Brendan Gahan

With over 18 years of experience, Brendan Gahan is a renowned leader in social media advertising, influencer marketing, and the creator economy. As a former Partner & Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, he significantly contributed to the agency’s growth and innovation, playing a key role in its acquisition by Plus Co in 2022.

Gahan has been a pioneer in influencer marketing, leading one of the first YouTube/influencer activations in 2006. He also founded Epic Signal, a prominent influencer marketing agency, which was acquired by Mekanism in 2015. 

He is an active investor/advisor in the creator economy and advertising sectors, contributing to companies such as Stan, Little Chonk, Orca, Glystn, and Trendpop (acquired). Additionally, he serves as a scout for Bessemer Venture Partners and Lunar X.

His industry involvement extends to his role as a VidCon Advisory Board member and as a co-host of the Creator Economy Live podcast. He was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2012, and his agency was recognized as Digiday’s Digital Video Agency of the Year in 2017.

Recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice, Gahan's deep understanding of social media and influencer marketing has not only earned him a following of over 125k on TikTok but has also led to features in major publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Guardian, Ad Age, and CNBC.

Advisory Board Member  

🚨 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆! 🚨
For the fourth year in a row, I'm heading to Creator Economy Live in Vegas. If you're attending, let's connect!

Two years ago at this conference I first publicly shared Creator Authority. The first of its kind agency focused on LinkedIn Influencer Marketing.

Why did I decide to go 'all in' on LinkedIn?

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 
I've been in influencer marketing since 2006. Two decades😱

In 2006, I did my first YouTube/creator brand deal. That activation led to millions of views. So much traffic hit the brand's site it crashed.

Along the way I worked with amazing brands on some epic influencer campaigns: EA, Mountain Dew, Amazon, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Starbucks, The Olympics, and even the Obama Administration.

In the early 2010's I founded Epic Signal. We were named Digiday's Digital Video Agency of the Year and I sold it to Mekanism in 2015 (where I served as a partner and Chief Social Officer). A year and a half after Mekanism was acquired the entrepreneurial itch came back.

I've watched wave after wave of this industry. And I felt like something interesting was happening on LinkedIn.

𝗕𝘂𝘁, 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻? 
I was seeing the same signals I saw with YouTube in 2006. Instagram in 2013. TikTok in 2018.

There was this nascent creator community but few brands investing. All this despite LinkedIn being the most trusted platform.

Within B2B nothing comes close to LinkedIn:
• 79% of B2B buyers engage with creator content monthly
• 82% say it influences their purchasing decisions
• B2B creator marketing projected to hit $7.7 billion
  
The opportunity is massive. And we're still early.

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 🎙️ 
Anyway, TLDR: I've had a great time at this event over the years and Keith Bendes and I are recording a live podcast. 

Here's the deets:
📅 Wednesday 
⏰ 4:35 PM - 5:05 PM PST 
📍 Breakout 1
👤 Our guest is Brittany Lamp, Sr. Director of Brand Content at Life360.

Come hang. HMU if you want to connect!
Come by our live podcast 👇 

https://lnkd.in/g9NPWvwy

CEO/Co-Founder Of Creator Authority (Influencer Marketing Agency)

Creator marketing budgets are up 171% YoY. And, the dollars are coming straight from paid media.

According to CreatorIQ's latest report, 71% of organizations have increased their creator marketing investment (80% among enterprises).

Momentum is building.

Looking five years out, 73% of mid-market organizations plan to increase creator marketing investment. 

For enterprise? That jumps to 85%.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺? 
This is the part that should get every marketer's attention.

Nearly two-thirds of increased influencer spend is being reallocated from digital and paid advertising channels. Specifically: 62% for mid-market and 64% for enterprise organizations.

Brands aren't finding new budget. They're moving dollars from channels that aren't delivering to channels that are.

Why?

94% of organizations say creator content drives more ROI than traditional digital advertising. 74% of enterprise brands report creator marketing ROI is up YoY.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 
The most used platforms for influencer marketing:
• Instagram: 84%
• YouTube: 76%
• Facebook: 74%
• TikTok: 63%
• LinkedIn: 29%
  
LinkedIn ranks 5th. Ahead of Snap and X.

Just a few years ago, LinkedIn was still an afterthought for most brands running creator campaigns. Not anymore (and it's still very early).

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 
LinkedIn for B2B creator marketing still feels like YouTube in 2010. The ecosystem is nascent. 

