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Influencer Agency Trends Shaping Marketing in 2027

Writer: Talent Resources
Talent Resources
2 days ago
20 min read

Quick Answer


An influencer marketing agency in 2027 does far more than book creators. It finds talent with AI assisted analytics, ties creator content to revenue, builds long term celebrity and creator partnerships, and sells through social commerce. The 2026 data shows why. Influencer Marketing Hub found 87.49% of marketers expect bigger influencer budgets, while Linqia found 79% still struggle to prove ROI. Brands should pick a partner with real talent access, paid amplification, and verifiable proof. Talent Resources, founded in 2007 and headquartered in New York, delivered 2B+ impressions for Dunkin's Super Bowl campaign.


Influencer Agency Trends Shaping Marketing in 2027

TL;DR


  • Budgets are climbing. In Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 benchmark, 87.49% of marketers expect influencer budgets to grow and 72.22% expect growth of 50% or more.

  • Proof is the bottleneck. Linqia reports 79% of marketers struggle to measure ROI, and Gartner says total marketing budgets sit flat at 7.8% of revenue.

  • AI is everywhere, mostly in discovery. Only 10.56% of marketers use no AI, yet 89% avoid virtual influencers.

  • Social commerce is TikTok first. EMARKETER projects TikTok Shop US sales at $23.4 billion in 2026.

  • Trust now lives with creators, so partnerships that last beat one off posts.

  • Choose an agency for talent access, audited proof, paid reach, and open reporting.

  • Talent Resources backs this with Dunkin' (2B+ impressions, $800M+ EMV), tm:rw x Shaquille O'Neal (533M+ impressions, $4.9M EMV), and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (100M+ social impressions).


Most brands start their 2027 plan the same way. Someone pulls last year's creator spend, adds a percentage, and asks the agency for a bigger version of the same thing. The 2026 research says that habit is about to cost people money.


Influencer Marketing Hub surveyed more than 600 marketers for its 2026 benchmark and found that 87.49% expect their influencer marketing budget to increase. Gartner, meanwhile, found in its 2026 CMO Spend Survey that overall marketing budgets rose only from 7.7% to 7.8% of company revenue. More money is chasing one channel while the total pot stays flat. Every dollar will have to justify itself.


That squeeze will shape how you choose your next influencer marketing agency. This article covers the trends we see heading into 2027, the 2026 data behind them, and the case studies where we put these ideas to work. Talent Resources, a New York based influencer marketing agency founded in 2007, has spent close to two decades on the talent side of this business, so we have a strong view on what holds up. The sections below start with the basics and build toward how to pick a partner.


What does an influencer marketing agency actually do in 2027?


An influencer marketing agency is a firm that plans, negotiates, produces, and measures creator and celebrity partnerships for brands. The job used to end at the post. Now it runs from talent selection and contracting through paid amplification and reporting.


The 2026 numbers show where brands still ask for outside help. In the Influencer Marketing Hub benchmark, 66.33% of respondents run influencer marketing entirely in house, while 10.71% use an agency alone and another 10.71% run a hybrid model. Among the work brands hand off, creator discovery and vetting leads at 19.44%, followed by content production at 15.28%. Talent management and long term creator partnerships, paid amplification, and fraud checks each land at 12.5%. Reporting and analytics comes last at 6.94%.


Read that carefully. Brands buy access, speed, and specialist labor from agencies, and they want to keep the scoreboard themselves. Any agency worth hiring in 2027 should welcome that. At Talent Resources we give clients direct access to campaign data, because a partner that hides its numbers has little to say for itself.


Specialists still carry weight. Linqia's 2026 State of Influencer Marketing report, drawn from more than 200 enterprise marketers, found that 49% now partner with specialist influencer agencies, with creative strategy named as the top differentiator. For a step by step look at the service, read our guide on what an influencer marketing agency actually does.


How will AI transform influencer marketing agencies in 2027?


AI powered influencer discovery and analytics is the first trend, and it is already past the experiment stage. In the Influencer Marketing Hub benchmark, only 10.56% of marketers say they use no AI in their influencer programs. Discovery leads the use cases at 36.67%, content generation follows at 21.11%, and brief development sits at 13.89%. Reporting (10.56%) and fraud detection (7.22%) trail far behind.


That split shows where teams trust the machines. They trust them to build a longlist. They do not yet trust them to judge whether an audience is real or whether a result is true. Linqia's survey points the same direction, with 74% of marketers using AI for ideas, briefs, and workflow while 89% have no plans to work with virtual influencers. Consumers back that caution. EMARKETER reports that 52% of consumers are concerned about brands posting AI generated content without disclosure.


