In a world where consumer attention is more fragmented than ever, marketers are still battling with the question: should we invest in the prestige of a celebrity or the strong trust and affinity of creators?

But maybe we’re asking the wrong question.

The celebrity v influencer debate has become a binary that oversimplifies the complex and evolving relationship between talent, audience, and brand storytelling. It’s not a matter of choosing a medium; it’s about understanding when, why, and how different types of influence can create value across the customer journey.

Effectively, we are in the most demanding era of marketing ever seen. The attention economy feels more visceral than ever – it’s no longer just a matter of driving attention and weaving your brand story into trends, but instead driving culture-shaping conversations that transcend social media.

The either/or myth

There’s been no shortage of headlines declaring the death of the celebrity endorsement. But let’s not forget: some of the most memorable, culture-shaping campaigns in recent years have been celebrity-led.

When YKONE cast Victoria Beckham to collaborate on a 360 campaign with Bioderma, it wasn’t just a transactional post. It was a strategic co-creation partnership rooted in shared history, beauty values, and brand ethos. Beckham wasn't only lending her face, she was lending her story.

A story about a long-time connection with the product. A story about beauty expertise. A story about multi-generational appeal. That’s the difference between marketing that peaks and disappears, and marketing that lands long-lasting cultural impact.

Ultimately, celebrities still have cultural gravity. They command recognition, deliver prestige, and can ignite cultural conversations in ways few others can. The real shift isn’t in whether celebrity endorsements work – it’s in how their influence is deployed.

The new gold standard? Not endorsement, but value-driven alignment.

As a general rule, the benchmark of a successful celebrity campaign is when conversations last longer than the content, regardless of what tiers are deployed and how they come together in the strategy. What is relevant is building brand value and belief systems through consistency, and how this consistency is achieved is particular to each brand.

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Influence spectrum

Moments such as hero launch moments can drive attention for a period, which brands can capitalize on to drive sales and footfall. But the impact diminishes over time. Brand equity doesn’t.

As such, we are looking at two distinct roles when considering influence levels. While celebrities drive attention, creators work to convert that attention into conversations, community engagement, and bottom-line impact. The peaks of attention with celebrity endorsements are typically short-lived, mainly based on the fact that creating a long-lasting relationship with a celebrity might not be feasible from a financial perspective.

Meanwhile, creators deliver the kind of authenticity, relevance, and community trust that brands can’t manufacture alone.

Brands have historically over-focused on top-tier partnerships and the short-lived attention that comes from it, and it is easy to see why – it feels good to have instant access to bold numbers to report internally, but short-term impact won’t grow a brand. Long-term loyalty will.

What is fundamental for brands to keep in mind is that creators are a channel for long-term commitment if wanting to see long-lasting impact. Marketers need to rethink the typical chase of short-term attention and shift to long-term community building and cultural impact. Often, this requires a more comprehensive and mixed segmentation approach from a tier perspective. Savvy brands aren’t picking between celebrities or influencers. They’re designing ecosystems that span the influence spectrum.

Each plays a distinct role in the brand’s attention architecture.

The real question

So, what’s the real question? It’s not celebrity v influencer. It’s not reach v relevance. It’s: What is your brand trying to say - and who can say it with truth, scale, and resonance?

Because the most effective voices won’t just be top tiers. They’ll be fitting.

They won’t just perform. They’ll belong.

And that’s how attention becomes affinity - and affinity becomes brand equity.