The fix comes first
- In our research on when creators help a brand most, the best-documented recoveries rested on the brand's own honesty and the changes it made. Outside voices played a supporting part.
- Domino's is the cleanest one. It remade its pizza and was honest with customers about it.
- In the first quarter of 2010, its domestic same-store sales grew 14.3%, which the company put down to more store traffic from the new pizza.
“A remarkably better pizza, and our honesty in how we told consumers about it, is paying off”
When creators help, and when they make it worse
Our research found creators help a recovery when three things are true:
- They had a relationship with your brand before the crisis.
- Your fix is already out, where buyers can see it.
- The problem isn't so serious that standing next to you hurts them.
- Skip the first one and it can backfire. In the report's words, outside creators "without a pre-existing brand relationship can appear opportunistic and worsen sentiment".
Source: Our research report on when creators help brands most, July 2026
Start with the creators who already speak for you
- Look first at the people who posted about you before any of this, paid or not. Your buyers have already seen them with you.
- On the daily supplement shelf we track, 76.3% of the sponsored YouTube videos ran on a channel where the same brand had paid for at least one more. Most of that shelf's sponsored videos are repeat bookings.
Source: Our own count of sponsored videos whose own text says sponsored, 2026-10-29
Keep them for months, and keep them off the case
- A creator promotes a brand for a short period, gets dropped, then moves on to another sponsor. Their audience starts seeing a revolving door of sponsorships, so each recommendation feels less genuine and trust falls.
- So a rebuild books the same creators again and again.
- Never ask them to answer the lawsuit or the complaint for you. Our research on seven wellness brands with public trouble put it plainly: creator content "should not attempt to re-litigate the allegations".
- They show how they use your product now, with the disclosure done properly.