Meet the Hot 30: Robert Leather, UK Creator Marketing Lead at TikTok

Meet Robert Leather, UK Creator Marketing Lead at TikTok and one of our Pepper Hot 30 UK 2026 winners.

From building creator communities and bringing hundreds of creators together through live experiences to exploring the next generation of creator-led content, Robert's role sits at the intersection of social media, culture, partnerships and creativity.

We caught up with Robert to talk about why community matters just as much offline as it does online, the rise of creator-owned IP, why brands should be thinking beyond one-off influencer partnerships and his predictions for employee-generated content and the future of social in 2027.

What's your role at TikTok and what does you day to day look like?

I’m the UK Creator Marketing Lead for TikTok. My day-to-day is a real mixture of strategy, execution and probably a little bit of chaos, but it’s all really good fun.

One day I might be working on a creator campaign, the next I’m planning an event for hundreds of creators that I might be in the room with and presenting on stage, and then the next I might be with an agency or brand talking about a different opportunity.

It’s such a mixture of being in and out of the office, client-facing and working with creators. I’m quite hands-on in my day-to-day and it’s all pretty fast-paced, which is something I love about it. I’ve probably spent most of my career somewhere between marketing, partnerships and culture, so this role brings so many of those things together.

Ultimately, I love seeing an idea, creating a strategy and then bringing it to life, whether that’s content being made that people engage with and comment on online, or an event or activation that brings people together in the moment.

What’s been your biggest win or proudest moment in your current role so far?

I’m still very new in the role, so I haven't had the opportunity to do anything on a huge scale yet, but we did have our end-of-summer creator event recently, which was my first TikTok event that I hosted and produced.

It was about bringing all of our top creators together in person for an end-of-summer celebration and celebrating them and all the work they’ve done. It was about bringing the social media world to life and having a moment with no presentations, no strategy checks and no “here’s what you should do and how you can grow on the platform”.

It was just a really nice moment of celebration and bringing people together, with everyone from food creators and sports creators to entertainment creators in the room. That was a really nice moment to be able to do for the first time in my new role.

That access, connection and community is so important in the world of social media, but it’s important to make sure that happens offline as well as online.

Which social platforms are you seeing the most success with right now, and what do you think is driving that?

content formats, features, or platform ecosystems

Obviously I’m a little bit biased, so I’m going to say TikTok! But genuinely, there’s still a huge opportunity for TikTok and people who are either on the platform already or have yet to join. I think there’s such a big element of growth still to come.

More broadly, I think what’s really interesting across social platforms is how quickly creators can respond to their audiences. The best types of creators aren’t just producing content and hoping it works. They’re listening, experimenting and evolving.

People who understand their communities and are willing to respond and adapt their format, storytelling or niche are where I’m seeing a lot of success right now.

It’s much more sophisticated community management. It’s not just about trying to get views anymore. It’s about building a relationship with your audience and giving people a reason to stay, come back and consistently engage.

The creators who are doing this really well are starting to think more like businesses and brands , rather than just producing content.

What’s one piece of work you’ve been involved in recently that you’re particularly proud of?

It’s actually yet to happen, but it’s our TikTok Creator Summit, which I’m currently building.

We’re bringing together around 400 creators who are at the start of their journey in the creator landscape. They’re people who are learning the ropes of becoming a creator and understanding what social media can mean for them.

We’re building a really immersive, hands-on day focused on helping the next wave of creators develop their craft and build their social careers. We’re trying to move beyond the traditional idea of a summit where everyone is sat in a room listening to other people speak.

Instead, creators will actually be doing things and learning about the full creator ecosystem, from content creation and production to growing an audience, working with brands, monetisation, building businesses and communities.

A lot of creators don’t get access to this early enough in their careers, and their growth can be slightly slower because of it. We’re really trying to accelerate that. It goes beyond telling people to make great content and gives them a practical acceleration day where they can leave with something tangible and hopefully get themselves on the right track.

What’s something you’ve learnt in your current role that has changed the way you approach social?

I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt is quite simply: make content for the audience you want to build, rather than chasing the audience you think you should have.

It sounds so obvious, but I’ve definitely been guilty of it earlier in my career. We all fall into the trap of trying to chase viral moments or hopping on trends that maybe don’t really make sense for our long-term strategy, but we do it because we’re in the moment.

We also get those moments of deflation where you think something is really good, you post it and then you’re like, “Thanks for the three likes.” It didn’t land how you wanted and it’s a real gut-wrenching moment because you worked so hard on it.

But if something doesn’t perform immediately, try another format or try something else. The strongest creators tend to have a really clear understanding of who they are and what they’re good at, and then the audience finds them rather than them constantly chasing that audience.

Never underestimate experimentation, don’t always try to follow the trends, and have a really strong point of view. You should be able to experiment within your own channel without always needing to reinvent yourself. Consistency is massively underrated in social.

What’s exciting you most about social media at the moment?

I’m really fascinated by the rise of creator-led IP.

I’m seeing more and more creators building their own formats, their own series and their own characters, rather than just making individual pieces of content. They’re thinking like producers: writing, directing, shooting and editing, and building entire worlds around an idea.

