What’s particularly striking too is that 58% of brand leaders from the survey described their approach to marketing as either social-first or actively moving in that direction – and this isn’t limited to digitally native or challenger brands by any means.
Developing an increasingly social-first mindset appears to be the direction of travel for many established and mainstream brands too, and points towards the channel’s growing stature and perceived strategic importance in the world of modern-day brand building.”
Link to download the report: https://www.creativebrief.com/industry/thought-leadership/curiosity/social-sells-2