Spending is racing ahead of readiness. Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey of 401 marketing leaders found CMOs put an average of 15.3% of marketing budgets into AI initiatives. Seventy percent call becoming an AI leader a critical goal for 2026, yet only 30% describe their organizations as ready to scale it.


So what should an agency do with AI? Use it where speed matters and keep people where judgment matters. A model can rank ten thousand creators by audience overlap in minutes. It cannot tell you that a creator is about to leave their niche, that two talents have a history, or that a manager will take your call. That knowledge comes from relationships, which is why our founding idea in 2007 was that relationships matter more than databases. We still believe it, and we now pair it with AI tools that shorten the search.


Vetting is the weak link


The same benchmark found that fake or bot followers account for 56.5% of all reported fraud and quality issues, and only 10.9% of respondents reported none of the listed problems. EMARKETER, citing a report with Viral Nation, notes that over 50% of marketers spend 30 minutes or less vetting a single influencer, and only 25.6% consistently receive vetting documentation.


Half an hour is not enough to approve a six figure partnership. In 2027, expect the better agencies to show their vetting file the way an accountant shows a ledger. If an influencer marketing agency cannot explain how it checks audience quality, keep looking.


Why do influencer marketing ROI and attribution decide 2027 budgets?


Because the patience is gone. In the Influencer Marketing Hub data, 65.9% of marketers expect payback within one month and 48.4% expect it within two weeks. Linqia found that 79% of marketers struggle to measure ROI and 48% name attribution as the biggest gap. Sprout Social's 2026 Influencer Marketing Report puts measuring ROI third among top challenges at 38%, behind finding creators who fit the audience (42%) and the brand's values (41%).


Short payback hopes and weak measurement make a risky pair. The benchmark itself warns that platforms such as TikTok allow click through windows of up to 28 days, so a program judged at two weeks can look like a failure when it is really a measurement artifact. Here is where a good agency earns its fee. It sets the measurement window before launch, not after the argument starts.


Most brands lean on a thin toolkit. Promo codes lead measurement tool adoption at 45.9%, followed by affiliate links at 26.0% and native shop features at 25.0%. Brand awareness is the most selected KPI, picked by 55.1% of respondents. Those are fine starting points. They miss the halo effect of a major moment.


That is where earned media value (EMV) comes in. EMV estimates the dollar value of the media exposure a campaign earns, based on what comparable exposure would cost to buy. Our Dunkin' campaign produced $800M+ in EMV from 2B+ impressions, and the tm:rw partnership with Shaquille O'Neal produced $4.9M in EMV from 533M+ impressions. We report those numbers with a caveat we want every client to hear. EMV is a media equivalency, not revenue. Pair it with sales lift, search lift, promo code redemption, and retail data, and you have a story a CFO will accept. Our blog on how to evaluate influencer marketing agency campaign results lays out that framework in detail.


What role does social commerce play in creator led campaigns?


Social commerce and creator led campaigns are now one conversation. EMARKETER projects that TikTok Shop's US ecommerce sales will reach $23.4 billion in 2026, a 48% jump, which would put it ahead of Target, Costco, Best Buy, and Kroger in US ecommerce. EMARKETER's 2026 social commerce forecast also finds that over half of US social buyers (51%) will shop on TikTok this year.


Adoption is uneven. In the Influencer Marketing Hub survey, 53.33% of marketers are not using social commerce yet and 46.67% plan to test it in 2026. Among brands that already sell through social, TikTok Shop accounts for 66.17% of platform selections, far ahead of Instagram Checkout at 13.16%. Brands planning to increase influencer budgets are about 1.7 times more likely to use social commerce than brands planning to cut.


Age matters here. EMARKETER cites Bizrate Insights data showing 33% of adults aged 18 to 34 have bought something on social media, compared with 23% of those aged 35 to 54 and 13% of those aged 55 to 65. Beauty, cosmetics, and apparel lead on TikTok Shop, helped by get ready with me videos and shopping hauls.


Speed is the other draw. Meta's own reporting, cited in the benchmark, says 71% of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta apps. A creator who can show a product and send the viewer to a checkout button shortens the path from attention to revenue.


Not every brand should rush in. Social commerce works best when the offer, the catalog, and the creator brief are ready before spend rises. If you plan to test it, start with the formats built for it, such as TikTok creator campaigns with Spark Ads, and add paid media influencer amplification to push winning content to the right audiences.


