The creator mirage

Over the last 5 years, we’ve walked through quite a few boardrooms. From BFSI giants debating trust. Beverage brands chasing youth. Auto brands discussing lifestyle.

And in every era, someone stood up and declared, “This is the revolution.”

Digital was the revolution.

Social media was the revolution.

Performance marketing was the revolution.

And now? The creator economy.

But here’s what nobody wants to admit: This might be the most seductive illusion of them all.

Today, everyone is a creator. They have the lighting, the edits, the trending audio, and the dashboards to prove performance. You hire one dancing with your product in Bangalore, your reach spikes, and your metrics glow green.

But pause and ask the only question that matters:

What did the consumer feel?

Here’s the hard truth: Content is a commodity. Storytelling is an asset.

Creators build their brands first. If your brand lacks a core narrative, you become a prop in someone else’s performance  -  well-lit, well-posted, quickly forgotten.

Yes, the numbers move.

Your impressions climb.

Your dashboard glows green.

Your CMO smiles.

Here’s the psychological trick of the creator economy:

It creates the feeling of movement.

But movement is not meaning.

A creator gives you a moment.

A story gives you context.

Moments trend.

Context endures.

Think about it—how many viral reels do you remember from last month?

Now think about the ads you grew up with. The jingles you still hum. The taglines your parents still quote.

Memory doesn’t attach to volume.

It attaches to emotion.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Content is a commodity. Storytelling is an asset.

A creator’s first duty is to their own brand. Their audience follows them, not you. When a brand without a core narrative plugs itself into this ecosystem, it becomes a prop—beautifully lit, perfectly edited, and instantly forgettable.

The brands that endure never chased noise. They built narratives.

Think about campaigns like “Swaad Apnepan Ka” from Brooke Bond, or Airtel’s “Atoot Bandhan.” Those weren’t campaigns. They were cultural conversations.

Tea wasn’t tea. It was a connection.

Telecom wasn’t telecom. It was security.

The medium changed - TV, digital, short-form, long-form  - but the story remained sovereign.

That’s the difference.

Let’s break it down intellectually.

1. Context over clicks

A creator gives you a moment. A story gives you context.

In markets like India, where trust is brewed slowly over chai and conversation, fleeting hooks don’t build loyalty. Narratives do.

2. The dharma of a brand

Every brand has a duty  -  a moral positioning in the consumer’s life. Without a defined narrative, you have no compass. No filter. Anyone can represent you.

With a story, you know instantly who aligns - and who doesn’t.

3. Algorithmic immunity

Algorithms change every quarter. Formats evolve. Platforms rise and fall.

But human emotion? That remains constant.

A story that taps into Rasa - the emotional essence - is platform-agnostic. It survives technological shifts because it is rooted in psychology, not pixels.

If you are leading a brand today, do not confuse the algorithm for the audience.

The algorithm is just the delivery truck.

The story is the cargo.

Formats mutate.

Platforms rise and fall.

Remember Facebook? Orkut? Vine? Clubhouse?

But human emotion? That hasn’t changed in centuries.

The ancient Indian aesthetic theory of Rasa speaks of core emotional essences - love, courage, wonder, and compassion. Stories that tap into these transcend the medium. They survive technological shifts because they are rooted in psychology, not pixels.

The Creator Economy is not the villain. It’s simply the newest megaphone.

But here’s the part I’ll leave you with:

A megaphone amplifies whatever you put into it.