Reported by Alexandra York

DAY 1

Welcome to the Creator Showcases

Creactors are the future. The industry is now estimated to be worth more than $250 billion. This is why Forbes decided on a week of events for creators: starting with the launch of Forbes List of Top Designers 2024— featuring Dhar Mann (who earned approximately $45 million in the last twelve months) and J0rdan the Stallion (who earned approximately $4.5 million) — and continues to host the first-ever Forbes Creators Upfronts in partnership with Walmart Creator.

“I feel the energy,” Steven Bertoni, associate editor at Forbestold the Upfronts audience at NeueHouse in Los Angeles. He then highlighted the power of the Top Creators list: “50 people made $720 million this year,” he said of this year’s class, and generated excitement for both next few days. Forbes will be joined by some of these top-earning creators: some will introduce themselves to the CMOs in the room as the best next creator to work with during the “Upfronts” sessions, while others will take the stage for roundtable discussions on building community, creating across platforms and more. Starting: Dani Austin (No. 20 on the list) and My Nguyen (No. 48).

The new era of designer-led brands

Dani Austin began creating content on YouTube in 2012 and generated an audience for herself through a series called “Things I Wish a Sister Taught Me,” sharing tips, tricks and advice. questions she thought she would discuss with a sister if she had one. . More than a decade later, it’s these vulnerable topics that have continued to grow not only his audience, but an entire business. In 2019, she opened up about another intimate experience, that of hair loss.

“I was really embarrassed,” she said, adding that she would do anything to cover it up. But when she finally opened up online, she realized that many people were affected and came up with the idea of ​​starting her own hair care brand.

She founded Divi in ​​2021 with none other than a launch on Instagram to use her platform. And the first year it sold for $40 million, she told the Upfronts audience.

Meanwhile, My Nguyen has had his own evolution. She was working in her family’s Vietnamese restaurant when she decided to take her culinary skills online. Now with nearly 10 million followers, she continues to grow her audience around her healthy recipes.

But this year, she went further: she published a cookbook, Healthy, my way, in October of this year and went on a book tour.

“It made me feel like I had done something other than just put out a cookbook,” she said of her fans and readers in person.

What the world’s largest company thinks about the creator economy

William White joined Walmart, the world’s largest retailer by revenue, in 2020. As senior vice president and chief marketing officer, White oversees the company’s customer insights and marketing. Part of this marketing effort is of course appealing to creators.

“Creators are the lifeblood of social commerce and we wanted to get closer to them,” White said. Forbes” Managing Director, CMO Network, Seth Matlins.

But even while focusing on the new, the company is aware of its core mission: to be durable, reliable and affordable for everyday customers.

“Stability comes from low prices, from convenience, from things that are known,” White said. “But the momentum really comes from what you can do with it.”

And today, momentum means using digital technologies to grow. That’s why they work with people like fashion and lifestyle designer Callie Richards (who joined the stage to introduce herself and her brand during an Upfronts session) to also showcase their trendy offerings to buyers.

Cross-platform strategies to maximize reach

Savanah Moss (No. 46) and Drea Okeke (No. 49) followed very different career paths before creating multi-million dollar platforms. Moss was studying forensic psychology while Okeke worked in engineering.

But “you can’t have a global impact from a cubicle,” Okeke said. Forbes Steven Bertoni on stage, explaining his move from a stable to an uncertain career as a full-time comedy creator.

However, with a goal of reaching audiences around the world, Okeke hasn’t completely abandoned his engineering. In fact, she uses her deep understanding of analytics to best win over the algorithm, especially on TikTok, she said.

“I realized that people loved it when I talked about my culture,” she said, adding that once she identified the types of content that worked, “the followers started flooding in.”

Moss has a similarly scientific approach. She posts her content between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. every day, and her best performing content is usually between twenty and forty seconds long. Plus, it’s sure to exploit viewers’ short attention spans.

“I include something very interesting in the first bit of the video, even if it doesn’t make sense,” she said. Most recently, it was a clip of him ziplining and flying through the sky. But, she reassured us, it was a model who was stealing, not her.