There’s a growing truth in marketing: people trust people more than they trust brands. That’s why we built Humanz Ads, a way to run paid media directly from creators’ profiles. You get the power of precise targeting with the authenticity of content that feels native to the feed.
We already knew this approach lowers CPA in conversion campaigns. But what happens when the goal is pure awareness?
We set out to find out.
Same Creative. Different Source. Big Impact.
Working with a leading brand in the home care industry, we ran two Instagram campaigns with identical creative assets – same videos, captions, budget, and targeting.
The only difference? One was promoted from the brand’s account, the other from a creator’s profile.
That small change made a big difference.
The creator-led campaign delivered 15% more reach, a 42% increase in quality reach, and a 30% lower cost per unique user. Even the CTR jumped by 15%.
Same content, same media plan – but when it came from a creator, people paid more attention and engaged more deeply.
Top-Tier vs. Aspiring Creators: Does It Matter?
Next, we wanted to understand how the creator’s status affects performance.
We compared a top-tier creator to a group of aspiring creators.
The aspiring creators delivered strong results for their scale and solid engagement, but there were a few variables at play. Their content launched later, and there was simply more of it. Even so, the top-tier creator held their ground, proving just how powerful a single, trusted voice can be.
So what did we learn? Aspiring creators can drive strong awareness at scale over time. But top creators are still incredibly effective when it comes to fast, high-impact reach and engagement. Depending on your campaign goals, there’s value in both, and even more in combining them.
What It All Means
These experiments reaffirm a key belief at Humanz: when content feels native, it performs better.
Humanz Ads allow brands to run performance-driven paid campaigns from a creator’s profile, delivering measurable results, but without the “this is an ad” energy that audiences are trained to skip. Whether you’re working with a big-name creator or an emerging voice, the principle holds: people listen to people.
So if you’re looking to boost awareness in a way that actually gets noticed, stop thinking like a brand – and start thinking like a creator.