Are celebrity and creator brand partnerships still worth it?


Yes, and the reason has changed. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer describes a world where trust is contracting inward, and says creators act as brokers of trust. Edelman's research, as analyzed by writer Renée DiResta, found that among people who trust a food or lifestyle influencer (48%), 62% say they would trust or consider trusting a company they currently distrust if that influencer vouched for it. A creator's endorsement can reach a skeptical customer that a brand advertisement cannot.


Celebrity and creator brand partnerships are also splitting into two lanes. The Influencer Marketing Hub benchmark shows planned growth at the small end, with 51.43% of respondents planning to expand nano creator work and 52.83% planning to expand micro creator work. Macro creators are nearly flat, with 20.59% expanding and 20.58% cutting. Celebrity shows 33.33% expansion intent and 0% planning to contract.


Read together, the data points to a barbell. Brands want volume from small creators and a few high impact moments from bigger names. Not every brand needs a celebrity. For many DTC brands, a micro creator with 40,000 engaged followers will deliver better economics than a household name. A celebrity earns the budget when the goal is cultural reach, press, or a launch that has to be talked about.


That second lane is the one we know best. Our celebrity talent procurement and partnerships team identifies, negotiates, and structures the deal, and our celebrity partnerships and brand awareness article explains why the right pairing moves awareness faster than paid media alone.


Why long term brand ambassador partnerships win


Long term brand ambassador partnerships are the second half of the barbell. Linqia's 2026 report finds that 100% of marketers repurpose creator content beyond the creator's own channel, and 81% say it outperforms brand made assets. Content that good deserves a relationship that lasts longer than a single post.


EMARKETER's 2026 advice to marketers is to favor partnership quality over scale, and to work with creators who are real users of the product. Sprout Social's 2026 research adds that influencer reach now extends well beyond a creator's follower count, so the old habit of buying on follower numbers is a weak filter.


There is a human reason too. CreatorIQ's State of Creators 2026 study of 5,095 creators found that 42% feel tension between what their audience wants and what brands ask them to make. Creators who have a standing relationship with a brand get more room to make content that works. We saw this in our work with The Children's Place and AXE, covered below, where repeat seasons and repeat moments built familiarity that a one off deal cannot.


What are the global influencer marketing trends for enterprise brands?


Global influencer marketing trends point to scale with scrutiny. The Edelman study covers nearly 34,000 respondents in 28 countries. CreatorIQ's creator survey reached 5,095 respondents across 100 regions. Gartner's CMO survey spans North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe, with most respondents at companies earning more than $1 billion in revenue. The conditions in each market differ, yet the same themes show up everywhere, which are rising creator costs, trust problems, and pressure to prove returns.


Cost is the one that surprises people. The Influencer Marketing Hub benchmark names rising creator costs the top challenge at 35.4% of selections, and adding budget constraints pushes economic pressure to 40.68%. Linqia reports that 62% of marketers are increasing influencer budgets in 2026, with 33% planning to spend more than $5 million.


For an enterprise influencer marketing agency, that means three jobs. First, negotiate well, because a rate card is a starting point. Second, run campaigns in several markets without losing local fit. Third, keep brand safety and compliance tight across every contract. Talent Resources runs these programs from its New York headquarters and from offices in London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Jersey, Florida, and Riyadh. If your plan spans several regions, see how we approach a global influencer marketing agency engagement.


Best influencer marketing strategies for enterprise brands in 2027


Four moves keep showing up in the programs that perform.


  • Pick one primary platform and give it a real operating system, because 31% of marketers named TikTok in their 2026 plans and most teams are placing a single main bet.

  • Lock KPI definitions and measurement windows before budgets rise, since the benchmark found the biggest budget scalers slightly under index on measurement tools.

  • Mix a few cultural moments with an always on base of smaller creators.

  • Plan for reuse from day one. Rights, whitelisting, and paid amplification turn one shoot into months of assets.


Our influencer marketing for enterprise brands page covers how we structure these programs, and the enterprise influencer marketing guide goes deeper. For buyers comparing providers, our overview of who handles enterprise influencer marketing campaigns shows what to expect.


How Talent Resources built results for real brands


Trend reports are easy to write. Results are harder. Here are five campaigns, what we did on each, and what they teach brands planning for 2027. Every figure below comes from the case study pages on our site.


