I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the Creator Economy Conference Denmark in Copenhagen, and one thing became very clear throughout the day: the creator economy is entering a much more mature phase.

A few years ago, most conversations around influencer marketing centered around reach, impressions, follower counts, and finding the “right” creator. Those conversations still exist, but the smartest brands at the conference were talking about something much bigger. They were focused on building systems around trust, storytelling, measurement, community, and long-term cultural relevance.

The creator economy is no longer operating on the sidelines of marketing. It is increasingly shaping how modern marketing itself works.

The Shift From Campaigns to Systems

One of the strongest themes throughout the conference was the shift from campaigns to systems.

Brands are moving away from isolated creator activations and building much larger ecosystems around creators, advocates, employees, customers, and communities. Creator marketing is becoming integrated across paid media, PR, CRM, e-commerce, social, retail, newsletters, product pages, and even product development itself.

That shift fundamentally changes the role creators play inside organizations.

The question used to be: Which creator should we work with?

Now the question is: How do we operationalize creator marketing across the business at scale?

The L’Oréal Nordics team spoke about this particularly well. Across brands like Lancôme, Maybelline, and Kérastase, the focus is no longer simply about proving legitimacy on social media. The challenge now is maintaining ongoing relevance in an environment where culture, algorithms, trends, and consumer attention shift constantly.

One insight that really stayed with me was their focus on “creator love.”

The strongest creator partnerships often begin with people who already genuinely love the brand and talk about it organically. Their audiences already trust their opinions, the products fit naturally into their lives, and the content feels believable because it comes from real usage and real enthusiasm.

That sounds obvious, but it is surprisingly difficult to scale.

L’Oréal also discussed how much work goes into supporting creators beyond the campaign itself. They run educational sessions with fragrance experts and platform teams, coach creators on legal compliance in beauty marketing, and invest heavily in long-term relationship building.

The strongest creator ecosystems increasingly look a lot like community management.

Attention Alone Is Becoming Less Valuable

Another major theme throughout the conference was the idea that isolated one-off campaigns no longer move consumers from attention to intention.

Several speakers discussed how creator marketing has evolved into what one presenter described as a “conversation powerhouse.” The strongest creator content does not just generate awareness. It creates discussion, recommendations, reviews, tutorials, reactions, and ongoing visibility across multiple touchpoints.

That visibility increasingly drives measurable business results.

The L’Oréal team shared an example around La Roche-Posay’s Cicaplast Balm B5, which has become one of the biggest skincare success stories in the Nordics. Instead of repeating traditional skincare messaging, they identified an entirely new audience segment: people removing tattoos.

The Nordics have one of the highest tattoo rates in the world, so the campaign centered around tattoo regret stories and the healing process afterward. Creators shared deeply personal stories about why they got the tattoos, why they regretted them, and how the product became part of the recovery process.

The campaign generated:

• 39.3 million views
• More than 1 million engagements
• A reported 21% increase in sales

What made the campaign so compelling was not just the reach. The storytelling created emotional relevance around a product people were already searching for and discussing online.

That distinction matters because consumers are becoming increasingly resistant to overly polished advertising. Stories grounded in lived experience tend to travel further because they feel emotionally recognizable.

Creator Content Is Expanding Across the Entire Funnel

One thing that became very clear during the conference is that creator marketing is no longer being treated as purely top-of-funnel awareness.

Creator content is now influencing:

• Product pages
• Paid advertising
• Newsletters
• Retail displays
• E-commerce
• CRM
• Search visibility
• Community engagement
• Conversion strategy

Several speakers discussed how creator content often outperforms traditional branded creative in paid campaigns because creators understand how to hold audience attention more naturally.

One speaker shared that creator-led content consistently delivered stronger view time and hold rate metrics across both TikTok and Meta campaigns compared to traditional branded assets.

That insight feels important because it highlights a larger shift happening in marketing right now:
brands are increasingly learning from creators, not just hiring them.

The Measurement Conversation Is Getting Smarter

Another standout session came from Flying Tiger Copenhagen, which offered one of the most thoughtful discussions around influencer measurement and analytics.

One line from the session perfectly captured the current state of the industry: “Influencer marketing is data rich and insight poor.” That might have been one of the best quotes from the entire conference.

There is no shortage of dashboards, engagement metrics, and reporting tools available today. The harder challenge is understanding what those numbers actually mean culturally and commercially across different markets.

Flying Tiger shared an example around an early Christmas campaign that initially appeared highly successful based on engagement numbers alone. Once they dug deeper into sentiment analysis, they discovered very different reactions across Europe.