Sometimes I look at the production and think, “How has one person created this?” You don’t necessarily need a huge production company or a television network anymore to test an idea. A creator can build something themselves, put it in front of an audience and learn incredibly quickly whether people want more of it.

I think we’re going to see a massive rise in creator-led series, micro-series and repeatable formats over the next 12 months. I’m really excited to see how those ideas then move beyond social into podcast formats, book deals, live experiences, TV, film and products.

Social media will always be this great home and shop window, but creators aren’t just influencing  anymore. Increasingly, they’ll become the IP owners in their own right and the creative businesses behind the idea.

What’s your biggest prediction for social media in 2027?

I’d probably go back to IP. We’ve spent years talking about reach, engagement, creators and influence, and I think the next conversation will really be about what we’re actually building.

We’ll see a lot more creators developing their own formats, series, podcasts, books, products and businesses. Brands will increasingly want to get involved earlier in those processes and become part of that.

Instead of just asking a creator to promote something that already exists, I think we’ll start to see brands partnering earlier to develop ideas with creators that can live across multiple platforms.

The best creative partnerships of the future will start to feel less like, “Here’s a brief, make us a video,” and more like, “Here’s a shared opportunity, what can we build together?”

I think that development of IP on social media is really exciting and will be a big thing that we talk about.

What do you think brands and social teams will be talking about this time next year?

I think we’ll start to see brands realise that some of their most powerful assets that they’ve yet to tap into might actually be sitting inside their businesses already.

We’ve already started to see this with people like Katherine Turner and M&S, and I think we’ll see some really great examples of interesting employees becoming advocates and the faces of their brands, and becoming that genuine social personality.

Particularly where they have a role that gives them insider access or a really strong point of view, brands will start to unclip the leash and allow them to behave like people rather than corporate spokespeople.

Employee-generated content is going to have a big boom. There are so many people who work for these brands who love their jobs, but don’t have an outlet to share how much they love what they’re doing or how fun their job is.

I think more and more brands will pinpoint a person or people and start to build around them. It will be a really exciting moment for how brands change their social strategies, with their voice represented by a real human rather than just a brand tone.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone looking to build a career in social?

Experiment, but really figure out what part of social you actually love.

Social media is such a broad career now. Ten years ago, it was quite defined, but it’s grown and grown. You can work in strategy, creative production, community, creator management, partnerships, paid media, analytics and so many other disciplines.

Try out as many things around social media as you possibly can and practise what you preach. Make your own content, write things, shoot things, edit something and maybe even try to grow your own account.

You need to understand what it feels like to put something out there and have no one engage with it. When you’re giving a creator a brief or working with a brand, it gives you a completely different perspective and empathy for how you’re working.

I’d also say get really good at writing a brief. You’ll spend an enormous amount of time in this industry briefing people: creators, agencies, editors, designers and even your own colleagues. Being able to clearly articulate what you’re trying to achieve, who you’re talking to and why someone should care is such an underrated skill.

Stay curious. Social media changes so quickly, at a pace that I don’t think anyone can quite keep up with. The best people in the industry are willing to learn and fail.

And lastly, be kind to yourself. Make sure you switch off and don’t spend every waking minute scrolling. Have some time off as well.

We know great social is always a team effort. Are there any members of your team you’d like to give a shout-out to by name in your Hot 30 article, and what would you like to recognise them for?

I’m really lucky to have a great, really strong team around me at TikTok. My boss, Yasmin How, in particular has been fantastic since I started. There’s so much to learn and build in this new role, and the framework around me is quite loose because the role didn’t exist before. She gives me a huge amount of autonomy and encourages me to try new things, which I really value.

In my earlier career, I’d also love to shout out Olivia Thompson, now leading  Service95, Amy Bryant Jeffries, now MD at OTG Talent, and my colleague Benji Potter, PR, Social Media & Influencer Lead at GetYourGuide.

We’ve all worked together at different points in our careers and each of them has given me incredible advice, challenged my thinking and helped me navigate some really tricky moments. You don’t build a career on your own, and you pick up so much knowledge from the people you work with, so I’m very grateful to all of them for their support and guidance over the years.

Why Robert Made the Hot 30

Robert's approach to creator marketing goes beyond campaigns, content and individual partnerships. He's focused on building genuine creator communities, giving emerging talent the tools to grow and creating opportunities that bring the online and offline worlds together.

We were particularly interested in his perspective on the rise of creator-led IP and how the relationship between brands and creators is evolving. Rather than treating creators as another media channel, Robert recognises their potential as producers, business owners and creative partners who can build ideas, formats and communities with a life far beyond a single social post.

His work bringing creators together through live experiences, alongside his focus on developing the next generation of talent, reflects the kind of community-first thinking we believe will shape the future of social. And with his predictions around creator-owned IP, employee-generated content and more collaborative brand partnerships, Robert is clearly looking at where the industry is heading next.

It's that combination of creativity, curiosity and commitment to helping others grow that makes Robert exactly the kind of industry talent we wanted the Pepper Hot 30 to celebrate.

You can read more about the Pepper Hot 30 UK 2026, meet the full list of winners and find out more about the initiative here.