Advertising Week Briefing: Creators emerge as the industry’s new power brokers

At this year’s Advertising Week, the ascendance of content creators within both the ad industry and wider culture is on full display.

Creators are everywhere at Advertising Week 2025 — from a range of creator-led sessions culminating with an onstage live taping of “Hot Ones,” to an Adobe-sponsored $25,000 creator pitch contest, to a session that featured YouTuber Dhar Mann creating a brand campaign for Gap Inc. in real time. This year, Advertising Week has four content tracks dedicated to creators — its highest number of creator tracks ever, per Advertising Week global president Ruth Mortimer — and a creator lounge sponsored by Meta. 

“We’ve done private events built around creators, but I think this is the first time we’ve had someone who has wanted to come in and own a part of the show that’s just for creators,” Mortimer said.

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