Creators are not media inventory: Unilever's Leandro Barreto calls for rethink of brand partnerships

New Delhi: For years, influencer marketing has been measured through familiar metrics: reach, impressions, engagement rates, and media value. Brands have increasingly shifted budgets towards creators, but often with the same mindset they once applied to traditional advertising, treating creators as another distribution channel. According to Leandro Barreto, CMO of Unilever's Beauty & Wellbeing business, that's precisely where many brands are getting it wrong. Speaking at Cannes Lions 2026 during a session titled ‘Who Carries the Fire?’ Barreto challenged the industry's approach to creator partnerships, arguing that creators should not be viewed as media inventory but as active participants in shaping brand meaning. “We treat creators like a channel. We reduce them to distribution, to media inventory. They are not,” he said. The comment comes at a time when brands are pouring larger portions of their marketing budgets into creator-led campaigns. Yet Barreto suggested that simply paying creators to amplify messages misses the bigger opportunity. “They don't carry things because you pay them. They carry them because it means something to them. Because they care. Because their community cares.” Beyond influencer marketing While Unilever has been vocal about adopting a social-first approach, Barreto was quick to dismiss the idea that the company's strategy is simply about moving spend from traditional media to creators. "This debate missed the point entirely. It's not about channels, it never was." Instead, he framed creator influence as an extension of a much older human behaviour, people trusting recommendations from people they know and communities they belong to. “People listen to the recommendations of their communities, they trust what other people are doing, they always have.” For creator marketers, the distinction is important. The value creators bring isn't merely their audience size but their ability to translate a brand into something meaningful for their communities. From renting voices to earning them Barreto pointed to examples from Hellmann's, where creators and fans reshaped the brand in unexpected ways. Rather than forcing strict brand narratives, the company has embraced community-led interpretations and cultural moments around the product. “The moment people really stop reshaping your brand, is the moment it stops mattering,” he said. That philosophy stands in contrast to the highly controlled creator briefs that often dominate influencer marketing. Instead of focusing solely on brand safety and message consistency, Barreto suggested that brands should ask a different question: what are people already saying about us? “At Unilever, we have decided to stop asking what our brands want to say and start asking what others want to say about our brands.” The shift reflects a growing recognition that brand meaning increasingly emerges through conversations, creator content, and community participation rather than corporate messaging alone. Creator economy lesson for brands The message also arrives at a time when AI-generated content is making content production cheaper and faster than ever. As platforms become flooded with content, creators may become even more valuable not because they produce content, but because they carry trust. Barreto repeatedly returned to the idea that brands cannot force people to care. “When someone really cares enough about your brand to make it part of their identity, you don't control that. You earn it.” For brands navigating the creator economy, the takeaway was clear: successful partnerships aren't built on transactions alone. They are built on shared meaning, cultural relevance and genuine community connection.