Dhar Mann Tells Brands to Stop Treating Creators Like Ads
Internet personality Dhar Mann is urging brands to shift their approach to creator collaborations, advocating for treating creators as partners rather than mere advertising channels.
The creator economy is reshaping digital marketing, with a growing number of prominent internet personalities building diversified businesses akin to traditional media empires. Dhar Mann Studios operates a 125,000-square-foot production powerhouse in Los Angeles, exemplifying the industry's evolution.
Mann argues that brands must cease treating creators as simple billboards and instead view them as full-scale studio partners. The traditional model, where brands purchase audiences and dictate scripts, is outdated. The most effective collaborations occur when brands bring their business objectives and allow the creator to craft the narrative in their authentic voice.
The conventional influencer matchmaking process is flawed, as brands often select partners based solely on follower counts and demographics, followed by a rigid creative brief that disregards the creator's persona. To address this, Mann recently hosted an event where over 50 creators and brand marketers met to foster more organic collaborations.
"The traditional matchmaking process is broken because it often starts with a spreadsheet instead of a relationship," Mann stated. "Creators are treated like media placements rather than creative partners, which is why so much branded content feels forced." He emphasized that when marketers and creators meet, they can discover shared values and genuine chemistry, leading to more natural and impactful collaborations.