Dunkin' x The Big Game


Dunkin' faced the problem every Super Bowl advertiser faces. Dozens of national brands compete for the same audience in the same few hours, and a strong commercial alone rarely produces a story that lasts beyond the final whistle. The brand needed a celebrity pairing with built in narrative value and a press plan that kept the campaign alive after the game.


Talent Resources led the celebrity strategy and the media relations. We built the campaign around Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, using their real life marriage and Affleck's earlier turn in a Dunkin' drive thru ad to give the spot a storyline instead of a one off cameo. The commercial, titled "The DunKings," also featured Matt Damon and Tom Brady. Our team then secured press coverage of the Affleck and Lopez partnership across entertainment and marketing outlets before and after the air date, which kept the story moving well past 60 seconds of airtime.


The results are the largest earned media figures in our case study library. The campaign generated 2B+ impressions and $800M+ in earned media value, became the number one trending topic, and sold out its campaign merchandise in 19 minutes.


The lesson for 2027 is about sequencing. The talent was negotiated for story first and fame second, and the press plan was built before the spot aired, not bolted on afterward. Brands that treat a celebrity as a face in a frame leave most of the value on the table. Read the full Dunkin' x The Big Game case study for the details.


Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves


Gaming franchises age in public. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves had to win back relevance with a new generation of fans who care more about creators than about traditional game advertising. A standard trailer drop would have reached the faithful and little else.


Talent Resources relaunched the game through a culture first campaign that joined gaming, sports, and entertainment. We brought global creators KSI and IShowSpeed together for a cinematic game trailer, then built real world moments around it. Boxing activations in London and New York gave the campaign live theater, with head to head Fatal Fury experiences and high profile celebrity attendance. A Times Square activation extended the reach through creator participation, celebrity visibility, event content, and social media engagement.

The campaign generated 100M+ social impressions. More telling, it created buzz that felt native to the gaming community, which is hard to buy and easy to lose when a campaign feels staged.


Two lessons carry into 2027. First, creator led campaigns work best when the creators are doing something they would do anyway, such as trading blows in a fight game. Second, physical moments feed digital ones. The London and New York events, along with Times Square, supplied the footage and the talking points that social channels then multiplied. Our New York and London offices made that coordination practical. See the complete Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves case study.


The Children's Place


The Children's Place is the largest pure play children's specialty apparel retailer in North America, and its matching family pajamas program is a holiday staple. The marketing challenge is a seasonal one. Every retailer shouts about family at the holidays, so the program needs faces that feel warm, familiar, and right for a household audience.


Talent Resources secured fun, family friendly celebrities to promote the matching family pajamas program, and the relationship has now run for four consecutive holiday seasons. The page for the work reports millions of impressions through social channels and publications, which is what a well matched celebrity delivers when families see their own holiday photos in the product.


This is not the loudest case study in our library, and that is the point. A repeat partnership across four seasons builds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust, which is exactly the effect the Edelman research describes. Each season also gets cheaper to plan, because the client and the agency already know what worked and what did not.


For 2027, the takeaway is that seasonal retail does not need a bigger celebrity each year. It needs the right celebrity, a clear program, and the discipline to come back. Long term ambassador thinking applies as much to a pajama set as to a streaming launch. Our celebrity procurement team handles the sourcing and negotiation behind this kind of program, and you can read more in the Children's Place case study.


tm:rw x Shaquille O'Neal


tm:rw is an innovation retail concept in Times Square, and a new concept has a particular problem. Nobody knows it yet, and investors, consumers, and the press all need a reason to care at the same moment. A famous face helps, but a famous face with real ownership helps more.


Talent Resources identified, negotiated, and structured a landmark deal that positioned Shaquille O'Neal as Investor, Equity Partner, and Global Ambassador for tm:rw. The deal was designed as a long term partnership. We also developed and executed the full communications strategy around the announcement, securing exclusive placements across Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, WWD, the New York Post, Entrepreneur, Access Hollywood, and other major outlets.


The partnership generated 533M+ media impressions and $4.9M in earned media value, and it made tm:rw a category defining name in innovation retail. The structure matters as much as the numbers. Because O'Neal holds equity, his advocacy carries the weight of a person with something to lose, and audiences read that difference quickly.


The lesson for 2027 is that deal design is a marketing decision. Equity, ambassadorship, and communications belong in the same conversation from the first call. An agency that only books talent will miss that. An agency that only does PR will not have the talent relationship to structure it. We do both under one roof. The full tm:rw x Shaquille O'Neal case study walks through the partnership.


