Advertising Week NY Names Dhar Mann 'Chief Creator Officer', Targets $100M in Deals
Updated: 6 days ago
TL;DR: Advertising Week New York named creator Dhar Mann 'Chief Creator Officer' and launched an initiative to broker $100M in creator-brand deals during the event, as conferences pivot toward brand buyers.
Industry conferences are shifting from panels to procurement. Ahead of Advertising Week New York, organisers named creator and entrepreneur Dhar Mann 'Chief Creator Officer' and launched an initiative to actively broker $100M in creator-brand deals during the event.
What's happening
The plan is to matchmake CMOs and budget-holders with creators on-site, targeting $100M in deals. Organisers expect creator attendance to more than double from around 1,000 the previous year.
It reflects a hard pivot toward brand-side buyers and the creator economy, with US creator ad spend forecast at roughly $44bn, up nearly 19%.
Marketing Minute's read
Turning a conference into a dealroom is a telling signal: the creator economy is now being treated as a core, budgeted media channel, not an experimental line item. When an event sets a dollar target for deals, it is selling outcomes, not sessions.
The risk for brands is rushing into volume. Brokered speed-dating can produce lots of deals and few durable partnerships. The creators who move product are the ones whose audience and tone genuinely fit the brand — and that fit can't be rushed on a show floor.
What marketers should do
Go to the dealroom with a filter, not a budget to spend. Define the audience and brand-fit criteria that matter before you arrive, favour longer-term creator relationships over one-off posts, and judge creator deals on the same incrementality bar as any other media buy.
Quick FAQ
What is Advertising Week NY doing with creators?
It named creator Dhar Mann 'Chief Creator Officer' and launched an initiative to broker $100M in creator-brand deals on-site, matchmaking CMOs with creators.
What does it signal for the creator economy?
That creators are now a core, budgeted media channel — US creator ad spend is forecast at roughly $44bn, up nearly 19% — with conferences shifting from panels to procurement.
When a conference sets a dollar target for deals, the creator economy has officially become a budget line, not an experiment. But brokered speed-dating rewards volume over fit. The creators who actually move product are the ones whose audience genuinely matches yours — and that can't be rushed on a show floor. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Creators are now a core media channel — judge creator deals on brand-fit and incrementality, not on how many you can sign at an event.
Are you choosing creators by audience fit, or by whoever's available and on-trend this quarter?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Marketing Dive, thecmo.com, Advertising Week.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