But, the opportunity is massive:
• 82% of B2B buyers say creators influence their purchasing decisions
• 70% of marketers say LinkedIn delivers positive ROI 
• LinkedIn has been the most trusted social platform for 5+ years
  
The demand signal is clear. LinkedIn is where B2B decisions get influenced.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 
When we launched Creator Authority two years ago, LinkedIn influencer marketing was surprising to many. Now it's growing from experimental line item to strategic priority.

The brands building relationships now will have a significant advantage when the rest of the market fully arrives.

----
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♻️ Repost it to your network & follow Brendan Gahan for more.
Interested in LinkedIn Influencer Marketing? Reach out to us Creator Authority.

𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝟯𝟲𝟬 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝟭.𝟲𝗠 𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗽 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗭 "𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀."

Keith Bendes and I did a live podcast at Creator Economy Live in Vegas last week with @Brittany Lamp, Senior Director of Brand Content & Community at Life360.

First, some context on just how big Life360 is:
• 90M families use the app globally
• 6th most popular social media app
• 13th largest app by daily active users 
• 776 TikTok posts published last year
• 231M organic impressions
  
These numbers don't happen by accident.

I noticed several key themes they implement that other successful brands apply in their social (and larger brand) strategy today:

𝟭) 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 
Life360 had a reputation problem. Gen Z called it the "helicopter mom" app.
Instead of fighting it, they owned it.

It's a jiu jitsu move. By acknowledging the perception rather than ignoring it, they've taken ownership of the narrative. This makes the brand emotionally resonant, credible, and relatable.

They used social listening to understand how their community actually talks. 

Then they spoke that language. They even crowdsourced their most brutal hate comments and turned them into merch.

𝟮) 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 
Brittany used the word "casting" intentionally when describing their creator/influencer strategy.
I thought this was really smart. This reframes the conversation.

When you think "casting," you stop overindexing on follower counts. 

You start asking better questions: Does this person represent our consumers? Do they project the image we want? Are they tonally right for the brand?

The numbers matter. But the intangibles matter more.

𝟯) 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗔𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗢𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 
Life360 has an ongoing network of 50+ creators they work with.

Why? Because one-off partnerships waste momentum.

The first project is always the hardest. Everyone's learning how to work together. But when you work with creators over time, your efforts compound.

They understand the brand. They can move fast.

Life360's social team has full autonomy from leadership. No lengthy approval processes. This enables them to push content within an hour of a trend emerging.

Relevance beats perfection. Every time.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻: 
The brands winning on social aren't fighting the conversation. They're joining it. They're building creator relationships that compound. 

They're prioritizing speed over polish.

Thanks to the Creator Economy Live team for another great event.

Jim Louderback

I’ve spent more than 30 years building what came next in media, technology, and the creator economy... from early digital video to the global communities and events shaping today’s industry.

I took Revision3 from scrappy startup to one of the first successful YouTube networks and then sold it to Discovery. I then led VidCon’s growth from a single conference to a global phenomenon with more than a million in-person and virtual participants and led its strategic sale to Paramount. Along the way I’ve focused on scaling businesses, shaping communities, and creating platforms that help others thrive.

Today I publish Inside the Creator Economy, a weekly LinkedIn newsletter read by tens of thousands of brand leaders, creators, executives, and strategists around the world. I also design and curate content for some of the creator economy’s leading events: from Dubai and London to Las Vegas, San Francisco, Singapore, China and beyond, shaping and hosting conversations people remember.

If you’re building in the creator economy, running an event, or trying to make sense of what’s next in media and tech, I’m here to help.

Editor and Publisher 

▪ Write "Inside the Creator Economy Newsletter" - read by 27,000 weekly.
▪ Develope curate and co-host events globally, including "Creator World" in Singapore, Creator Lab at NAB 
▪ Host the "Verified" stage at WebSummit focused on the creator economy
▪ Facilitate and moderate think-tanks, salons and masterclasses for social media execs and creator economy leaders globally
▪ Moderate fireside chats and panels at exclusive corporate events
▪ Strategy consulting with top clients on the future of the creator economy 
▪ Keynote speaking on creator economy, technology and AI, including at Social Media Marketing World, VidCon and more.
▪ Current Active Boards: Creator Authority, Motom, Virtualness, Atmosfy, Influencers.Club, SuperFans, AugX Labs, Creable, Open Sauce, Roll

Successful events are usually judged by the big stuff.
Did you make news? Did you land the top speakers and creators? At the 1 Billion Followers Summit last week, we had both. You couldn’t open LinkedIn without seeing another post about how great it was. One friend even called it “the biggest global meetup for the world’s top creators.”

