Inside the Creator Economy

What if the biggest creator marketing shifts of 2027 have very little to do with the next platform, format or viral trend?  In this episode, Sanna Ödmark and Frida Ekholm look beyond the usual trend predictions to unpack the bigger changes reshaping creator marketing - and marketing itself.  Creator marketing is moving closer to the core of how brands build relevance, creativity and growth. At the same time, AI is making content faster and cheaper to produce, raising the bar for what actually earns attention. And as social platforms become more participatory again, the role of creators is evolving far beyond simply producing and distributing content.  We get into what these shifts mean in practice: from why creator marketing might start to disappear as a separate channel, to bringing creator expertise further upstream, building creative frameworks that work at scale, and understanding why more content doesn't necessarily mean more impact.  We also explore:  Why creator marketing is becoming increasingly integrated into marketing itself  What “creator-first” actually means, and why it doesn't mean handing creators the strategy  Why AI makes human judgment, creativity and distinctiveness more valuable  How brands can balance creative freedom with strategic direction  Why social is becoming social again, and what the shift from broadcasting to participation means for brands 

What does it actually take to turn a brand around, in a category where standing out is anything but easy?  In this episode, we sit down with Teresa Hedlund, Head of Brand & Marketing  at Telenor Sweden, to unpack the transformation the brand has been through over the past few years.  Telecom is one of the most competitive, and arguably least differentiated, categories out there. For Telenor, creating change has meant rethinking not only how the brand shows up, but how the marketing organisation behind it works.  We get into the decisions behind that transformation: from making sharper choices and challenging established ways of working, to creating an organisation that can move faster and deliver more impact. Teresa also shares what she has learned about leading through change, bringing people with you, and building a stronger, more distinctive brand.  We also explore:  How to create meaningful differentiation in a highly competitive category   Why real transformation goes beyond marketing   What it takes to make tough decisions while bringing people with you   How sharper priorities can create more impact   The role of leadership in taking a brand through transformation 

We're back with season 12! In this episode of Inside the Creator Economy, we sit down with Patrick Axzell, CEO of BUBS and Orkla Snacks Sweden.  Most brands spend years trying to create demand. BUBS suddenly had the opposite problem. As Swedish Candy exploded on social media, demand grew to 14 times what the company could produce – and content around BUBS went on to generate 9 billion views on TikTok.  In this conversation, we get into what actually happens when the internet chooses your brand: how BUBS responded when demand took off faster than the business could keep up, why letting go of control became part of the strategy, and what it takes to turn viral momentum into long-term brand and business growth. We also talk about why speed can matter more than perfection, how BUBS lets consumers and creators shape the brand, and what Patrik has learned about leading through unexpected growth.  We also explore:  What happens behind the scenes when demand suddenly exceeds supply   Why BUBS built its brand playbook by listening to consumers, rather than starting with an agency   How to let consumers and creators shape a brand without losing what makes it distinctive   Why the BUBS concept store became one of the brand’s most valuable marketing platforms   How to turn a cultural moment into something much bigger than a viral hit 

In this episode of Inside the Creator Economy, we sit down with Alexander Shmelkov, Director of Global Brand Tracking at IKEA.  Most brand trackers are built to tell you what happened. Alexander has spent the last few years rebuilding one to help the business decide what to do next, across 64 markets, in an environment where the rules of growth are changing fast.  In this conversation we get into why data on its own has no value, what it actually takes to turn insights into decisions, and how IKEA is transforming a 20-year-old measurement system into a genuine strategic tool. We also talk about what relevance really means for a global brand today, and why the bottleneck in most organisations isn't data, it's interpretation.  We also explore:  The shift from reporting to predicting: insights as a forward-looking function, not a rearview mirror  Why the aha moment, not the data, is the real deliverable of insights work  What it takes to run a global brand tracker across 64 markets without losing local relevance  Insights as a people business: why human capability, not technology, is the real constraint 

Most marketers today are under pressure to do more, move faster and constantly prove results. But what actually drives growth long term?  In this episode of Inside the Creator Economy, we sit down with Sorin Patilinet, Global Marketing Effectiveness & Measurement Lead at PepsiCo and recently published author on Marketing Effectiveness, to unpack what really drives growth today - and why many marketers are making things far more complicated than they need to be.  As AI floods the internet with more content and more noise, the real challenge is no longer producing marketing - it’s knowing what’s actually worth doing.  We talk about why restraint might become one of the most important marketing skills of the next decade. Why short-term excitement often beats long-term thinking. And what brands like Cheetos, Geico and Lindt understand about distinctiveness that many others still miss.  We dive into:  Why “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” matters more in the AI era  The tension between short-term performance and long-term brand building  What actually makes brands distinctive and memorable today  Why more content doesn’t automatically mean better marketing  How PepsiCo applies marketing science and growth principles in practice