TL;DR: With traditional ads losing impact, brands are turning to entertainment—creating their own TV shows and content formats to build deeper audience connections and drive engagement, just like creators have mastered.
What happens when audiences are increasingly tuning out traditional marketing messages? With ad fatigue at new highs, brands are rethinking their approach to consumer engagement. The answer? Taking notes from the $150 billion creator economy.
The Creator Model
Creators like the Kardashians, MrBeast, and Joe Rogan have outperformed traditional brands in building audience reach and engagement. They've mastered platforms such as YouTube and Spotify—channels that many established brands have yet to fully understand or utilise effectively.
These creators have successfully monetized their substantial followings through various business ventures. The Kardashians launched Skims, MrBeast created Feastables, and Joe Rogan secured major sponsorship deals with companies like Athletic Greens. In doing so, they've positioned themselves as direct competitors to traditional lifestyle brands while demonstrating a powerful strategy: using entertainment content as a vehicle for subtle selling.
Brand TV
What these successful creators have developed is effectively "Brand TV"—content that prioritizes entertainment while incorporating selling as a secondary element. This approach builds deeper, parasocial connections with audiences that drive meaningful consumer action. For traditional brands, the path forward is clear: they must either develop their own entertainment formats or find authentic ways to integrate into existing shows and podcasts.
Platform Opportunity
Digital platforms offer unprecedented access to niche audiences at scale. YouTube hosts over 2.5 billion monthly users and ranks as the second-largest search engine globally after Google. This presents a significant opportunity for both established and emerging brands looking to connect with consumers in new ways.
Case Study: THAMES MMXX
London-based label THAMES MMXX demonstrates this approach effectively. Founded by skateboarder and artist Blondey McCoy, the brand recently launched "The Blondey Show," a satirical web series on YouTube. The show features McCoy playing himself as he juggles pitching a TV show to the BBC while running his fashion label.
The brand integration happens organically throughout the narrative. Characters regularly wear THAMES apparel, and many scenes take place in the brand's actual studio—a multipurpose space that also hosts sample sales and screenings. In one scene, McCoy interacts with a fictional BBC buyer wearing the brand's "P.G. Knit," which was gifted by a THAMES staff member.
This strategy creates an immersive world around the brand, establishing a meta-advertising approach that strengthens fan connections and draws them into the brand experience.
Reversing the Entertainment Model
Traditional media companies typically build original intellectual property for theaters and later monetize through theme parks and merchandise. Fashion and lifestyle brands start with products and must work backward. To maintain relevance, these brands need to reverse-engineer the entertainment model, using compelling content to expand their brand universe.
As the creator economy and independent entertainment channels continue to grow, brands that embrace this shift stand to gain substantial advantages. The greatest risk isn't in experimenting with this approach but in implementing it without full commitment.
Strategic Implementation
Brands should consider shows and podcasts as essential components of their strategy to increase relevance with new audiences and deepen emotional connections with existing customers. Drawing inspiration from labels like THAMES or creator-led formats like "Chicken Shop Date," brands can develop unique, repeatable content formats that foster sustained engagement beyond temporary social media trends.
The Future?
As traditional advertising continues to lose effectiveness, brands that successfully transform into content creators will secure a significant competitive advantage. Those that develop authentic entertainment formats aligned with their brand values will build the lasting consumer relationships necessary for long-term success in this evolving marketing landscape.