 Which, honestly, it was.

As the curator and producer of the Economy Track, I loved hearing that. But the moments I’m most proud of are the small ones. The things no one really sees except me. The details that don’t trend, but when they work, they secretly make it so much better.

Three of those stood out:

THE ART OF PAIRING: Moderator pairing is a delicate science. Get it wrong and the session drags. Get it right and it’s pure magic.

One of our creator-business sessions featured top #BookTok creator 
Morgann Book and her business partner Thomas Johnston 💥, talking about how they’re expanding beyond just videos. I matched them with Dubai-based journalist Sara Hamdan.  Since moderating for me last year, she released a critically acclaimed novel and became the founding editor of a new Emirati style magazine. Their shared experiences and interplay were electric. 

THE POWER OF A TITLE: Session titles are a mostly invisible joy. Credit to Nizar Salman for helping unlock my inner Buzzfeed this year, but my favorite was: "Don’t Let AI Crush Your Hopes and Dreams."

As Paul Robert Cary  🔜 1Billion Followers Summit Dubai pointed out, the title was oddly precise. Creators are right to be nervous about AI. It's one of the defining trends of 2026. And yes, AI can absolutely crush your soul. But there is a path forward. I’m glad the session earned its headline (and all the "AI slop" mentions).

THE STAR-CROSSED SESSION: Creativity is evenly distributed. Great creators come from everywhere. Creator campuses and meetups from MENA to Ghana to NYC keep proving it. I designed a session on "Moving Beyond Hollywood" to reflect that.

Then, everything went wrong.

The exec leading 1BFS and CreatorsHQ was pulled away to chaperone creator and government royalty. Another speaker cancelled days before. The moderator missed his flight and couldn’t be rebooked.

But with just a few hours to go, it suddenly snapped into place. The always insightful @Emma Harman stepped in to moderate. The stranded speaker found another way there (minus business class). And somehow the session ended up better than I’d hoped.

There are hundreds of those small decisions and mid-course corrections behind any world-class event. Most attendees and speakers never notice them. They shouldn’t have to.

But for me, seeing my little handfuls of pixie dust turn into real event magic is why I keep doing this.

Well, that and the fact that most events happen in spectacular places I’d like to keep visiting.

What’s your favorite "save" from an event you’ve run or attended (the one where the chaos actually led to something better)?

Editor & CEO, Inside the Creator Economy | Media Strategist & Event Curator | Award-Winning Storyteller & Thought Leader

Creators are becoming infrastructure. The internet is becoming untrustworthy. Those two trends collided during the first morning at 1 Billion Followers Summit on my Economy Track stage.

The first half was optimistic: Creators as distribution, education, and commerce.

The second was dystopian: If nobody trusts what they’re seeing, the roads exist, but the cars are full of ghosts.

TMy top takeaways:

Trust is the Moat:  As Nic Puckrin said: “You can build reputation for years and lose it with one bad mistake."

Sports is About Creator Distribution:  Referencing her MLB deal, Courtney Hirsch shared how leagues have moved beyond “trying creators” to investing in them. 

Africa Is Led by Product and Culture:  David Adeleke explained why the creator middle class grows fastest where creators can sell directly to audiences, not just wait for platform payouts.  But Kwadwo Owusu-Agyeman highlighted how getting paid is still a huge roadblock, due to foreign exchange, invoicing, compliance and fees.  If you can't get paid, you can't scale.

Gen Z Marketing is Mostly Organizational Design:  Dylan Huey and Teddy Solomon explained how when non-Gen Z tries to “speak Gen Z”.... everyone knows.  They recommended fewer layers, more listening and less just trying to follow the kids.

And then at the end of the morning, Jeremy Boissinot poured a frosty bucket of reality over the whole thing.

His argument was blunt: We’re moving from a content problem to a trust problem at scale. When people can’t agree whether a high-profile photo is real, the default assumption that “most of what I’m seeing is real” starts collapsing.

In an AI world, he said, our existing metrics are mostly just vibe-edited fiction. Followers, likes, subscribers and views are easy to counterfeit.

But there's hope for humans and brands.  Patterns are harder to fake.  Build consistency and real relationships... and cultivate credibility among your peers.  

A few quotes of his insightful quotes:

“It’s not a content problem anymore. It’s a trust issue at scale.”

“Dead internet theory… it’s not a theory. It’s Tuesday.”

