Brands Give Creators More Freedom, Says Snap India

Snap Inc. says creator marketing is entering a new phase, with brands moving away from tightly scripted influencer campaigns and giving creators greater freedom to communicate brand messages in their own voice.

According to Neha Jolly Sawhney, head of ad revenue at Snap India, advertisers are increasingly looking beyond traditional metrics such as followers, likes and reach. Instead, brands are focusing on whether a creator's audience, personality and content style genuinely match the campaign objective.

The shift reflects a maturing creator economy. With influencers active across platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, brands now have access to a much wider pool of creators. The challenge is no longer simply finding someone with a large following, but identifying the right creator for a specific marketing goal.

Snap offers multiple creator-led solutions, including Creator Squad, Brand Challenges, Snapstar Squad, creator-led assets, Branded Snap Schools and incubator programmes. These formats allow brands to provide key messages or campaign guidelines while giving creators room to interpret the communication in their own style.

This approach can also reduce the production and approval burden for brands. Instead of controlling every line and visual, marketers can establish clear brand guardrails and allow creators to bring their existing personality into the campaign.

Snap is also placing greater emphasis on campaign intent over vanity metrics. A beauty or quick-commerce brand may prioritise purchase intent, while an automobile or smartphone brand could focus more on awareness, recall or brand affinity.

AI is increasingly being used to help brands identify relevant creators and audiences through Snap's advertising tools. However, the platform says technology is intended to support campaign objectives rather than replace human understanding of the brand and creator relationship.

Authenticity is another major factor driving the change. Creators often present different sides of themselves depending on the platform, and Snap believes this more informal, everyday content can help creators build stronger relationships with their communities.

The platform expects emerging and community-focused creators to become increasingly important as brands look for relatability and trust rather than scale alone.

The larger takeaway for marketers is clear: creator partnerships are moving from "say this exactly" to "here's what we need to communicate tell it your way." For brands, the challenge will be finding the right balance between creative freedom, brand safety and measurable business outcomes.