What shifts should you understand in creating content in the 2020s? What can creators teach us when it comes to reaching new audiences? Why is it important who does the storytelling as much as how it is done? In this keynote, Geoffrey Colon, former head of Microsoft Brand Studio and now Chief Creator Officer of his own creator agency will dive deep on ways to get you to think and rethink how you are creating content in a world where trust is quintessential, and the new human resources are regular people who are subject matter experts that you turn to when you want to learn. Takeaways: 1. The evolution of social media and society. From publishers and platforms to people. How marketing is still stuck in a programmatic era. 2. The need to belong. Creators as human resources. 3. The need to understand. Creators as translators. 4. Employee advocacy. Employees become the storytellers. We’ll show examples of this and the results. 5. Among consumer, more than 1/3rd of online time is now spent consuming creator content. It’s not about the quality as it is about being able to relate, seek knowledge or value, be entertained and feel the person can be trusted.

1. KEYNOTE
Geoffrey Colon
FOUNDER & DIRECTOR
CREATIVE STUDIOS
Creating Content
in the Creator Age
SEATTLE, WA ~ MAY 5 - 6, 2022
DIGIMARCONPACIFICNORTHWEST.COM | #DigiMarConPacificNorthwest

2. But they believe these
CreativeStudies.Agency
Creating Content in the Creator Age
Creators are people who make content, influence others, persuade others, are subject matter experts,
entertain, are historians, provide knowledge and value, build community, foster trust
Geoffrey Colon

3. 1. The evolution of social media and society.
From publishers and platforms to people. How
marketing is still stuck in a programmatic era.
2.The need to belong. Creators as human
resources.
3.The need to understand. Creators as
translators.
4.Employee advocacy. Employees become the
storytellers. We’ll show examples of this and
the results.
5. 13X
Geoffrey Colon
What we'll
learn
CreativeStudies.Agency

4. Geoffrey Colon
History and
Evolution
CreativeStudies.Agency
We don't study patterns in marketing as much as we
should.

5. Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
History and
Evolution
Social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication
(such as websites for social networking and microblogging)
through which users create online communities to share
information, ideas, personal messages, and other content
(such as videos).” The 2019 Pew Research Center report on
social media use in the United States showed that 72% of
American adults use some form of social media. In 2005, the
year after Facebook went live, that number was 5%.
1844 Morse Code
1992 Online Communities*
1997 Six Degrees
1999 Live Journal
2001 Friendster
2002 LinkedIn
2003 MySpace
2008 Facebook bypasses MySpace
2015 Programmatic consolidation
2018 TikTok
2020 Pandemic
2022 Communities*

6. Geoffrey Colon
History and
Evolution
Increase brand awareness
Generate leads and increase conversions
Develop and nurture relationships with customers
Learn from competitors
Personify a company
CreativeStudies.Agency

7. Geoffrey Colon
Personify a Company
Conjoint Effect...
Creators starting businesses beyond simply making
videos
Companies acting like creators
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8. The Perfect Storm
Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
TV Ratings decline/CPM increase
Consumer awareness/desire for privacy
Ad Blockers become more available
Death of cookies
Consumer Technology to Create improves/less expensive
ALWAYS ON Audiences available and accessible on digital
channels - MANY more eyeballs
More brands - More competition
Content improving - more creators creating
Technology at scale to measure, discover, recommend
Prior to Covid - greater isolation, loneliness, growing need for
community
Content graph vs identity graph - leads to passionate discovery
and retention
Social upheaval - politics/economics cannot be separated
Societal shift. Great Resignation seeking to be entrepreneurs
DEI - creators represent the communities brands most want to
reach -
LACK OF TRUST with institutions, government, corporations…

9. The Old Systems
Are Broken
Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
More than half of Gen Zs (54%)and37%of Millennials spend
ZERO hours on ad-supported TV on any given day.
As for ads themselves? Ads interrupt their content consumption
experience, rather than enhance it. Traditional ads disrupt the flow
of the content they’re consuming. They create visual and mental
clutter, making it more difficult to find the content they want. And
ads jolt them out of their flow and the content experience they were
enjoying.
64%say they find ads disruptive and annoying

10. The Great
Migration
The Great Depression - Dust Bowl Migration
The Great Resignation - Facebook Migration
Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
We’re witnessingaconsumer migration fromlarge, public-facingsocial
media spaces to small, more private digital communities.. When
someone joins a community and connects with others around a shared
passion, they learn something more about their interests and
themselves. This is true across any topic whether the community is
dedicated to travel, music, or fashion or a hyper-focused community
dedicated to one health issue, movie genre, or crypto currency.
Communities have evolved far beyond Facebook groups:
“Subcultures are the new demographics and psychographics.”
"Forget personalization. It was a false flag by ad tech without a true
understanding of how people relate to one another."
"The era of the personalized feed still has shared currency around
interests."

11. The Need to
Belong
Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
There is no limit to the volume and range of content, ideas, products and experiences (good or bad) available to audiences today. Consumers have access to global
spheres of inspiration and influence that are much broader in scale than what previous generations had access to.
As people are melding their IRL selves with their digital selves, they’re valuing online places that keep it real over the carefully curated aesthetic and
communication style that was popular during IG’s heyday. We value accountability, relatability, verifiable talent…and in many cases, a good dose of weird and
wonderful. We're looking for the same in our content experiences, and they find it in communities.
Individual communities are where they connect with people like them through shared identities, experiences and perspectives, whatever they may be. In these
spaces, they learn, they grow, they find support, and they enjoy a sense of belonging to a movement that’s bigger than themselves.
This means consumers are moving away from ASPIRATION (I want to be like someone else) and towards BELONGING (I want to belong to something bigger than
myself).
And they’re moving away from INFLUENCER (I’m one of many who want to be like someone else) and towards CREATOR (I’m one of few who are just like me).