AXE


AXE came to Talent Resources with a perception problem. Unilever's men's grooming brand needed to rebuild cultural relevance, and ordinary advertising was not changing how people felt about it. The brand needed to show up where culture happens, with people who shape it.

We built a multi year program of high impact talent procurement and experiential activations. The work spanned three Super Bowls, two Sundance Film Festivals, and three consecutive summers in the Hamptons. Those settings put AXE in front of editors, influencers, creators, and entertainment personalities, and they generated sustained social and press exposure over the life of the program. The strategy contributed to AXE returning to growth during the three year campaign period.


The structure is worth noticing. No single event moved the brand. The repetition did. Each appearance built on the last, so editors and creators began to expect AXE in those rooms, and that expectation changed the conversation.


For 2027, AXE is the best argument we have for treating cultural moments as a calendar instead of a series of one offs. A brand with a perception problem needs a long runway and a consistent presence, and it needs partners who can get into the room each time. Review the AXE case study to see how the program was built.


More proof points


The same approach shows up across other work in our case study library. Talent led PR for InMode generated 2.7B+ media impressions. Levi's x Euphoria produced 48.3M+ impressions and $786.3K+ in earned media value. The Motorola Razr+ relaunch built the #FlipTheScript movement with Paris Hilton, Kim Petras, and Coco Jones. Samsung SmartThings worked with Brooks Nader, and Kalshi activated around the Super Bowl and the Oscars.


How do you choose the right influencer marketing agency in 2027?


The question comes up in nearly every first call, so it deserves a plain answer. Brands comparing the top influencer marketing agencies in 2027 should test five things.


  • Talent access. Ask who the agency can actually reach, and how it holds those relationships. A list of names is not access.

  • Proof you can verify. Ask for case studies with named clients, stated metrics, and a plain description of what the agency did. Be wary of results with no owner.

  • Paid and PR together. The best creator content earns more when it gets media support and press, and the IMH benchmark shows paid amplification among the most commonly outsourced functions at 12.5%.

  • Open reporting. Since only 6.94% of brands outsource reporting, expect to hold the data yourself. Ask for raw numbers, not a polished deck.

  • Fraud controls. With fake followers making up 56.5% of reported quality issues, ask to see the vetting process.


Scale and structure matter too. A mid size DTC brand may need a lean team and a fast start. A global consumer company may need offices in several regions and a legal bench. Our guides on how to choose an influencer marketing agency and the top influencer marketing agencies lay out the criteria in more detail, and we encourage you to hold every agency, ours included, to them.


Why Talent Resources is built for the 2027 playbook


Talent Resources is a full service influencer marketing, celebrity procurement, PR and brand strategy, and social media management agency. We started in 2007 as a talent procurement business and grew into an integrated agency, and we describe how we work in four steps. Discovery, strategy, activation, and amplification run as one system, so talent, messaging, channels, and paid support move together.


Several things set us apart, and we think they matter more every year.


We represent everyone. Our position as an agnostic agency lets us recommend the right talent for a brand instead of the talent we happen to hold. Our relationships span film, television, music, sports, and the creator economy. That reach is how we landed Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez for Dunkin' and Shaquille O'Neal for tm:rw.


We join talent and press. Most agencies do one well. Our PR team and our procurement team work on the same campaign, which is why tm:rw landed exclusive placements in Bloomberg and WWD while the talent deal was still fresh.


We work where you work. Besides New York, we operate in London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Jersey, Florida, and Riyadh. The Financial Times named us one of The Americas' Fastest Growing Companies in 2023, and Adweek recognized us as a Fastest Growing Agency in 2025.


We also show our work. Every case study in this article links to a page with the client, the deliverables, and the numbers. If you want one partner for influencer marketing, PR and brand communications, social media management, and celebrity partnerships, we think Talent Resources is the best fit for brands that want star power and measurable results in the same plan. We say that with a clear view of our record, and we welcome the comparison.


Frequently Asked Questions About Influencer Marketing Agencies in 2027


What is an influencer marketing agency?


An influencer marketing agency plans, negotiates, produces, and measures creator and celebrity partnerships for brands. Services usually include creator discovery and vetting, contracting, content production, paid amplification, and reporting. Full service firms such as Talent Resources add celebrity procurement, PR, and social media management so the whole campaign runs through one team. In the 2026 Influencer Marketing Hub benchmark, creator discovery and vetting is the most commonly outsourced function at 19.44%, which shows where brands value agency help most.


