Content Creators and the Field of Advertising

Carlos is a thirty-four-year-old university lecturer based in Santiago, Chile. He started creating content online—specifically on a blog—to share his interest in fashion, commenting on garments and trends. Dur-ing that time, he built an audience online that followed his content, providing comments and sometimes sharing on social media. One day, he received an email from an advertising agency inviting him to pro-mote a brand of men’s clothing. The requirement consisted of sharing a press release on his blog about the brand’s new collection and taking pictures modeling different clothes. The agency’s idea was to give Car-los an opportunity to share his experience with the clothes by writing a review on his blog and social media. In compensation, he received a set of pants, shirts, and socks as a gift. Carlos was happy about this proposal, because it was an opportunity to convert his hobby into a more profes-sional activity, receiving products for free. He knows that he will not receive payment for this activity now, but it works as a point of entrance for future deals. During our conversation, he still was surprised about that email: “Why me?” he constantly asks. Then that surprise evolved into confidence, having a clear idea about the reason why brands are interested in people like him: “As content creators, we are offering a real experience with products. I have talked personally with advertis-ing agencies. . . . Brands hire agencies, and then agencies contact us to promote those brands. Even though agencies can hire ‘celebrities’ that give more visibility to brands, they also are looking for YouTubers, blog-gers, and Instagrammers because w