After a busy day at CreatorFest, we left with a clear sense of how the industry is shifting toward honest, relatable creator content. This is our round-up of the ideas that will shape UGC in the year ahead.
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The team at Twirl spent the day at CreatorFest 2025 - and it was one of the clearest looks yet at how the creator space is evolving. The event brought together creators, brand teams, agencies and platform leads all talking openly about what’s working and what’s losing steam.
Here’s what stood out to us after a full day of panels, conversations and comparing notes with people across the industry.
One theme came up in almost every room: traditional influencer marketing is slowing down. Not because it isn’t working, but because the format has become predictable. The consensus was that people want content that feels real.
A big shift we heard was brands starting to relax. Teams are realising that content doesn’t need heavy production to perform. In fact, production can get in the way. The videos people remember now are the simple, candid ones: someone opening a product, chatting through a “here’s what I’d pick”, or giving their honest take without makeup lights behind them.
Less polish. More presence.
That pressure is easing as more brands admit they get better results when the content looks and sounds human.
If there was one format people kept coming back to, it was the friend-to-friend tone. It’s already strong in UGC, but CreatorFest made it clear this is where most ad formats are heading.
Panels shared examples of ads performing well purely because they felt like conversations. No dramatic openers. No complex cuts. Just someone saying, “Here’s what I’d pick and why.” It works because it feels like help, not a pitch.
Short attention spans aren’t new, but the industry is finally treating them with the seriousness they deserve. The message was blunt: every word counts.
A good opener isn’t optional. A clear point is essential. Audiences won’t wait for the “story to build.” They want clarity fast. This aligns with what we see daily in UGC outputs: when a creator has one strong angle and gets to it quickly, the content performs.
This part felt especially relevant to us. Speaker after speaker said that the best content comes from creators who understand the purpose, not from creators reading strict lines.
One panellist said it perfectly:
“A brief should be a creative detonator, not a limiter.”
Creators need context - the problem the brand solves, the moment it fits into someone’s life, or the shopper they’re speaking to. What they don’t need is control disguised as “direction.” When creators get the room to shape the message, the video feels watchable. When they’re boxed in, the content feels stiff.
A noticeable shift this year: creators aren’t seen as “channels” anymore. They’re being treated as the thinkers behind the content, not just the faces delivering it.
Creators know what audiences will actually sit through. They know what makes someone stop scrolling. Brands are leaning on that instinct more than ever. It’s a healthy shift, and it lines up with how we already work inside Twirl.
By the afternoon, it was clear that every panel landed on the same takeaway: everything is heading in a more human direction.
Less corporate tone. Less perfect staging. Less content written by committee.
More personality. More clarity. More honesty.
It’s not a temporary phase. It’s a reset in how people want to consume content.
CreatorFest 2025 captured something we’ve been feeling for a while: UGC isn’t a side tactic anymore. It’s becoming the main way brands tell stories that people actually care about. The industry is aligning around real people, clear angles and content that feels useful rather than staged.
UGC continues to grow, and the appetite for creator-led work is only getting stronger. We left the event energised - excited for what it means for creators, for the brands we work with, and for the kind of content we’ll all be making over the next year!
Twirl is your go-to partner for UGC. Whether you're a brand, agency or a UGC creator, we bring together 5000+ talented creators to produce authentic, scroll-stopping content for ads, websites, emails, and social channels.
