Creator marketing is getting a bigger stage in Ireland.
IAB Ireland will host its first Creator Marketing Summit in Dublin on September 9, bringing creators, agencies, brands, publishers and major digital platforms together for a focused discussion about where the industry is heading.
The half-day event will take place at 1WML in Dublin 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It also forms part of IAB Global Creator Week 2026, a wider international initiative involving IAB organisations across 18 countries.
The timing makes sense. Creator marketing has moved well beyond experimental social media campaigns. Brands are putting more budget behind creators, while agencies and platforms are building more formal strategies around partnerships, measurement and audience trust.
Creator Marketing Is Becoming More Important to Irish Brands
The IAB Ireland Creator Marketing Summit will focus on how creators now influence discovery, brand perception and purchasing decisions. The event is also expected to explore some of the more difficult parts of the business, including transparency, campaign effectiveness and how brands can create partnerships that feel credible rather than forced.
That shift is becoming harder to ignore. Creator campaigns are no longer treated as a small extension of social media marketing. In many cases, creators are becoming part of the wider media plan from the beginning, alongside paid advertising, publishing and video strategy.
New Research Will Look at Trust and Creator Influence
Fresh research from RED C Research will be presented during the summit, with Gavin Costello, Research Project Manager at RED C Research, sharing findings around trust, influence and consumer action.
Trust is one of the biggest questions in creator marketing right now. A campaign can generate millions of views and still struggle to change how audiences feel about a product. Creators often succeed because followers believe their recommendations carry some level of personal credibility. Understanding when that trust translates into action could give brands a better way to judge campaign value beyond basic engagement numbers.
TikTok, YouTube and Meta Will Discuss Creator Opportunities
Some of the largest platforms in the creator economy will also take part in the Dublin event. Rob Malone, YouTube Ireland Ambassador at YouTube, Ian Cummins, Mid-Market Manager for the UK and Ireland at Meta, and Claire Mulhern, Head of SMB at TikTok Ireland, are scheduled to discuss how creator opportunities are developing across their respective platforms.
The discussion should be especially relevant for marketers trying to decide where creator content fits best. TikTok, Instagram and YouTube may compete for similar advertising budgets, but the way people use each platform is different. Content length, discovery, monetisation and audience behaviour all vary, which means brands increasingly need platform-specific creator strategies rather than one campaign copied across every channel.
Irish Campaigns Will Show How Creator Marketing Works in Practice
Several real campaigns will be used during the summit to show how Irish brands and agencies are working with creators. Gavin McAuliffe of The Irish Times Group and Judith Byrne of Dulux Paints Ireland will discuss the approach used around Dulux Heritage, where publisher content and creator participation were brought together.
Another case study will focus on An Post and its involvement with the growing #BookTok community. Ruth Gleeson of Core and Joanne Farnon of An Post will explain how the campaign connected with the large audience that has formed around books and reading on TikTok. The example is useful because BookTok has become more than a social trend. It can influence book sales, discovery and publishing conversations.
The Orchard Thieves Fox Pack campaign will also feature. Neal Cummins of THINKHOUSE and Anna Walsh of Heineken Ireland will discuss how the alcohol brand approached creator activity with a more creator-first mindset.
These case studies should help move the conversation away from broad claims about influencer marketing. Instead, marketers will be able to look at how creator partnerships are actually planned, developed and connected with larger brand campaigns.
Advertising Disclosure and Transparency Will Be Discussed
Creator marketing growth also brings greater scrutiny around advertising rules. Michael Lee, Deputy Chief Executive of the Advertising Standards Authority, will lead a session focused on advertising standards, disclosure, transparency and Ireland’s evolving regulatory environment for creator content.
This part of the industry now matters more than ever. Audiences need to know when creators publish sponsored content. Creators and brands also need to make commercial relationships clear. Poor disclosure can damage trust quickly. That risk grows when a promotional post looks like a completely independent recommendation.
Creators Will Join the Industry Conversation
The summit will also include creators themselves rather than keeping the discussion limited to brands and agencies. Éadaoin Fitzmaurice and Kevin Penrose are expected to participate in a closing panel alongside representatives from the talent management side of the industry, including Sarah McAleer of Hunter Media Group.
That balance is important because creator marketing does not work particularly well when creators are treated like advertising inventory. Creators have audiences, creative styles and established relationships with followers. Brands may focus on reach, conversions and campaign goals, while creators often need to think about authenticity and whether a partnership makes sense for the people already watching their content.
Dublin Event Is Part of IAB Global Creator Week
The Dublin summit is part of a much larger international initiative. IAB Global Creator Week 2026 will involve IAB organisations across 18 markets, bringing more attention to creator marketing as a formal part of the advertising industry.
The international scale of the project says plenty about how quickly the creator economy has changed. Creator-led media now overlaps with ecommerce, entertainment, digital advertising, publishing and brand storytelling. What started as a relatively informal marketing channel has grown into an industry that increasingly needs research, regulation and professional standards.
IAB Ireland Wants More Collaboration Across the Creator Economy
IAB Ireland is using the summit to encourage more collaboration between the different groups involved in creator marketing. Brands, creators, publishers, agencies, platforms and talent managers all have slightly different priorities, yet successful campaigns usually depend on several of those groups working together.
Meta, YouTube and Core are sponsoring the Irish event.
The bigger story is not simply that Dublin is getting another marketing conference. It is that creator marketing has become important enough to require its own dedicated industry event. As budgets increase and partnerships become more sophisticated, the Irish market is starting to build more structure around an industry that developed very quickly.
For creators and marketers, that could be a useful sign of what comes next.
Sources
- The primary source for this article is AdWorld’s report, “IAB Ireland to Hold First Creator Marketing Summit in Dublin.” Read the AdWorld article
- Additional event information is available from IAB Ireland, including details about the Creator Marketing Summit and its programme. Visit IAB Ireland
