Heyyy…how y’all doin…
Hard to believe it’s been an entire year since I sent my last newsletter. I guess that’s what divorce will do to you??
Yeah…in case you missed it, my divorce is now Instagram official.
And I’m not gonna lie: I was a little choked that my post about breaking up with Canva got way more engagement than the one about my actual marriage ending—but I guess I know what y’all really care about. 😂
I’ve been working full-time at Refinery29 for almost a year, where I get a front-row seat to so many cool marketing moments, and I want to take you along for the ride! So here we are, back on Substack.
Will this comeback last? TBD. Consider each newsletter a surprise little treat. 🍬
First up: the Kansas City Chiefs, influencer marketing and why an NFL team is paying fans to post—just in time for fantasy football season. 🏈
But first, let’s go back to that break up post…
We broke up with Canva. 💔
This wasn’t an overnight decision. We’d been feeling the friction for a while and I was looking for a better workflow for our social team, AI designed to be commercially safe, and one less software subscription to pay for. Adobe Express checked all of those boxes...but it was still hard to leave.
Why? We had 1,127 Canva templates and were convinced migrating them would be a nightmare.
Turns out, it was surprisingly easy. We exported our templates as PDFs, uploaded them into Adobe Express, and had fully editable files ready to go, layers and all.
Don’t let the fear of leaving keep you from something better: try Adobe Express for free today!
The Kansas City Chiefs are turning influencer marketing into a team sport.
Last weekend I flew down to Kansas City on a press trip and got an inside look at the inaugural Kingdom Creators program, the first of its kind, where the Chiefs are building a full-on creator roster with paid partnerships, exclusive events, global content, and even a “practice squad” for micro influencers.
Creators are officially part of the team
Unlike other NFL teams, the Chiefs aren’t bringing influencers in for one game, grabbing a few posts and calling it a day.
They’re playing the long game.
“In today’s sports marketing landscape, influencers are a key part of both the present and the future of media,” said Lauren Denowitz, Chiefs VP of Brand and Fan Engagement.
“The Chiefs aren’t looking for one-off moments with influencers. We know the importance of long-term relationships that are impactful for the brand, and the influencers themselves.”
And unlike other NFL teams, they’re willing to pay for it.
Meet the roster
Welcome to Creator Camp: where you meet new friends, get spoiled with Chiefs swag, learn from marketing experts about the creator economy, and go over the very important brand guidelines.
And that’s just the warm up: next you’ll be hanging out on the sidelines before heading upstairs to watch the game from a suite at Arrowhead Stadium. 🏈
The Chiefs brought their inaugural Kingdom Creators class together in Kansas City for a one-day “Creator Camp”—but this wasn’t just a room full of football accounts.
The roster spans food, fashion, music, and gaming, intentionally reflecting the Chiefs’ broader fan base and helping the team reach people through more than game highlights
“It truly is like a reflection of our fan base, so everyone can see themselves in it,” added Thea Neal, Director of Marketing, Culture and Creators.
The creator program uses football tiers, because of course it does:
Main Roster & Starters: Paid creators with season-long partnerships (rare for an NFL team), like Jade & Tanner Tolbert from Bachelor Nation who have a combined Instagram following of 1.7 million.
Practice squad: Creators with fewer than 150,000 followers that receive exclusive invites and access that other tiers do not, like @nflgirlphd who was attending her first creator event ever!
But I do think the roster system is smart. It gives the Chiefs a way to invest in established talent and build relationships with smaller creators who may have niche audiences, local influence or a ton of potential.
Basically, it’s creator development camp.
This is not a casual fan club
Being an official Kingdom Creator comes with some pretty cool perks, but they’re also signing up for actual deliverables.
The creators are contracted to share five Chiefs-related posts through May 2027, and the program works exactly like a normal brand partnership does with approvals, revisions, and FTC disclosures.
Creators are also “automatically shortlisted” for recommendations to partner brands, essentially building a trusted talent network that their sponsors can tap into—and helping creators turn the team relationship into more paid work
From Kansas City to the world 🌎
The bigger goal goes way beyond Arrowhead.
And just like the team on the field, the marketing team’s ambition is…not subtle.
“One in 10 Americans is already a Chiefs fan. So since we’re the most loved NFL team, now we have to be the most loved team in the world,” said Neal.
It’s no secret that the Chiefs’ fanbase has grown dramatically over the past few season, with “the majority of Chiefs fans now living outside our home market,” stated Denowitz.
But here’s the catch: NFL teams can’t just market wherever they want. Traditional team marketing is restricted by league territories, with international campaigns limited to markets awarded through the NFL’s Global Markets Program.
That’s where creators come in.
Their audiences—and the algorithm—don’t stop at state or country lines, making creator partnerships a strategic investment for increasing global reach and being known as “the Kingdom heard around the world.
What Your Brand Can Steal From the Chiefs’ Playbook
The smartest creator programs don’t just rent someone’s reach for a day. They build relationships and distribution that become more valuable over time.
So instead of asking, “Who can post about us this quarter?” ask:
“Who do we still want creating with us a year from now?”
✅ Build relationships, not one-off campaigns. Create a roster of people who can learn your brand, grow with you, and build trust with their audiences over time.
✅ Recruit for interests, not just follower counts. The Chiefs didn’t fill the program with 30 football accounts. They chose creators across food, fashion, music and gaming, giving the brand multiple ways to enter culture and reach new audiences.
✅ Give creators access, not scripts. Behind-the-scenes experiences, events and insider access create content people actually want to watch. As the Chiefs told the group: “We are not asking you to read a script. We just love your authenticity.”
✅ Turn your business partnerships into creator opportunities. Your budget doesn’t have to be the only source of paid work: introduce your talent to brand partners! They get access to vetted talent, the creator gets another paycheque, and you just made your existing partnership even more valuable. Win-win-win.
✅ Build an actual community—not just a creator list. As a creator myself, I know how valuable it is to put people with similar interests in the same room. At Creator Camp, there was no gatekeeping as micro-creators asked questions and got advice from more established talent and left with a support system they can keep learning from long after the event ends.
Ohh, you’re baaack!