“You can fake anything… but you can’t fake patterns all the way.”

His ended by tying the whole morning together, when he shared that in real life events (meetups, summits like 1BFS and others) have become a verification layer.  Participating IRL isn't a "nice to have anymore".  But it proves you are human.

Here's my day one morning takeaway.  Creators are becoming infrastructure at the exact same time the internet is becoming less believable.

The winners will build distribution, own their audiences, AND prove they are real.

Most people talk about MrBeast like he’s a creator.
In 2026, the bigger story might be this: he becomes a public company.

The implications are even more intriguing:

Creator equity will go mainstream as a real asset class Wall Street will covet, price, and profit from.

The copycats arrive. Some will be legit. Many will simply roll up a YouTube channel and a merch line and call it the next big thing.

A standard listing is the safe route, but I'd love to see a Dutch auction.  Much more on brand for The Beast. 

And yes, I still have Quibi-induced PTSD, so I’m not pretending every creator roadshow ends in champagne. Some will. Plenty won’t.

This is just one of my 10 megatrends for 2026.  Read 'em all in today’s issue of Inside the Creator Economy.

What would you pay to own a piece of the beast?

Oh, and Happy New Year!

View newsletter: Inside the Creator Economy

This Week: My top 10 Trends for 2026, including how The Beast joins Baby Shark, Disappointing Microdramas and the opportunities in AI Slop. Hi, I’m Ji

Open article: 10 Trends to Rule 2026! by Jim Louderback • 9 min read

The next social algorithm won’t just watch what you click.
It’ll monitor how your body reacts.

Today’s feed optimizes for dwell time, likes, shares and views.

Tomorrow’s feed will optimize for heart-rate spikes and pupil dilation.

Because your smart watch and Oura ring will be oversharing.

That’s the creepy 2026 signal I can’t stop thinking about.

Once wearables become algorithmic input, the recommendation engine stops guessing and starts measuring.

That's just one of 10 creepy signals in this week's newsletter that range from "mildly unsettling" to "straight-up dystopian." I also explore:

🔻Verification Vlogging: Why being "messy" and "stumbling over words" is the new status symbol for humans (since the AI is too perfect).

🔻Deepfake Licensing: Turning your voice and face into a passive income asset class.

🔻The Playable Creator:  Turning your life into a fan-controlled RPG where the audience picks your breakfast and your dates. 

Plus, a recap of the incredible 1 Billion Followers Summit I helped to produce last weekend in Dubai.

Give it a read.

Are you ready for a feed that knows your base instincts better than you do? Or is it time to drop-kick our smartwatches into the trash?

This Week: You can’t predict the future without watching the creepy signals that might turn into megatrends. So, I’m sharing my top 10 weird ones to m

Open article: Creepy 2026 Signals and 1BFS Takeaways by Jim Louderback • 10 min read

TikTok just did something rare. It threw its own algorithm under the bus.

In its 2026 Trend Report, TikTok casually admits that "endless virality" is no longer the goal. Audiences are moving away from polished escapism and leaning into something messier.

Instead, they want: 

✅ Curators and tastemakers over mass influencers 

✅ Community instead of reach 

✅ Real human stories over viral sparkle

TikTok is essentially admitting that "imperfect reality" offers more value than the dopamine quick hits of 2025.

But here's the awkward question: If influencers were created by the algorithm... what happens now that the algorithm has changed its mind?

Also inside:
 • Why US lawmakers are finally taking creators seriously
 • How journalism suddenly became a creator business
 • Khaby Lame’s very strange $4B financial experiment
 • New research showing long-term creator partnerships beat campaigns
 • The BBC making custom content for YouTube! 

More on these shifts (and what they mean for your strategy) in this week’s newsletter.

This Week: Perhaps memes and viral videos aren’t the key to success after all, as TikTok’s 2026 Trend Report throws its own algorithms under the bus. 

Open article: Foolish Algorithms by Jim Louderback • 8 min read

guess I know where I am getting my coffee at 1 Billion Followers Summit ...  mmm nano banana latte!

What's on tap for LinkedIn in 2026?

I sat down with LinkedIn's head of creator products Sam Corrao Clanon on stage at 1 Billion Followers Summit a week ago, and here's a look at what he said.

I fed the event video of the session into an early version of Vibedit.ai ,and here's what I ended up with.

It's not bad, what do you think?

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The Battle

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The Battle

Brendan Gahan

Jim Louderback

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brendan Gahan's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreBrendan Gahan's LinkedIn Performance