The right content on the right platform, guided by clear but flexible brand parameters, will be the golden rule of engagement for creating relevant, timely campaigns in 2026, according to influencer and marketing leaders at three major U.S. brands.

Sarah Henry, Head of Content, Influencer & Commerce at Walmart; Ashley Schapiro, VP of Marketing at American Eagle; and Noah Gonzalez, Head of Brand PR and Talent Relations at H&M Americas, joined Jill Manoff, Editor-in-Chief at Glossy and Modern Retail, onstage at NRF 2026 to share how they are using creator partnerships to create engagement and meet shoppers’ insatiable appetite for content.

Gonzalez said creator-led content now plays a role across almost every layer of H&M’s marketing, consistently outperforming branded assets. He added that audiences want to see creators they follow succeed, which in turn fuels engagement. “I can guarantee you, if there’s a priority within the organisation from a business perspective, it will have a large-scale backing influencer strategy plan,” he said. “That is just categorically the case now.”

Creator-led content & authenticity

Henry said authenticity and control over tone are increasingly important. She said creators are pushing back against overly scripted briefs that feel disconnected from the communities they have built.

Henry acknowledged that Walmart had initially been “a little bit too restrictive” with its content creators. She said the retailer now focuses on offering guidance through inspiration and product discovery ideas, alongside trending data compiled through social listening, to provide parameters while giving creators the freedom to shape content in line with what they know resonates with their audience.

H&M and Walmart both said they are leveraging creator content across the marketing mix, from paid social ads and emails to out-of-home advertising.

“Creator content outperforms branded assets every single time, and not by a little, by a lot,” said Gonzalez. “There’s always going to be a place and importance for branded assets, but people innately want to see the people they have followed and championed work with big brands and get their pay. That makes them very excited, and that spill-over helps us.”

Henry said Walmart uses creator content to make its site feel more “fun” while also inspiring product discovery. 

Right platform, right content

The panel also discussed platform strategy, with American Eagle’s Schapiro highlighting Pinterest as a recent “bright spot” and noting growing momentum behind longer-format content platforms, such as Substack.

“That age-old strategy of right content, right platform, relevant, right moment, is even more important, because there is so much choice,” Schapiro said. She added that brands must show up differently across platforms to remain relevant. “We are participating in all of them, but we are showing up in a unique way on each one, based on what the role of it is.”

Affiliate partners are also playing a growing role in influencer marketing, as brands look to drive measurable outcomes, such as traffic and conversions. Walmart now manages tens of thousands of affiliate relationships through its Walmart Creator platform, as well as third-party networks, according to Henry.

Content is currency

American Eagle’s Shapiro said “anyone with a phone” can be a potential content creator, including office employees, as the brand looks to meet unprecedented consumer appetite for content.

“The reality is that content is currency, and you just need so much of it. I don’t care how big your team is, you have to go outside of your four walls,” said Shapiro, who  uses a “3 Rs” model – reach, resonance and reaction – to evaluate the performance of creators’ content.

“Reach is about [targeting] the right people. Then you have resonance; ‘Did my message resonate with those customers?’ or ‘did they engage with it?’ And then reaction would be everything that pays our bills, like traffic and conversions,” she said.