For years, brands have paid external creators to speak on their behalf. A growing number are now turning to a talent pool they already employ.
Employee-generated content (EGC) is content created and shared by employees rather than a brand’s official accounts. A 2026 DSMN8 report on employee advocacy, drawing on roughly 200 programs, found that 68% of advocates now share content at least three times per week, up 13 percentage points year over year.
Two announcements this summer crystallized that trajectory. In June, Starbucks unveiled a TikTok Creator Network pilot, making it the first brand to test the newly introduced feature, with ad revenue sharing for select barista creators. Lowe’s opened a product development pipeline to creators through its “Into the Blue” program, extending a Creator Network that enrolled 17,000 participants during beta testing.
Together, these moves sharpened a question the industry has long circled: should brands be building creator programs from their own employees and customers, and what are the real risks and payoffs of that model? We put the question to 32 practitioners and executives.
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