Best Practices For Brands Working With Creators and Customers

Co-Creation vs Collins, Heterarchy vs Hierarchy: What's the Difference?

Both methods are based on participation, but work at different levels. Co-creation invites customers to co-create what is built, designed, or launched. Collaboration involves enlisting co-creators to help communicate or develop an existing idea.

When LEGO Ideas transforms fan ideas into boxed LEGO sets, that's co-creation. The community votes on which designs make it to production, and those contributors are given public credit and royalties. It's a partnership created through sharing creativity. When Spotify asked musicians and influencers to share their listening stories to create a visual representation of their song "Only You," a collaboration occurred, as it took an idea and grew it through different voices.

This line is now becoming blurred between industries that were once behind closed doors. Even very regulated industries are embracing participatory design, such as designing new casinos in Australia. The newest AU sites are turning players into fewer users and more contributors. They collect feedback from the community to improve layouts, introduce new game types, and even co-design loyalty systems. These platforms are setting the standard with elegant mobile solutions, swift AUD payments, and bonus systems based on direct user insight. The audience no longer exists as a spectator to the creative process; it is part of it.

The difference becomes simply one of setting:

• Co-creation is a game-changer for what a brand creates.
• Collaboration changes the way in which it finds expression.

Why These Approaches are Important Right Now

Today's consumers are suspicious of slick advertising. They believe in authentic voices, peers, creators, and communities, rather than brand slogans. Being more open to creative processes closes that credibility gap.

When people feel their ideas or stories have contributed to something, they become emotionally invested in its success. That's loyalty that you can't buy using conventional marketing.

Brands like Glossier, LEGO, Nike, and more built a global following based on this model. Closer to home, Vegemite's "Name Me" jars, Cotton On Foundation's charity lines, and Tourism Australia's creator-driven storytelling are all great examples of how inviting participation turns an audience into an advocate.

Best Practice 1: Begin With Purpose and Boundaries

The first principle of co-creation or collaboration is clarity. Before you welcome anybody into the process, outline what is up for discussion for change and what assumptions are firm. By setting standards, you will either restrain creativity or end up with a mess.

A good example of this is Nike By You, where customers can customize colorways and materials, but within a set of design templates that keep their production viable. This same principle can be applied to the field of creator partnerships, where responsibilities, tone, and non-negotiables are clearly defined, allowing for the novelty and creative flair of individual creators. Meaning determines purpose; purpose is what makes freedom meaningful.

Best Practice 2: Select Partners That Attract, Not Distract

Many campaigns fall because the partnership seems reasonable on paper, but is not in practice. The most effective partnerships occur when a creator or community shares your brand's values, not just the size of its audience.

When Telstra sought to partner with content creators to promote digital inclusion campaigns, it wasn't fame that was the key, but authenticity. The campaign was believable because the message was appropriate for the speakers.

The same is true for customer-driven innovation. Up Bank, a fintech platform that allows users to suggest and vote on app features, is an excellent example of how it is improving based on user feedback. Quality of fit always trumps quantity of following.

Best Practice 3: Structure The Process Like A Partnership, Not A Transaction

Crowdsourcing, as it may be, deserves to be labeled a cosmetic graveyard and has very little to do with this, among other reasons, because co-creation is not a free-for-all that can be defined as such. It's a structured, repeatable process.

Mapping out stages, ideation, review, iteration, launch, and communicating at each point. Keep feedback loops open. If participants don't hear how their input was, then the enthusiasm fades.

The fashion brand Frankie Collective is a good example. In creating sustainable capsule lines, they invite selected customers and vintage resellers into the early stages of design, and make public acknowledgment of contributors after collections are released. The process is collaborative, but it retains creative control to some extent. Creativity can only be sustained through organization.

Best Practice 4: Recognize and Reward Contribution

Respect is the currency of cooperation. Always define ownership, rights, and rewards before a project is started. Be that payment, royalties, discounts, or public credit, contributors to these efforts will want to see that they get something tangible out of their involvement.

A good example of this is LEGO Ideas. Fan artists receive royalties on any set released to market, and their names are featured on the box. That transparency led to trust and a pipeline of innovations no in-house team could match.

On the collaboration side, creators should keep their content authentic and maintain their authorship. Deleting their style or over-editing their content kills credibility. Let their personality shine through; that is why they were selected.

Best Practice 5: Put Authenticity at the Center

An audience can tell when a brand is forced. The best collaborations rely on respect for creative independence and alignment.

Instead of scripting influencers, brief them on their intent and tone, and then allow them to communicate naturally. Genuine storytelling performs better than polished ads because it sounds human.

When Tourism Australia teamed up with travel filmmakers on Come and Say 'G'day', they gave creators free rein to capture local experiences in their own words. The result was a campaign that was spontaneous and natural, and audiences could tell. Trendy isn't a style statement; it's a tactic.

Best Practice 6: Projects to Communities

True co-creation does not stop at the launch stage. The most successful brand-community relationships are ongoing. After a campaign, report the outcomes, display contributions from participants, and encourage them to play more rounds. This turns a project effort into a changing ecosystem.

Patagonia is a good example of this philosophy. Continuing to work with the environment, the brand re-engages advocates, not just in marketing but also in product testing, storytelling, and activism. That continuity helps to build trust and build up authentic advocacy. If you reach the point of just delivering, you've got content. If it persists, you have developed a sense of belonging.

Best Practice 7: When To Co-Create And When To Collaborate

Not all initiatives require fully co-creating. When creating a new product, service, or innovation, deep involvement in the community creates value. But in cases of campaigns or launches that demand agility, creator collaborations provide speed and scale.

The most important thing is intent: co-creation defines what is, while collaboration shares what has been made. A hybrid approach is the best approach, developed with customers and then worked with creators to tell the story. Each plays a different role to its strengths in the marketing cycle.