Limiting who you learn from limits your surface area for success. Just because you don’t want to be in front of the camera doesn’t render you unintelligent. A lone wolf dies in the winter. There are plenty of people better at analysing the top 1% strategy than most ever dream

Reach tells you who saw it but it is retention that tells you if you REACHED 'em. Our team once ran a beauty campaign with The Chiefs. Beauty + esports, what? It was a world first. Gamers who'd normally scroll past anything beauty-branded, some were outright embarrassed to engage with it (think deoderant at convention jokes). So naturally, we said yes and built the campaign around creating that safe space instead of ignoring it. It won repeated awards. More importantly, that has kept buying well after the partnership ended. It has repeatedly ranked higher than other Men's beauty products in ANZ sales. The brand built for the community, not for the bag.

One of the creators we work with turned down the bigger money offer last week because the smaller brand asked them what would help their audience. We moved the conversation from "what you get" to "what can we do for their community" Leverage isn't always the bag, sometimes it is who treats the creator like a partner instead of a placement.

Biggest isn’t always best. I am seeing a lot of creators taking deals with a smaller brand despite being offered big money for one reason: They become a starter, they’re not just sitting on the bench. Big brands pay, but it’s tough to beat the company that will answer your calls on a Sunday when one of your players is locked out. Money buys a signature, but a relationship buys the next three years.