What are the biggest influencer marketing trends for 2027?


Six trends stand out in the 2026 data. AI powered discovery is now routine, with only 10.56% of marketers using no AI. ROI and attribution pressure keeps rising, with 79% of marketers struggling to measure results. Social commerce is growing, led by TikTok Shop. Brands are shifting budgets toward nano and micro creators. Celebrity partnerships remain strong for cultural moments. Long term ambassador deals are replacing one off posts because trust now sits with creators, according to Edelman's 2026 Trust Barometer.


How will AI change influencer marketing agencies in 2027?


AI will take over the early and repetitive work, such as building creator longlists, drafting briefs, and producing content variations. Influencer Marketing Hub found creator discovery is the top use at 36.67%. Judgment tasks will stay with people, since only 7.22% of marketers use AI for fraud detection and 89% avoid virtual influencers, per Linqia. Agencies that combine AI speed with real talent relationships will do best, and clients should ask how any agency verifies audience quality.


How do I choose an influencer marketing agency in 2027?


Test talent access, verifiable case studies, paid and PR capability, open reporting, and fraud controls. Ask for named clients and stated metrics, and ask who owns the performance data. Check whether the agency can run campaigns in your regions. Our guide on how to choose an influencer marketing agency covers the full checklist, and our top influencer marketing agencies page explains how we think about comparisons.


What makes an enterprise influencer marketing agency different?


An enterprise influencer marketing agency manages programs across several markets, large budgets, and strict legal and brand safety rules. Linqia's 2026 survey found 33% of marketers plan to spend more than $5 million on influencer marketing. At that size, an agency needs bargaining power, local teams, and consistent reporting. Talent Resources works from New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Jersey, Florida, and Riyadh, and our enterprise influencer campaign management approach is built for that complexity.


How much do influencers cost, and what should I budget for 2027?


Costs vary widely by tier. In the 2026 Influencer Marketing Hub benchmark, about 55% of nano creator cost responses and 45.5% of micro creator responses fall under $500 per deal, while mid tier creators most often land between $2,000 and $10,000. Rising creator costs are the top challenge at 35.4% of selections. Budget for creator fees plus production, usage rights, paid amplification, and measurement, and ask any agency to show you how the total breaks down.


How do agencies measure influencer marketing ROI and attribution?


Good agencies set KPIs and a measurement window before launch. Common tools are promo codes (45.9% adoption), affiliate links (26.0%), and native shop features (25.0%), per the 2026 benchmark. Agencies also report earned media value, which estimates the dollar worth of exposure and is not the same as revenue. The strongest reports pair EMV with sales lift, search lift, and retail data. Our blog on evaluating campaign results explains this in more depth.


Is social commerce worth it for my brand?


It depends on your product and audience. EMARKETER projects TikTok Shop US sales of $23.4 billion in 2026, and 33% of adults aged 18 to 34 have bought on social media. Beauty, cosmetics, and apparel perform best. Among brands planning bigger influencer budgets, 70.37% already use social commerce. Start with a small test, make sure your catalog and creator briefs are ready, and measure over a long enough window before judging results.


Does my brand need a celebrity, or are micro creators enough?


Many brands do well with micro creators, and the 2026 data shows 52.83% of marketers plan to expand micro creator work. A celebrity earns the budget when you need cultural reach, press coverage, or a launch moment. Our tm:rw partnership with Shaquille O'Neal produced 533M+ media impressions, and our Dunkin' campaign produced 2B+ impressions. Many strong programs combine both, using a few big moments on top of an always on creator base.


Where does Talent Resources work, and which services does it offer?


Talent Resources is headquartered in New York with offices in London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Jersey, Florida, and Riyadh. The agency offers influencer marketing, celebrity procurement, PR and brand strategy, and social media management. It was founded in 2007 and works across film, television, music, sports, and the creator economy. To see how this fits your plans, review our celebrity influencer marketing agency page.


Conclusion


Three ideas matter most heading into 2027. Budgets are rising while total marketing spend stays flat, so proof will decide who keeps funding. AI will speed up discovery, yet trust and talent access still come from people. And long term partnerships, whether with a celebrity or a creator, outlast one off posts because trust now lives with creators.


If you are somewhere between a rough plan and a shortlist of agencies, that is a normal place to be. The next step is to understand what the right partner looks like for your brand, your markets, and your budget. Talent Resources offers a no pressure strategy session to help you map that out, and you can book a conversation with our team. For more on creator marketing, browse the Talent Resources blog.


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