What Smirnoff, Liquid Death, and Chili's Learned About AI and Creator Marketing at AWNY
Three major brands shared their playbooks for winning with AI tools and creator partnerships. Here's what independent businesses should steal from their strategies.
The 5-second version
- Smirnoff, Liquid Death, and Chili's showed how AI is reshaping brand-to-creator deals and cultural relevance at Advertising Week New York 2026.
- Brands are using AI to scale creator partnerships and stay plugged into culture faster than traditional marketing cycles allow.
- The lesson for smaller businesses: AI tools help you find and work with creators at a pace that competes with larger budgets.
At Advertising Week New York 2026, marketers from Smirnoff, Liquid Death, and Chili's gathered to discuss the forces reshaping how brands build audience trust. Three themes emerged: AI is becoming the backbone of creator discovery and partnership management, cultural relevance demands speed, and the creator economy is no longer a side channel but a primary path to customers.
Why Creators Matter More Now
Liquid Death and Smirnoff both emphasized that creators already own audience attention in ways traditional media does not. A creator with a loyal following can introduce a brand message to people who have already chosen to listen to that voice. That trust transfer is worth more than a cold ad placement, and it moves faster.
Chili's approach underscored that cultural relevance is what separates brands that grow from those that fade. Creators stay plugged into culture in real time. Working with them lets a business stay current without waiting for quarterly campaign reviews or media agency approvals.
AI as a Creator Partnership Tool
The brands at AWNY made clear that AI is not replacing creators or marketing judgment. Instead, AI is shrinking the time between 'we have a brand message' and 'we found the right creator to share it.' AI tools can scan creator audiences, analyze alignment with brand values, and surface partnership opportunities that would take weeks to find manually.
For a small business competing against larger marketing budgets, this is the advantage: you can move as fast as enterprise teams by letting AI handle the grunt work of matching and outreach. You stay focused on the creative and authentic partnership itself.
What a Smaller Business Can Copy
- Start with creators your actual customers already follow. You do not need the biggest name in the room.
- Use AI tools to match your brand voice and values to creator audiences, so the partnership feels natural to both sides.
- Move faster. The brands at AWNY all stressed speed and cultural timing. Do not wait for the perfect moment; stay current.
- Let the creator own the storytelling. Your job is to brief them and get out of the way. Trust is what you are buying.
The lesson is simple: creator marketing wins when you treat it as a partnership, use tools to speed up discovery, and stay plugged into what your customers actually care about. Smirnoff, Liquid Death, and Chili's are proving this works at scale. You can prove it works in your market too.
Marketers from Smirnoff, Liquid Death and Chili's converged at AWNY to talk AI, connecting with culture and the evolving creator economy.Marketing Dive, October 16, 2026
Questions owners ask
Why are big brands suddenly focused on creator partnerships?
At Advertising Week New York 2026, Smirnoff, Liquid Death, and Chili's all highlighted that creator partnerships let them connect with culture and audiences in real time, faster than traditional advertising cycles. Creators already have audience trust, so brands win by partnering authentically rather than broadcasting.
How is AI changing the way brands work with creators?
According to the brands presenting at AWNY, AI is helping them scale creator matching and manage partnerships more efficiently. Instead of manually hunting for the right voice, AI tools help identify creators whose audience and values align with the brand message.
Can a small business use the same creator strategy as Smirnoff or Chili's?
Yes, the core strategy is the same: find creators who genuinely connect with your brand and let them tell your story to their audience. The difference is scale and budget, not approach. Smaller businesses can compete by being faster and more authentic in creator selection.
What does 'connecting with culture' actually mean for my business?
According to the brands at AWNY, it means staying aware of what your customers care about right now and partnering with creators who are already talking about those things. Liquid Death and Smirnoff both emphasized that cultural relevance beats generic messaging.
