All brands need to give people reasons to choose them. A report from Havas this summer suggested brands need to build desire if they are to outperform. Most brands don’t manage that. In fact, according to the report, 84% of brands suffer from consumer indifference.
The reality is that, even with heavy conversion-focused marketing spend, most brands remain barely visible, never mind desired. And that’s because expecting a consumer to go from total indifference to a last-click purchase in one single step is a direct mismatch with how people actually shop today.
AI is shaking up the customer experience and making the purchase journey less predictable. Now, when a consumer sees a product review on TikTok, they might look it up online, read the AI overview provided by Google and ask an LLM for a recommendation before deciding what to buy.
Non-linear purchase journeys, AI-driven search and creator consensus all play a role in determining whether a brand is even considered. Traditional conversion marketing optimises for that final click. But if you haven't built that desire upstream, along with sufficient trust and brand equity, you’re asking a conversion campaign to do a job it was never designed to do.
Traditional affiliate vs creator marketing
We have an interesting tension in today’s performance marketing. On one side, you have traditional affiliate marketing, which is brilliant at converting intent into revenue via last-click optimisation. It delivers high ROAS and proven ROI, and works exceptionally well when the customer has already made their decision.
Creator marketing does something different: building desire, generating demand and contributing to long-term customer value.
The biggest misconception brands have here is to think these two are competing. They're not. They’re complementary engines. So, how do you integrate them in practice?
There are five operational pillars to consider.
Pillar one: the hybrid commercial model
What we’re seeing today is brands that either pay creators a flat fee or pay purely on a commission basis, this is where most brands are getting it wrong. The hybrid model is the solution, offering up a guaranteed base compensation with bonus commission in line with performance.
You’ve struck gold when you find a creator who drives genuine intent for your brand. The hybrid model is how you retain them, balancing respect for their work with accountability for results.
The base covers the creator’s content creation, production and overall efforts. It tells a creator: “We value your time, your expertise, your production quality. That has a baseline cost.”
The upside is commission tied to tracked sales or conversions. It tells the creator: “If this campaign performs, we win together.” The model rewards both the work that builds demand and the results it delivers.
Pillar two: demand generation
To create demand, you have to guide your audience through a three-step relationship funnel: attract, affinity and attachment.
Attract: Creator content captures attention and engages audiences who might otherwise be indifferent to your brand.
Affinity: Aligning your brand with a creator’s values and community builds trust. The creator bridges the gap between your product’s utility and their own credibility.
Attachment: Initial interest becomes a transaction, with the potential to develop into long-term loyalty and repeat purchases.
Pillar three: Paid media and UGC amplification
Users increasingly see content from creators they don’t follow. Algorithmic distribution means follower count is no longer the only route to reach.
Paid social gives brands greater control over distribution. This means securing usage rights or full buyouts so creator content can work harder across paid campaigns.
When you pair creator authenticity with paid socials, you can unlock three major strategic advantages:
- Organic variability is reduced. Paid spend helps your best content reach audiences without relying entirely on unpredictable organic distribution.
- Conversion potential improves. You can take creator assets that have demonstrated their appeal and test them in paid campaigns. Where the results support it, these assets can provide an effective alternative to traditional studio ads.
- Production costs can come down. Creator content supplies social-first assets without an expensive studio shoot for every campaign.
Pillar four: social-native performance
Consumers increasingly evaluate products within social feeds, creating opportunities for creators who produce native, social-first content.
These formats create opportunities to extend performance across digital touchpoints, particularly among younger audiences less likely to begin their journey with traditional search or email.
Pillar five: Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)
Discovery is shifting from the search results page to the AI-generated overview; because of this, there's been a sharp fall in organic click-through rates. According to Similarweb data, almost half of all Google Search queries now show an AI overview, going from 15% to 48% in a single year.
Meanwhile, Insider Intelligence reports that 92% of Gen Z rely on creators for purchase decisions. Seer Interactive has also reported a substantial reduction in organic click-through rates when AI Overviews appear. Audiences trust creators and LLMs are where more decisions are being made.
This is where Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) comes in. Brands need to understand how they appear when consumers ask AI tools what to buy, which products to compare and which brands to trust. A brand can’t earn those recommendations by publishing its own content alone, AI tools build answers from what others say about a brand. Creators can help by producing useful, credible content that gives audiences reasons to consider a brand.
In practice, this works in three steps:
- Seed structured brand narratives across creators: Give creators a clear sense of what your brand's key differentiators are and let them weave it into authentic content.
- LLM indexing: AI engines crawl creator content, discussions, and reviews, so choosing the right creator for your brand matters. Choose creators who genuinely connect with the brand because their content can become the source for these AI engines.
- AI recommendation: With consistent narratives being built up across creators, your brands will be cited in AI answers more frequently. As you continue to build on this, track where your brand appears and use creator partnerships to move the needle. That means tracking which sources AI tools surface, how your brand is described and whether your visibility is changing.
The sale starts before the click
Last-click attribution has a place in performance marketing, but it only tells you part of the story. A creator might introduce someone to a brand, build trust and prompt further research, only for an affiliate link to record the eventual sale days later. The affiliate has helped convert the customer, but the creator may have helped make the purchase possible in the first place.
The opportunity for brands is to bring these two approaches together: using creators to build desire and generate demand, then connecting that activity to the performance marketing that turns intent into revenue.
The last click can tell you where a customer completed their journey. Understanding what made them choose you means looking at everything that came before it.
