The power of trusted voices: JACK RYAN at IAB’s Creator Marketing Growth Summit
JACK RYAN’s Head of Strategy, Ryan Dunlop, joined the NHS and creator Ethan Kohli on stage at IAB’s Creator Marketing Growth Summit to explore how trusted voices can help make public health messages relevant, relatable and easier to act on.
The session, Creators for change: the power of trusted voices, brought Ryan together with Ethan and Elizabeth, Programme Director for Prevention, Screening and Early Diagnosis at the NHS. Together, they explored the strategy behind the NHS’s largest creator activation to date: bringing together more than 50 creators, healthcare professionals and advocates to build awareness of cervical screening and HPV vaccination.
Their discussion tackled a question with implications well beyond public health: how do you choose the people who can give an audience the confidence to take the next step?
A growing market, a more mature conversation
The summit came at a significant moment for the industry. IAB’s first report into the value of UK creator partnerships, produced with IRM, put advertiser investment at £966 million in 2025, with spending forecast to pass £1 billion in 2026.
Growth of just over 20% year on year, compared with around 9% for digital advertising overall, underlined the increasing importance of creators within the media mix.
Across the day, speakers explored what that growth demands of advertisers and agencies. Discussions covered building creator-led formats that audiences return to, developing distinct briefs for organic content and paid amplification, and casting around relevant conversations and audience relationships.
A consistent theme emerged: effective creator marketing depends on the quality of the decisions behind it. Who is chosen, how they are briefed and how their contribution is valued all shape what a partnership can achieve.
One NHS message. More than 50 ways in.
For JACK RYAN, the NHS activation brought those strategic decisions into sharp focus.
The ambition was to make cervical screening and HPV vaccination easier to understand, easier to talk about and easier to act on. That required sensitivity to the different questions, concerns and experiences people bring to their health.
Creator selection focused on the relationship each person had with their audience and the credibility they could bring to the subject. Healthcare professionals offered expertise and practical reassurance. Advocates and creators brought lived experience, personal stories and familiar ways of talking about sensitive topics.
Ethan’s contribution illustrated the importance of that connection. His personal reason for speaking up, shared through the familiar style of his content, gave his audience a way into a conversation that can feel difficult or distant.
The campaign made space for different formats, from storytimes and everyday conversations to answers from doctors and responses to audience comments.
That variety was central to the strategy. A single script could not address every barrier or reflect every audience’s experience. Creators needed room to communicate in language their communities recognised, while keeping the campaign’s purpose clear.
The discussion also explored how comments became part of the campaign. Public health communication happens through the questions people ask, the experiences they share and the reassurance they seek, as well as through the original content.
For media strategists, this means considering the conversation a partnership can support alongside the audience it can reach.
Trust belongs at the heart of creator strategy
As investment in creator partnerships grows, understanding audience relationships becomes an increasingly important planning discipline.
Reach remains valuable. So does knowing why someone listens to a particular creator, what makes their voice credible and how a message fits into that relationship.
“Trust is not bought. It is borrowed, earned and passed on.”
Ryan Dunlop, JACK RYAN Head of Strategy
When the message matters, creator strategy has to consider who people believe, who they relate to and who gives them the confidence to take the next step.
Thank you to IAB for bringing the industry together, to Ethan and Elizabeth for sharing their perspectives, and to the creators, healthcare professionals, advocates and teams who helped bring the campaign to life.