12. The Need to
Belong
Geoffrey Colon
73% aremore likelyto trustareviewfromapersonwho seemslikethem.
62% trust the product recommendations of peoplewho follow the samecontent creatorsastheydo online
66% have used online communitiestohelp decidewhich productsand brandstobuy.
67% interactonline with peoplethey don’tknow in reallifebyleavingcomments,liking, and sharing recommended content.
64% saytheyleaveproduct reviewsonline.
64% recommend productsto peoplein theironline communities.
60% saytheyinteractdirectlyand ask questions ofcontent creatorsthattheylike.
58% ask content creatorsquestions about products and brandstheyuse and recommend
66% saythattheyaremore likelyto trustaproduct recommendation ifitcomes fromsomeone who ispartof the sameonline community asme
CreativeStudies.Agency

13. Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
The Need to
Understand
Creators are CULTURAL Alchemists. The
Rosetta Stone of Society.
68% saycreatorsand influencersaregood
entertainers
74% saythey’remorelikelyto trustareview
iftheperson giving thereview seemslikea
regularperson and notan actor
70% says they’remorelikelyto trusta
review ifit’
s donebyan expertwho has
credentialsoriswidelyrecognizedfortheir
experienceand expertise
62% saytheywould probablylikethesame
products as thecontentcreatorstheyfollow

14. Geoffrey Colon
Combining the need to belong
and the need to understand to
generate new forms of
connection.
CreativeStudies.Agency
Employees want to enter this
world too. And many are taking
this plunge.
Lower barriers to entry in the
content creation game.
Employee
Advocacy

15. Geoffrey Colon
The Download
T h i s i s u s .
In 2020 M icrosoft Advertising
launched The Download. But instead
of doing the typical video series they
approached their branded content
like creators. A show for marketers,
produced by marketers. The results
have been bigger in terms of organic
reach and interaction.
CreativeStudies.Agency

16. Geoffrey Colon
The Download
T h i s i s u s .
CreativeStudies.Agency

17. Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
13X
1 3 3 BILLION
minutes were
been spent on
creator content in
2 0 2 1 , that's 1 3 x
more than time
spent on brand
videos.

18. Geoffrey Colon
T a k e a wa y
s
GOT TO BE REAL
They want to know what brands to get
behind and they want to know what and
who is behind the brand
Creator content feels direct, personal,
and real - consumers get to see brand’s
in a different light via creator content.
CreativeStudies.Agency

19. Geoffrey Colon
T a k e a wa y
s
FROM PUBLISHERS/PLATFORMSTO PEOPLE
Many people are unreachable on traditional platforms, like ad-
supported TV and they dislike ads
Trust is at an all time low
People =Team Human
70% say creators create content that they enjoy watching again
and again
61% say they often purchase products they’ve see demonstrated or
discussed by contentcreators on socialmedia
65% say they can feeljust as connected to people they encounter
online as they do with people they know in reallife
Too much fakery in online reviews, astroturfed trends, programmatic
ads
CreativeStudies.Agency

20. Geoffrey Colon
T a k e a wa y
s
CULTURAL DIPLOMATS
Creators bridge the gap between brands and audiences, especially
niche segments
For brands, they can create an on-going story between brands and
consumers and they come with a ready-made audience/following
Especially relevant to Zs, who are less influenced by celebrity than
Millennials
68% say creators and influencers are good entertainers
74% say they’re more likely to trust a review ifthe person giving the
review seems like a regular person and not an actor
70% says they’re more likely to trust a review ifit’s done by an expert
who has credentials or is widely recognized for their experience and
expertise
62% say they would probably like the same products as the content
creators they follow
CreativeStudies.Agency

21. Geoffrey Colon
T a k e a wa y
s
Belonging(HUMAN RESOURCES)
M oving from aspiration (I want to be like someone) to
Belonging - I want to belong to something bigger than
myself
Creators come with communities i.e., belonging
Community stats:
73% are more likely to trust a review from a person who
seems like them
76% are more likely to trust a review ifthey see that lots
ofpeople are saying the same thing
65% say they can feeljust as connected to people they
encounteronline as they do with people they know in
reallife
66% have used online communities to help decide which
products and brands to buy.
CreativeStudies.Agency

22. Geoffrey Colon
T a k e a wa y
s
OUT IN FRONT
Consumers are look for brands to be transparent, out in front of the
camera
Creator content allows for repeated exposures and new stories
about a brand or product, the narrative can be controlled
Creator content goes deep and can include reviews, tutorials,
showcasing key benefits, repeating messaging, and communication
with their community etc.
60% say they interactdirectly and ask questions ofcontentcreators
and influencers that they like
58% ask content creators questions about products and brands they
use and recommend
CreativeStudies.Agency

23. Geoffrey Colon
CreativeStudies.Agency
Let's C re a te
+1.917.617.1194
P H O N E N U M B E R
djgeoffe@gmail.com
E M A I L A D D R E S S
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W E B S I T E
L IN K E D IN
linkedin.com/in/geoffreycolon