The Cadillac of Creator Advertising and marketing (HBBIP #116)

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Welcome again to a different yr of HBBIP! We’re going to do it larger and higher than ever in 2026, even when it takes me one other week or so earlier than I cease by chance writing ‘2025.’ 

2026 will carry you much more of the traditional creator advertising and marketing profiles you realize and like, however this yr we’ll be casting a wider internet, and catching larger fish. I’m speaking extra worldwide manufacturers! Extra verticals! Extra manufacturers whose names are identified around the globe!

In honor of these commitments, and to start out off 2026 proper, I want to choose a model that’s synonymous with excellence. An old-fashioned model that’s nonetheless hanging with the brand new college due to the ability of creator advertising and marketing. Perhaps in an trade that didn’t get sufficient love from me in 2025. And positively a model the place I’d love to attain some free merch, which is a gag I intend to maintain working all via this yr and past.

Oh, I assume they may even have spectacular development throughout all our metrics. That may in all probability assist, too. And bonus factors in the event that they had been named after a French explorer and army officer with a very cool coat of arms.

Feels like a tall order, huh? Happily, I do know simply the model to suit the invoice…

The High Model  of All Time (of the Week): Cadillac

Cross it off your bingo playing cards, HBBIP lovers, as a result of Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac is lastly getting his due.

Based 123 years in the past within the Motor Metropolis, Cadillac is thought the world over as the peak of luxurious, to the purpose that ‘Cadillac’ is usually bandied round as the head of different industries, i.e. one thing being ‘the Cadillac of ____.’ (Instance: “Wow, a Ferrari! That’s just like the Cadillac of vehicles.”) 

Naturally, I used to be curious to see whether or not Cadillac’s creator advertising and marketing technique is just like the Cadillac of creator advertising and marketing methods. Let’s go to the charts!

Cadillac Creator Depend, 2020 – 2025

We’d not have full 2025 information simply but (it’s coming actual quickly), however that’s not an issue for Cadillac, which blew previous its 2024 whole in simply 11 months. Total, the model has seen a roughly 3x surge in creator depend since 2020—proof not solely of Cadillac’s success, however of the broader momentum behind the automotive trade because it turns into a power throughout the creator economic system.

Cadillac Submit Depend, 2020 – 2025

As longtime readers of the publication know, extra creators means extra posts, besides when it doesn’t. Happily for Cadillac, this time it does. Cadillac noticed its submit depend improve roughly 4x from 2020 to 2025 (and keep in mind, that’s with an entire December nonetheless to be counted).

Cadillac EMV, 2020 – 2025

Simply while you assume you’ve discovered essentially the most good linear-growth graph you can hope to search out, right here comes one which’s even higher. Such was the case for Cadillac’s Earned Media Worth (EMV), which shot up almost 8x from 2020 to 2025. Buzz was clearly gathering for Cadillac on-line, with the model garnering seems from extra eyes than ever. That’s not only a determine of speech, both:

Cadillac Impressions, 2020 – 2025

That’s a 13x improve in impressions from 2020 to 2025! This would possibly very nicely be the Cadillac of efficiency metrics development (sure, I do intend to run that joke into the bottom, thanks very a lot).

Cadillac Engagements, 2020 – 2025

However we see a disruption within the sample, if not the top consequence, with regards to engagements: regardless of constant development in each different metric, issues are pretty flat right here between 2021 and 2022, although Cadillac’s engagements do finally take a leap in time for 2025. All in all, this was a few 10x improve from 2020 to 2025—nonetheless nice, if barely off-pace from a few of Cadillac’s marks in different metrics.

Given the model’s booming impressions and wavering engagements, I suspected that Cadillac’s momentum stemmed primarily from TikTok. Granted, it was exhausting to image the kind of content material that Cadillac would possibly placed on the platform, however that hasn’t stopped different counter-intuitive manufacturers from making the unlikely crossover. So is Cadillac taking on a TikTok feed close to you?

Cadillac Share of Impressions by Platform, January – November 2025

Properly, not precisely—a minimum of if this chart of the model’s Jan-Nov 2025 share of impressions by platform is to be believed. With almost 60% of Cadillac’s impressions coming from Instagram versus 20% from TikTok, the outcomes are fairly lopsided. Plus, Cadillac’s Instagram impressions elevated by 77% YoY, in comparison with a 40% change for its TikTok impressions.

Cadillac Share of Engagements by Platform, January – November 2025

It’s the same story for engagements, the place each Instagram and TikTok improve their marks, whereas YouTube shrinks significantly. On this case, Instagram engagements had been up 36% YoY for Cadillac, versus a 51% YoY surge for TikTok engagements, displaying that the hole is closing there.

We don’t typically see Instagram as a driving (no pun meant) power for manufacturers today. How does that play out for Cadillac, and what kind of content material is the model being tagged in?

Throughout numerous platforms, Cadillac has tailored fairly easily to the period of creators, rising as a fixture in a variety of content material. This contains:

• Household vlogs on YouTube, as seen in this video from The CAN Household, which positions the 2026 Cadillac Escalade IQ as “the best household automobile ever.” (We right here at CreatorIQ help something with an IQ within the title, so I’m inclined to agree.)
• Instagram Reels from automobile architects and ‘pre-build creators’ like Rashad Harper, aka 412DonkLife, who was excited to exhibit an outrageously cool 1959 Cadillac Cyclone to his 2.2 million followers.
  • Oh, additionally, in case you had been curious (as a result of I positively was), I’m going to incorporate Rashad’s disclaimer on his username right here:
    • “***Disclaimer A Donk is a 1971-1976 Impala or Caprice on Large Rims or inventory**** Not any automobile with large wheels”
• TikToks from automobile reviewers like Forrest’s Auto Evaluations or dealerships like Vanguard Motor Gross sales providing full protection of each trendy and traditional Cadillac fashions.

In the end, it’s that stability of recent and traditional components that not solely defines Cadillac’s mission as a model, however makes potential their successful creator technique. In any case, why shouldn’t a model that’s been round for 125 years know a factor or two about adapting? And why wouldn’t creators wish to embrace a model that’s identified for high quality and reliability? I didn’t see it earlier than, however I see it now: Cadillac and creators are the proper match. And with the remainder of the automotive trade on the rise, I anticipate to see extra of those success tales very quickly.

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