I was at a morning workout on the beautiful beaches of Cannes when a woman I’d never met walked up to me.
“Hey… you’re Benjamin, right? I read your emails!”
Her name is Mollie https://www.linkedin.com/in/molliegarza/ from New York and she’s been following since a San Francisco event months earlier.
That moment… a stranger recognizing me in a crowd of industry insiders wasn’t the result of a viral post. It was the result of consistency, showing up and delivering value, week after week.
This interaction perfectly illustrates what happened across Cannes Lions this year: the most durable form of influence isn’t reach. It’s trust, built over time. And the brands that figure this out first are going to win the next decade of creator marketing.
The Old Model is Broken
Here’s how the traditional influencer deal works:
- Brand writes a brief ➡️ an agency sends a proposal ➡️ both sides negotiate a rate ➡️ post goes live.
- The relationship ends the moment the content is published.
- This model made sense when social media was young and reach was scarce.
- It doesn’t make sense anymore.
- There are now more creators with 500,000 followers than ever before, and that number is growing every month. More supply means lower prices and lower perceived value.
What I saw at Cannes wasn’t brands chasing impressions. It was brands building friendships. That’s the shift.
The mechanics are simple but require patience.
Think of the relationship like a bottle of water, starting half full. You fill it by giving before you ask: exclusive event invites, access to Cannes, Art Basel, a car from your fleet for a weekend.
By the time you need something from them, the bottle is full. That’s why it’s important to nurture these creators long before we needed them.
The Role Brands Are Missing
None of this works without someone running it full-time.
Brands need a Creator Relationship Manager: a dedicated person whose job is managing creator connections year-round. This is someone who checks in monthly, notices when a creator traveled to the Alps, asks how the trip was, and offers a car for the next road trip.
Personalized. Consistent. Proactive.
This role can be built in-house, but requires genuine cultural knowledge of the creator world, or outsourced to an agency that already has these relationships.
Cannes is the New Trade Show
Every creator worth knowing was in Cannes this year.
AIRRACK https://www.instagram.com/airrack/?hl=en (20M YouTube subscribers), Khaby Lamé’s https://www.instagram.com/khaby00/?hl=en management, Oprah Winfrey, JeffsTheory, OMGAdrian https://www.instagram.com/omgadrian/?hl=en + Samantha Salvador https://www.instagram.com/samjsalvador/?hl=en.
With the main goal: to build the relationships that will define their brand partnerships for the next several years.
The setting is the strategy… there are no boardrooms.
You meet the CMO of a global brand at the Carlton Hotel over a margarita, in shorts, and that conversation becomes the foundation of a three-year partnership. That’s not luck. That’s exactly the point.
Creators: Show up next year. Set two or three meaningful meetings before you arrive. Let the environment do the rest.
Brands: Send a delegate. Not to attend panels, but to build relationships in a setting where everyone is open to them. Reserve a table at the Carlton. That’s your office for the week.
The brands and creators who understand this shift, away from transactions, focusing more toward relationships, are the ones who will define the next era of the creator economy.
What’s Hot
- Justin Bieber might perform in the WC finals!: Brands are paying top dollar to make this happen.
- Speed brings in 9.2 million viewers from FIFA: They didn’t build a new platform, instead went where the audience already was and built a deal around the creator they already trusted.
- Newsletters are the future: Substack proves once again why it believes in emails so much.
Thanks so much for reading this week’s letter, hope you enjoyed the insights! Next year, BDX will host an event at Cannes Lions… you heard it here first! 😊
-Benni
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