UK audiences responded positively to the early holiday planning energy, while Spanish audiences reacted negatively because the campaign felt culturally too early. That nuance completely changes how you interpret performance.

The company is now building sentiment analysis tools that combine influencer performance with broader organic social conversations to better understand how campaigns are actually landing market by market.

They also discussed how UGC content is becoming increasingly valuable operationally because it allows assets to be localized and adapted efficiently across 15 different markets while maintaining stronger engagement rates and lower conversion costs.

The conference repeatedly reinforced the idea that likes alone reveal very little now.

Comments, saves, shares, search behavior, watch time, sentiment, and conversation quality are becoming much more meaningful indicators of intent.

Several speakers also smartly suggested that comments are becoming the new online reviews.

Visit Faroe Islands Is Rewriting Tourism Marketing

The presentation that stayed with me the longest came from Visit Faroe Islands.

I first became familiar with the Faroe Islands years ago through their famous Sheep View 360 campaign, which I covered and we included in our book, where sheep equipped with cameras helped map the islands before Google Street View arrived. The campaign went massively viral and helped introduce the destination to a global audience.

What fascinated me the most was how dramatically their strategy has evolved since then.

The tourism board realized that social media algorithms were repeatedly funneling visitors toward the same handful of ‘social media famous’ locations, creating growing concerns around overtourism and quality of life for local residents.

In response to this, they asked the local population directly how they felt about tourism and how they felt represented online. Ten percent of the population responded and while some responses were positive, others were frustrated, and a few people even suggested shutting tourism down entirely.

That feedback completely reshaped the Visit Faroe Islands’ approach to storytelling.

Today, their strategy centers around the idea of “heim,” meaning home. The content focuses less on polished destination marketing and more on everyday life, traditions, folklore, routines, and the people who actually live there.

Their #Faroeencers initiative shifted attention away from large travel influencers toward local residents sharing their lives through their own perspectives. The creators included:

• A female priest
• A vegan heavy metal enthusiast
• Chefs
• Artists
• Community leaders

During the campaign, one participant surprised them by becoming a member of parliament, while another earned two Michelin stars!

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The tourism board team also launched self-navigating road trips designed to encourage visitors to explore lesser-known parts of the islands instead of overcrowded tourist hotspots.

One insight from the presentation really stayed with me: Some stories can only be told by the people who actually live them.

That idea applies far beyond tourism marketing.

AI, Search, and the Future of Trust

AI also surfaced repeatedly throughout the conference.

Several speakers discussed how AI is already helping brands analyze audiences, identify patterns, improve operating speed, and make faster decisions. The operational value is obvious.

At the same time, there was also broad recognition that as AI-generated content scales, authenticity becomes more valuable.

Several presenters discussed how LLMs and AI-powered search tools are beginning to reshape discovery behavior itself. Consumers are increasingly turning to tools like ChatGPT for recommendations, product research, opinions, and purchase decisions.

That creates an entirely new challenge for brands because visibility is no longer tied only to Google rankings or social media reach.

Conversation, sentiment, creator content, and cultural relevance are increasingly influencing discoverability itself.

One line from the conference summed up the broader shift particularly well: “Stop talking at your customers and start building with them.”

That mindset showed up repeatedly throughout the day across beauty, retail, tourism, creator marketing, analytics, AI, and community strategy.

The strongest brands at the conference were focused on building ecosystems of participation, trust, storytelling, and cultural relevance around real people. This feels like one of the most important marketing shifts happening right now.

Watch My Behind-the-Scenes Video From the Creator Economy Conference

These were just a few of the standout insights from the day. I also filmed a behind-the-scenes YouTube video from the conference where I share more takeaways from the sessions, additional creator economy trends, and some of the conversations shaping where influencer marketing, storytelling, AI, and community-building are headed next.

The video also includes more insights from:

• L’Oréal Nordics team
• Flying Tiger Copenhagen
• Visit Faroe Islands

If you’re interested in where creator marketing is heading next, how brands are thinking about trust and storytelling in 2026, and what some of the smartest marketers in Europe are focusing on right now, I think you’ll really enjoy it.

For more of my influencer marketing insights, visit: https://jessicagioglio.com/tag/influencer/

If you found this post helpful and want to buy me a coffee to say thanks, visit: buymeacoffee.com/jessicagioglio

Jessica Gioglio is the co-author of The Laws of Brand Storytelling and The Power of Visual Storytelling. Professionally, Jessica has led innovative marketing and public relations programs for Dunkin’, TripAdvisor, Sprinklr, Nokia, and more. Today, Jessica is a keynote speaker (book her here) and founder of With Savvy Media & Marketing, a strategic branding, storytelling, and growth marketing consultancy.