Good morning. We’re starting something new here, and we’re starting it with the week that made the case for why you need a newsletter like this.
In the last seven days, the New York Times ran a front-page piece on marketing to chatbots. Marketing Week declared AI influencers “ready for prime time.” TechCrunch asked if human creators can survive what’s coming. Meanwhile, Instagram quietly redesigned its entire app around Reels — and most brands didn’t notice.
A lot happened. Let’s make sense of it.
Brands are now marketing TO chatbots. That’s not a metaphor.
Stacy Simpson, CMO of Athenahealth, started asking ChatGPT about her own company in late 2024. What she found was alarming: the chatbots didn’t know what Athenahealth offered, weren’t naming them as an option, and were pulling from outdated sources.
Her conclusion: “This is one of the single biggest shifts we’ve seen in decades.” She’s not wrong.
As AI chatbots become the first stop for product research, brands now have to win over the algorithm twice. First, Google’s. Now, ChatGPT’s, Perplexity’s, and whatever comes next.
“There is a new influencer you need to reach,” said Brian Stempeck of Evertune. “And it’s the AI model.”
Sundae take: Creator content has always been part of how brands get found — authentic language, real context, third-party credibility. That’s exactly the signal that AI models are trained to trust. Brands building genuine creator pipelines aren’t just winning on TikTok. They’re training the next generation of discovery engines too.
AI influencers just had their “it’s not a phase” moment
Hyundai ran a launch campaign for the Kona in Morocco using Kenza Layli, an AI-generated influencer. The result: 20x ROI, 2,000+ concurrent chatbot conversations, “most successful influencer product launch for the brand to date.”
77% of marketers now plan to move budget into AI-generated creator content. 76% of consumers trust virtual influencers for product recommendations. 68% say AI influencers have influenced an actual purchase.
These aren’t experimental numbers. These are mainstream numbers.
Sundae take: AI influencers solve for control, cost, and scale. But they solve for nothing when it comes to community, trust, and authentic storytelling. The brands that will win aren’t choosing between AI and human creators — they’re figuring out which problems each one actually solves.
The creator economy is asking a hard question about its own future
MrBeast — the most-subscribed individual on YouTube — is buying a fintech startup. His food business (Feastables) was profitable in 2024. His media company was not.
“Not all of these folks can go out and spin off products,” said TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec. “So does the pool of successful creators just simply get smaller?”
Sundae take: The creator middle class is under real pressure — and that’s actually good news for brands working with the right partners. The flood of AI content makes authentic human creators more valuable, not less — but only for brands savvy enough to tell the difference.
Instagram just told you what it is now. Are you listening?
Instagram is rolling out a redesign that opens directly to a Reels feed. 50% of all time spent on Instagram is already on Reels. 3.5 billion Reels are shared daily across Facebook and Instagram.
Sundae take: If your creator briefs still say “one static post + one Reel,” your brief is wrong. The brands performing on Instagram in 2026 are the ones that brief for Reels first, then figure out what else they can get.
The best time to launch influencer content for paid wasn’t last week. It was two weeks before that.
New Engen analyzed 7M+ creator profiles and 1,700+ campaigns: February CPMs increased 43% from early January through Valentine’s Day. Paid social CPMs rose 30%. Click-through rates fell 25%.
The brands that won locked creative in mid-January — before the cost spike.
Sundae take: Timing is a competitive advantage almost no brand uses well. Brands that treat influencer content as a performance asset build pipelines that let them amplify before the market gets expensive. That’s the always-on argument. And it’s not a nice-to-have.
WORTH KNOWING
Eileen Gu earned $100K from freestyle skiing last year. She earned $23M from brand deals and social media. The sport got her the audience. The audience is the business.
More than half of all buyers now rank influencer partnerships as their top advertising priority for 2026. Competition for quality creator relationships is about to get real.
The creator economy is projected to reach $894.84 billion by 2032. Creator marketing isn’t a channel. It’s an industry.
That’s the first edition of the Sundae Tuesdae. If this was useful, forward it to someone who needs it.
Curated by Isla Novak, Sundae Collective.
Creator marketing for high-expectation brands. sundaecollective.com