Stop Renting Attention. Start Building IP.
3 Business News. 1 Implication. Why FOX, SharkNinja and Lush may be pointing to a different future for brand marketing.
Everyone is talking about the creator economy as the next big advertising opportunity.
More creators. More influencers. More content. More audiences to reach.
Fine. But what if we’re missing the most interesting part of the business?
What if the real opportunity isn’t buying attention from creators, but building intellectual property with them?
Three stories caught my attention this week. Different companies, different approaches. But they all suggest that the relationship between media, brands, creators and audiences needs a serious rethink.
1. FOX is putting money where the IP is.
FOX Creator Studios is investing in creator-led content, financing original formats and distributing them on platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
And here’s the interesting part: FOX doesn’t need to own the platform where the audience watches the content.
The model is pretty straightforward.
Creators bring ideas, talent and knowledge of their audiences. FOX brings financing, advertising sales capabilities and distribution expertise.
They share ownership of the IP, with a 50/50 structure described by FOX Creator Studios.
Think about what this means.
YouTube has built an extraordinary distribution and monetization machine. Anyone can publish, potentially find an audience and eventually earn money through revenue sharing.
But distribution isn’t the same as financing.
Who pays to develop a promising new format before it generates any meaningful revenue? Who takes the initial risk?
That’s where traditional media companies can play a completely different role.
FOX is applying something the entertainment industry has done for decades — financing and developing intellectual property — to a creator economy largely built around self-funded production and platform monetization.
And there’s a lesson here for brands, too.
Why spend all your money sponsoring someone else’s content when you could help finance and develop an IP that might grow in value over time?
Of course, everything depends on ownership, editorial independence and the economics of the deal.
But the opportunity is worth exploring.
2. SharkNinja and McLaren: can sponsorship become something more?
SharkNinja has signed a multi-year partnership with McLaren Racing.
Nothing particularly surprising there. Brands sponsor Formula 1 teams all the time.
But this partnership includes something more interesting than logos, driver appearances and exclusive content.
SharkNinja will participate in McLaren’s Racing Accelerator Programme, potentially using the team’s engineering expertise to support future product development.
Now we’re talking.
Because one of the biggest limitations of traditional sponsorship is that it often stops at association.
You borrow the credibility, fame or cultural relevance of an existing IP. You run your campaign. You reach its audience. And then?
What exactly have you built?
If McLaren’s knowledge actually contributes to better SharkNinja products, the partnership starts producing something tangible for consumers.
But I think there’s another step still missing.
Can that collaboration create distinctive products, recurring experiences, content formats or even new IP that audiences want to engage with?
Can the partnership become something that people recognize and return to, rather than another temporary brand association?
We don’t know yet.
And that’s precisely the question worth asking.
The next generation of media partnerships shouldn’t be measured only by the attention they generate, but by the value they create beyond exposure.
3. Lush: what happens when a brand stops chasing reach?
Lush offers almost the opposite perspective.
In 2021, the cosmetics brand stepped away from major social platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat, over concerns about their impact on users.
Five years later, it hasn’t returned to those platforms.
Instead, Lush has invested in physical retail experiences, direct customer relationships, creator collaborations and partnerships with entertainment IP.
A few numbers are worth looking at.
Its app has around 2.8 million users. Its email marketing reaches more than 6 million people. Brand collaborations, including properties such as Wicked, Minecraft and Hello Kitty, generated around £34 million in sales.
And Lush reported £736.2 million in revenue for its 2025 financial year, up 9.4% from the previous year.
Does that prove quitting social media drives growth?
Of course not. Correlation isn’t causation. And paid social wasn’t a major part of Lush’s advertising budget even before the decision.
But it does demonstrate something interesting.
A brand can build a meaningful relationship with its customers without constantly paying platforms to reach them.
Lush hasn’t become a media company. And partnering with entertainment franchises isn’t the same as owning an IP.
But it has created many of the conditions that could support a stronger proprietary media ecosystem: a distinctive identity, direct customer relationships, physical experiences and reasons for people to come back.
That matters.
Because before you can build a successful brand IP, you need something more valuable than reach.
You need a relationship people actually care about.
One implication: the creator economy is an IP factory, not just an advertising marketplace.
These three cases are very different.
FOX is financing intellectual property and letting audiences consume it wherever they want.
SharkNinja is exploring how a media and sports partnership can create value beyond brand association.
Lush is building customer relationships through experiences and direct engagement rather than depending on rented social reach.
Different models. One common direction.
The future of brand marketing may depend less on buying attention and more on creating the assets that attract it.
This requires a different approach.
Media companies should think beyond selling inventory.
Creators should be seen as potential IP partners, not just distribution channels.
And brands should start asking what they can build with media and creators, rather than simply how many impressions they can buy from them.
Not every campaign needs to become a franchise. Not every brand needs its own media company. And not every creator partnership deserves an IP investment.
But when there’s a real opportunity to develop something distinctive, repeatable and valuable, why treat it as another campaign with an expiration date?
The real opportunity is to connect financing, creativity, distribution and commerce in a way that produces lasting assets.
And, most importantly, something useful or meaningful for audiences.
Because ultimately, the best way to earn attention may be to stop treating it as something you simply buy.
Stop renting attention. Start building something worth coming back for.
Content with a View explores how media, brands and creators can move beyond rented attention and build lasting value through intellectual property, partnerships and direct audience relationships.
Sources and further reading
