Behind the Screen: At Microsoft, Creators Are Strategic Collaborators
Interview with Makeda Bell, Senior Communications Manager, Culture & Influence Marketing at Microsoft
Behind the Screen is a series on Following Up, featuring the minds behind brand’s influencer + community strategies. We often forget that there is a person or team behind the paid partnerships we consume, so I wanted to bring these people in front of the camera for a change.
Where are you based?
Atlanta, GA
How long have you been at Microsoft and how has it evolved since starting?
I’ve been at Microsoft for four years, and the work looks really different now than it did when I started ... in the best way. A few years back, creator and influencer partnerships often lived at the edge of a campaign, something you layered on once the big idea was already built. Today they sit at the center of how we think about culture, community, and brand.
What’s evolved most is the intention behind it. We’ve moved from chasing reach to investing in trust, and from one-off activations to long-term relationships like our multi-year work with Keith Lee. It’s less about placing content, and more about building the cultural fluency that helps Microsoft show up credibly in the moments that matter.
Has the industry changed since you first started your career?
Enormously. When I started, influence was still largely a numbers game, where follower count and reach were the headline. That logic has really fallen away. The most valuable thing a creator brings today isn’t the size of their audience; it’s the depth of trust they’ve built with it.
The creator economy has also grown up. So many of the people we partner with now are entrepreneurs, founders, educators, and community builders, not just content makers, and that’s turned the relationship from something transactional into something genuinely collaborative that starts much earlier in the process. As more content becomes easy to generate and scale, authenticity has become the real differentiator.
How would you describe your influencer ecosystem and how it sits in the larger marketing strategy at Microsoft?
We partner with creators as strategic collaborators, not just content partners. We engage creators across the brand-building process, from helping us understand emerging cultural and consumer trends to shaping storytelling and community engagement.
Creators often provide some of the earliest signals about shifts in consumer behavior, what communities care about, and how technology is showing up in people’s lives. Their insights help inform both our communications strategy and the experiences we create.
We’re increasingly focused not just on how we work with creators, but on how we learn from them and involve them earlier in our thinking. Creators can help brands build cultural fluency because they’re often closest to the communities and conversations shaping how people engage with the world. That perspective has become increasingly important to our team.
Microsoft had a strong presence at Cannes this year, including bringing creators into several conversations and panels hosted by the team. How did you decide which creators to bring to Cannes, and were they existing long-term partners or newer relationships?
One thing we’ve become increasingly intentional about is focusing on creator partners who are connecting with audiences and building engaged communities. Follower count can tell you how many people someone can reach, but it doesn’t necessarily tell you how deeply they’re trusted. And in today’s world, trust is essential.
The creators we partnered with brought very different backgrounds, experiences, and audiences, but they shared something important: they had built genuine relationships with their communities. They weren’t simply participating in culture. They were helping shape it.
Some were long-term relationships and some were newer. Primarily, we were looking for people whose perspectives could meaningfully contribute to the conversations we wanted to have around innovation, entrepreneurship, community, and creativity.
One of my biggest takeaways from Cannes was that the strongest conversations happened when creators were brought in as contributors, not amplifiers. That’s something we’re carrying forward: the next creative brief shouldn’t start with ‘Where should this live?’ It should start with ‘Who should help build it?’
How are you thinking about extending these partnerships beyond Cannes?
The panels were an important part of our Cannes programming, but we also wanted the value of the experience to extend beyond what happened on stage.
Cannes creates a unique opportunity for creators, brands, and industry leaders to exchange ideas and build relationships. Some of the most valuable conversations happen between scheduled moments, whether that’s before a panel, over dinner, or while moving between meetings.
We designed Microsoft Gardens with that in mind. The goal was to create an environment that supported thoughtful conversation, connection, and collaboration, while giving creators the space to engage in ways that felt relevant to them and their communities.
