DO MARKETERS AND CREATORS EXIST SEPARATELY ANYMORE?

The age of the Creator-Marketer is upon us. Case in point : Cred’s recent ad with Rahul Dravid that broke the internet (many are still fixing theirs). The minds behind it have been longstanding creators (with adoring fans) and proven marketers (with clients who, one can assume, adore them) - one avatar doubling up as the other to take the product from idea to finish in the uninterrupted sweep of a single arc.

Historically, of course, Creator-Marketers (CM's) have always been around. Painters, singers, writes and movie directors, to name a few vocations, who have been consistently successful at the ‘Box Office’ have always toggled between the two callings effortlessly and expertly – often, without being aware of it. Some do it with more conscious intent, like Amir Khan whose marketing and guerrilla promotion gags famously rival his acting gigs. The nature of today’s communication (and the overlapping of functions that define and drive it), however, warrants a bigger question: Do the roles of creator and marketer - as we knew and loved them - even exist anymore? Separately?

You be the judge. Here’s my version of the CM, and the inherent beauty of what could well become a standard ‘job description’. Sooner, rather than later.

Creator-Marketer 1 : Creator 0, Marketer 0

Creator-Marketers look at an AD as just another variant of the kind of content they churn out on a daily basis, and not necessarily through the lens of a traditional marketing department or advertising agency. They are ok with skipping layered storylines and bypassing elaborate build-ups (the latest cred ad simply sports a curt prologue that sets up the punch efficiently, and the unconventional / unapologetic transition has already riled a feather or two). CM’s believe in going directly from an idea to a device, if you know what I mean. So can your niece’ next TikTok nugget be repurposed into your brand’s next multi-crore ad? I'd wager on a CM making that ‘unthinkable’ happen someday.

Creator Marketer 2 : Creator 0, Marketer 0

Creator-Marketers live in the barracks, close enough to the public to hear every rise and fall of its pulse. CM’s are often influencers themselves, and maintaining a sticky community of fans all year round makes them hard-wired to decoding sentiment and engineering applause. No better market dipstick, or go-to strategy, is there?

Creator Marketer 3 : Creator 0, Marketer 0

Creator-Marketers are usually ‘bootstrapped’ and ‘self-made’ solopreneurs. They have had to play ‘jack of all trades’ to reach where they are today, so they come with a fair working / advanced knowledge of pretty much every nitty-gritty : Be it storytelling metaphors, production frameworks or go-to-audience roadmaps. Throw the support of talented buddy networks (who are happy to chip in for a cool gig even at 3 AM) into the mix, and you see how CMs crank out content at jaw-droppingly short notice. TAT? Check.

Creator Marketer 4 : Creator 0, Marketer 0

Creator-Marketers stay on the cutting-edge of tech, trends and ‘moments’. In fact, they have a hand in engineering some of those trends themselves. Which roughly means they have an uncanny awareness of what’s coming next. So no, they won’t miss a beat when it comes to novelty or first-mover-advantage. Another big KPI ticked.

Creator Marketer 5 : Creator 0, Marketer 0

Sucker Punch? Creator-Marketers aren’t afraid of rejection (they have cut their teeth on the stuff), which means they can put themselves ‘out there’ and risk copping an egg or two on the face far more easily than a traditional marketer (who may have a devil’s advocate with a moral chip on its shoulder, a naysaying C-Suite honcho and blood-thirsty stakeholders to placate first) can. CM’s usually convert those eggs into pretty filling omelettes, building their proverbial parachute on the way down and walking away with priceless lessons from every situation, even if the idea fails. If courage of conviction is the CM’s biggest strength, it happens to be the traditional marketer’s most painful Achilles heel.

CREATOR-MARKETERS HAVE BEEN CREATING-MARKETING UNDER YOUR NOSE FOR A WHILE NOW.

Creator-Marketers are a highly talented tribe, but by no means a new one. Gary Vaynerchuk, for one, has been crying hoarse about how strategy is fast becoming an experiential (read DO-er’s) game. Full-on involvement and agile response aren’t just devices and tactics supporting the marketer's strategy anymore, they are strategy. That’s because in a pivot-as-you-go world where the comforting shoulder of precedence is increasingly AWOL, being at the frontlines of the action is the only way to gain one-on-one-intimacy with the 'moment’ which is so critical to carry out traditional marketing activities like insight building, blueprint planning and message deployment. Yes those functions remain as important as ever – just not neatly separable or sequence-able any longer. 

What’s changed? Well, the speed of our living. The rate at which we consume content, and therefore need to keep topping it back up. There’s no time to respond anymore. Our reaction – good, bad or ugly – is our action. The creator doesn't have the space to 'check back' with the marketer and confirm whether s/he is on the right track. The marketer doesn't have the luxury to inform and empower the creator with data, hunch and hindsight. Both will miss the bus if they do. There'll be no point waiting for the next bus either - the destination itself will have changed. Which simply means the animal that has to take that all important decision NOW, must be a bit of both.

As the bookends of THINK and DO get cold pressed into one, the marketer and the creator merge to officially spawn this new animal that’s born to be specifically adept at three important roles, all at once: Judge, Jury and Executioner.

It may come to rule the savannah because of its natural ability to internalize both the acts – marketing and creation – instinctively.