Meta and Adweek Combine the Forces of Creators and Brand Leaders

The creator economy continues to evolve at a rapid rate. Impacted by current events across multiple industries like the entertainment work stoppages and fossil fuel brands entering the space for the first time to gain the trust of socially conscious Gen Z consumers, creators are at an inflection point in their careers when it comes to their work.

Simultaneously, CMOs and senior brand leaders are facing their own creative challenges as they work on capturing current and new audiences in an oversaturated attention economy.

In response, Meta and Adweek have partnered to create The Creatorverse Exchange, a community-driven program designed to bring together leading minds in the industry from both the creator and brand marketing sectors. The program aims to benefit both groups as they exchange learnings and expertise from their respective fields while collaborating on creative that addresses the senior marketers’ business needs.

Democratizing creativity

The Creatorverse Exchange will team up 10 leading creators and 10 senior brand marketers. Each team will create a piece of creative work for the brand marketer’s company using Meta’s Reels and other tools. The work will serve as a response to a predetermined challenge the senior marketers are seeking to solve (i.e. launch a new app, tell a new story, engage a new audience, promote a new product, bolster a talent brand, etc.)

“We’re finding that while it may not appear to be the case at first, there truly are so many similarities in the day-to-day roles that marketers and creators play. We hope that this program is just the beginning to bring the future of the industry closer together,” said Sylvia Zhou, head of global industry marketing at Meta.

Creative will center on the program theme, Democratizing Creativity. The final product will be presented at Adweek X on Dec. 4 in Los Angeles. Adweek X is an all-new event gathering diverse teams, leadership members and strategic thinkers to exchange perspectives on how brands and businesses around the world can drive the industry forward by making connections and collaborating.

The key players

Collectively, the marketing leaders tapped for the program have more than 150 years of experience in branding, CPG, agencies and B2B marketing across various industries.

The following leaders will be participating in the Creatorverse Exchange Program:

• Katie Welch, CMO, Rare Beauty
• Kim Paige, CMO, BET
• Tatiana Holifield, vp of social content and growth marketing, Sirius XM
• Bianca Bradford, director of agency, Meta
• Jose “Pepe” Gorbea, global head of brands, agencies and sustainability innovation, HP
• Krystal Hauserman, former CMO, 11:11 Media
• Valerie Vargas, svp of advertising and retail marketing, AT&T
• Sherene Jagla, chief demand officer, Impossible Foods
• Kelly Burke, director of brand marketing, Avocados From Mexico
• Soyoung Kang, CMO, eos

Through this project, the creators will teach marketing decision-makers about rewriting the rules of marketing and creativity. Collectively, the group has an audience of 2.7 million followers.

The following creators have been tapped to participate:

Teams will meet once a month virtually for four months, coordinated by Adweek. Each meeting provides space for community, questions and work time.

“Marketers are already navigating how to work with next-gen creatives to drive business growth, but seeking new creative ideas to grow their audience and appeal to new customers is critical,” said Adweek chief experience officer Jenny Rooney. “Marketers who do not embrace this new era of creativity will be left behind.”