After Unilever’s influencer pivot, creator rates jump 30%

Just last week, during a quarterly update with investors, the chief executive of Premier Foods announced a similar pivot into creator-led marketing. At the same time, Nescafé said it planned to invest more in the sector.

The Drum asked several social and influencer agencies what happened in the months after Fernando Fernandez said he wanted Unilever to have a brand influencer in every postcode. They unanimously said they had seen an uptick in client spend and RFPs since it made the announcement. They also agreed that creator rates have followed that trajectory.

“We have seen an exponential increase in proactive outreach from prospects since the Unilever announcement,” said Hayley Stevens-Shaw, managing partner at Hello Franses, an agency that has worked with brands including Disney and Aston Martin.

Similarly, Coralie Hampson, global business director at Socially Powerful, said she has seen a “notable shift” in clients wanting more creator-led content, especially from those in the FMCG space. Sammy Albon, influencer strategy lead at PrettyGreen, has seen client spending literally double in a matter of months.

Albon says one client doubled a seven-figure UK spend to expand into Europe and another added influencer to its marketing strategy in three more regions.

Billion Dollar Boy, a global influence agency with clients including Pepsico, Heineken and L’Oréal, has seen a 22% rise in spending from existing clients from May to July 2025 compared with the same period a year prior.

“There have been moments we point to as a period of great change in the [influencer] industry. The onset of Covid was one. Brands couldn’t shoot content as they normally would, so there was more investment, more seriousness, on the influencer marketing channel,” says Thomas Walters, co-founder at Billion Dollar Boy. “The statement from the CMO of Unilever is another one of those moments.”

Recent research from the agency found that almost three-quarters (71%) of US marketers and more than half (52%) of UK marketers are now investing in excess of $1m (£765,000) annually in creator marketing.

But this isn’t just a win for the bottom line. Virtually all agencies The Drum spoke to said that while clients aren’t necessarily mentioning the Unilever announcement directly, the common theme is that those higher up are now tuned into the value they bring to a business because Fernandez gave a stamp of approval to a sector less understood by board-level execs.

“Suddenly, the CMO or board is listening and understands the need to invest in influencer marketing,” says Hello Franses’s Stevens-Shaw. “Prospects, particularly those in influencer specialist roles in-house, have reported that this has been a real shift in the last three months and they now feel they are being taken seriously.”

Albon agrees that in the few short months since Fernandez made his speech, there’s been a shift in how the specialism is viewed. “Since March, we’ve seen increased momentum in creator-first thinking. Brands are valuing influencers at the core of effective, integrated strategies from the outset. Not in silo. Not as an afterthought. They’re asking for multi-market rollouts earlier in the pitch process, with influencer playing a leading role in brand-building or even forming the core pillar of strategies,” he says.

“While clients might not name-check Unilever, their public commitment has acted as a signal of trust and confidence, legitimizing the channel for stakeholders who were still sleeping on influencers. I’ve had direct conversations where Unilever’s name has been used to justify new investment. It’s giving marketers of all levels permission to play.”

Creators cash in

This is having a knock-on effect for creators as well. Across the board, The Drum was told that rates have increased. But it’s not simply a case of supply and demand impacting the cost of working with an influencer. This shift is partly due to them recognizing their own value and the impact they can have on a brand’s bottom line. Thanks to Unilever.

Stevens-Shaw said Hello Franses has seen the biggest shift among micro influencers. “More of them are now represented by agents, even those with relatively modest followings, and they are demanding increased fees as a result. In some cases, we’ve seen rates increase by circa 30% versus this time last year.”

Jessica Tamsedge, UK CEO at Dentsu Creative, agrees, saying influencers with smaller, highly engaged followings – say 10,000 to 50,000 – are now able to command rates that rival those of those with millions of followers.

“They’re proving that relatability and audience connection matter more than sheer numbers,” Tamsedge says. “As a result, many brands are pivoting from spending big on macro influencers to balancing their budgets between smaller, highly relevant creators and strategically selected voices.”

Ipos Influence’s head Izzy Field says she’s noticed sectoral content creators with a voice of authority – think dermatologists, dentists, aestheticians and chefs – begin to charge clients more for access to their highly engaged, highly trusting audiences.

As with any case of a channel suddenly becoming more expensive, there is mounting demand for more cost-effective ones, spurring the rise of UGC creators. These are everyday social media users brands ask to create and distribute content for them. Stevens-Shaw says this type of creator remains relatively affordable and often doesn’t charge appropriately for usage rights if the brand takes that content into its own channels. “As a result, some brands are starting to shift more of their budgets towards this style of creator, amplified by significant paid spend to mitigate the increase in fees from influencers,” she adds.

Creators as consultants

As marketers commit more spending and scrutinize the value they’re getting from creators, many agencies The Drum spoke to said they’ve quickly come to the realization that it’s no longer prudent or effective to spend thousands of dollars on a single sponsored post or video. There’s a shift in thinking from both sides that forging long-term partnerships best serves all interests.

Rather than a quote for one Instagram post, CMOs want influencers fully immersed in every aspect of a campaign, from OOH and point-of-sale to events.

Ipos’s Field has noted this shift. It specializes in the beauty and fashion sector and says that as brands look for deeper ways to partner with content creators, creators are seeing the opportunity to up their offerings to the brand.

“Brands are now looking for longer-term contracts and mid-to-top-tier creators are charging a premium for that, especially when there are exclusivity terms. These creators are now also negotiating additional skill sets into those partnerships, like creative direction or consultancy,” she explains. “As an example, one of our talents is working with a high street skincare brand and a global beauty brand. They are acting as a cultural consultant for both of those brands, hosting events for both of those brands and being the content creator. Since the content creators are the ones who are driving this increase in ROI, they are obviously charging more.”

Billion Dollar Boy’s Walters has also shifted focus to creating, saying its data shows this approach pays off for brands. “It’s more cost-efficient and it’s received really well by creators, because they get a bit of consistency in their earnings. Only about 5% of creators are able to make over $100,000 a year. So, a lot of them live in this kind of feast or famine mindset. And that can result in not the best brand deals being taken on. So this kind of consistency enables them to create better content and ensure the audience is more engaged with what is being said.”

He cited one client, a global streaming platform that forged long-term contracts with creators. According to post-campaign stats, the work over-delivered by 34% and drove an additional 1.2m organic views.

But as this industry grows, there’s growing concern among brands and creators that more budget means more ad content and audiences will begin to switch off.

Field says she’s noticed more creators are saying no to work in the name of protecting audiences from ad fatigue. Likewise, Pretty Green’s Albon says it is seeing talent become much more picky on partnerships, whether because the brand doesn’t fit or they’ve already got a full content calendar.

“We all know there’s an attention gap. We’re having more open conversations about ad fatigue, especially on channels like TikTok. Audiences are discerning. They catch whiff of a misaligned partnership a mile off and they’re not afraid to swipe away,” Albon adds.

“The implication? You can’t always rush out a campaign and assume the right influencers will be available or interested. Work needs to be more planned, more considered and less ‘can we go live next week?’ The real winners in this new era won’t be the brands with the biggest budgets. They’ll be the ones who treat influence as a creative discipline, not just as a media buy. Not just as their numbers.

“Unilever’s statement wasn’t just a vote of confidence, it was a challenge, a call for the industry to do better, to invest properly, build creatively and treat this channel with the strategic weight it deserves. It’s working, but we need to keep leading by example and doing the work that proves it.”