Why Everyday Creators Are Redefining CPG Marketing in 2025
How real people are shaping discovery, trust, and retail movement.
Everyday Creators Are Becoming the New Growth Engine for CPG Brands
CPG marketers enter 2026 facing a fundamental shift: consumers are tuning out polished influencer campaigns and leaning heavily into content that feels human, local, and real.
As highlighted in our State of Everyday Creators report, scroll fatigue is rising — and 26% of consumers say they don’t trust influencers at all. Meanwhile, the voices people do trust look a lot more like their friends than like traditional content creators.
This is where everyday creators — real shoppers, real communities, real influence — are stepping in.
The Consumer Shift: From Reach to Relevance
For nearly a decade, marketers chased reach. Bigger audiences. Bigger influencers. Bigger budgets.
But the performance curve has flipped.
Influence no longer scales with follower count — it scales with relatability.
The report calls this out clearly:
Consumers are tuning out glossy ads and paid partnerships.
Authentic, peer-level recommendations now outperform influencer content.
Discovery must feel “organic, not orchestrated.”
When shoppers hear from someone who sounds like them — a mom sharing a grocery haul, a friend revealing a new clean beauty brand — trust builds faster. And trust is what moves a product from shelf to cart.
What Makes Everyday Creators So Powerful for CPG and Retail?
1. They mirror real buying behaviors
Everyday creators live in the same neighborhoods, shop in the same stores, and share the same routines as the people your brand wants to reach.
This eliminates the “influencer distance” problem — the sense that a product is being pushed, not used.
2. They create discovery moments that feel genuine
In our report, this shift is summed up simply:
“When real people in real cities share real products, discovery feels organic again — not orchestrated.”
UGC isn’t framed as marketing. It’s framed as proof.
3. They thrive in micro-contexts where influence actually happens
Think:
A bathroom shelf
A grocery aisle
A gym bag
A road trip cooler
A Sunday reset grocery haul
Authenticity increases purchase intent because the content matches how people naturally talk about products.
4. They bridge digital → shelf in ways traditional creators can’t
Retail discovery is increasingly hybrid. Gen Z and Millennials blend online inspiration with in-store confirmation.
Everyday creators show:
Exactly where to find a product
What it looks like IRL
How they fit it into their real lives
These details drive aisle-level conversion.
The Decline of Traditional Influencer Trust
Influencer skepticism is at an all-time high — and consumers say they can tell when content is overly curated or overly sponsored.
The report highlights this explicitly:
26% of consumers say they don’t trust influencers at all.
Shoppers now look for creators who share their world, not their aesthetic.
“Small in audience, big in impact” is becoming the new reality.
This erosion of trust is driving brands to diversify their mix and re-center on authentic word-of-mouth marketing at scale.
Everyday Creators = Modern Word-of-Mouth at Scale
This is the most important shift for CPG marketers to internalize:
“Creators aren’t the new billboards — they’re the new word of mouth.”
Why it matters for brands:
Word of mouth is still the most persuasive purchase driver.
But manually generating word of mouth is nearly impossible.
Everyday creators give brands a systematic, repeatable way to tap into real communities.
This is why CPG leaders — especially those managing omnichannel retail — are adopting everyday-creator strategies as must-haves, not experiments.
How Everyday Creators Improve Retail Outcomes
From the report’s opening pages, a clear message emerges:
“Trust is what moves a product from shelf to cart.”
Everyday creators improve:
In-store awareness — showing shoppers where a product lives in the aisle
Trial — sparking the first purchase
Repeat purchase — through credibility and familiarity
Cross-channel consistency — giving brands reusable UGC
Retail buyer confidence — signaling local demand
For CPG teams responsible for velocity, consumer marketing, and retail activation, everyday creators fill a gap that no other channel covers.
Why 2026 Is the Breakout Year for Everyday Creators
1. Trust is the new performance metric
Brands that win aren’t the ones with the biggest reach — they’re the ones with the deepest community connection.
2. Retail competition is fiercer than ever
In crowded sets, authenticity becomes differentiation.
3. Consumers are hungry for real-life relevance
A creator showing exactly how they use a product in their home drives stronger recall and purchase intent than a polished ad.
4. Cost-efficiency matters in a tight budget environment
With marketing leaders under pressure to:
maximize content efficiency
expand market coverage
create retailer-relevant assets
build omnichannel consistency
Everyday creators deliver both performance and efficiency.
The Bottom Line for CPG Marketers
Consumers are no longer impressed by reach. They’re influenced by relevance.
Everyday creators excel because they deliver:
High trust
Real retail visibility
Everyday storytelling
Localized impact
Cross-channel content brands can reuse
Consistent authenticity, not scripted performance
They aren’t a trend.
They’re a structural shift.
And 2026 is the year they move from “nice-to-have” to “non-negotiable.”
FAQ
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Everyday creators have small, highly engaged followings. They influence through authenticity, not scale. Influencers often rely on polished, paid content.
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Because consumers trust real people more than traditional influencers — especially when shopping for food, beverage, beauty, and household categories.
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Yes. Everyday creators are uniquely effective at bridging digital discovery with in-store behavior, helping shoppers find products on the shelf.
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Short-form videos, in-store discovery, routine content, unboxings, ingredient insights, grocery hauls, and real-life usage moments.