Strong creator partnerships require both clear expectations and room for creative perspective. Paid content and defined deliverables are an important part of the work, but the most effective partnerships are built when creators also feel genuinely connected to the experience, the people, and the ideas behind it.
Cannes was an important moment in strengthening those relationships. We hope to continue building on the conversations that started there and identify future opportunities to collaborate with these creators in meaningful, mutually valuable ways.
How do you brief influencers or what is your philosophy on briefing to keep the brand guidelines in place while still giving the influencer creative control?
My philosophy is that the best brief is one that explains the mission, not the script. When brands over-prescribe, they often remove the very thing they partnered with a creator for in the first place, which is their perspective. We spend a lot of time explaining the context, the objective, and the audience. We want creators to understand what we’re trying to accomplish and why it matters. After that, my job is largely to get out of the way.
A good partnership requires enough structure to maintain clarity, but enough flexibility for the creator’s voice to come through. That starts with choosing the right creator for the program. When there’s alignment from the beginning, it becomes much easier to give them freedom in the execution.
How do you measure success for your campaigns?
We absolutely look at traditional metrics—reach, engagement, and sentiment. We also use brand lift studies to understand whether the work influenced awareness, consideration, perception, or intent.
But some of the valuable outcomes I care most about don’t neatly fit into a reporting dashboard.
Did the moment’s creator partnerships and storytelling successfully create an earned content engine?
Did the community engage with the idea, not just the content?
Did the work create genuine brand advocacy amongst creator partners?
Did the creator want to continue the relationship after the campaign ended?
Did we learn something that changes how we build the next program?
I think one of the industry’s biggest challenges right now is that we sometimes confuse visibility with value. Just because something was seen doesn’t mean it moved the needle. What I appreciated most about Cannes was seeing so many conversations return to trust. In an environment where content can increasingly be generated, personalized, and scaled, trust becomes a much more meaningful differentiator. So yes, we measure performance. But we also measure whether we’re creating relationships strong enough to build on, because that’s what ultimately compounds over time.
Are there any influencers you have loved working with?
It’s hard to pick just a couple because we’ve been fortunate to work with so many talented creators, but Alex Nguyen and Wildlin Pierrevil immediately come to mind. They’re both exceptional storytellers who really understand the heart of a brief and then make it their own in a way that feels authentic to their audiences. That’s the sweet spot—you want creators to bring their own perspective, not just repeat a brand message.
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Beyond the content itself, they’re also incredible partners. They’re thoughtful, collaborative, and genuinely great people to work with. They’re the kind of creators who go the extra mile and bring positive energy to the work. Those relationships are just as valuable as the work itself, and that’s why they’ve stood out.
Who would you love to work with?
The streamer community is absolutely killing the game right now. Concepts like Kai Cenat’s Streamer University show how innovative, community-driven, and entrepreneurial this ecosystem has become. I’d love to work with a mix of current & emerging streamers who are building engaged audiences, experimenting with new formats, and helping define where entertainment, gaming, and culture are headed next.
Is there a Microsoft campaign or influencer post that you’re particularly proud of?
The Reheat with Keith Lee has been a highlight over my years at Microsoft. We started the multi-year partnership with Keith in 2024. The first season of The Reheat series focused on supporting Black-owned small restaurant businesses that blew up from “the Keith Lee effect” with Microsoft tools to help them keep up with the sudden business growth. It was a natural story for the brand with a true way to support a key audience. The series returned for a second season in Fall 2025, this time expanding to include Black and Hispanic/Latino owned businesses in Chicago. We’ve built some really impactful moments with Keith over the years, across this campaign and the overall Micrososft ecosystem, and were so excited to continue working with him this year at Cannes. He remains a meaningful partner for us and we love how passionate he is about the brand.
Any exciting partnerships or upcoming launches you are excited about?
I always look forward to AFROTECH each year and we’re currently in the preparation phase for this year's event in November. Microsoft’s onsite presence has grown each year since I started working on this moment and I’m looking forward to bringing back our House of Black TechXcellence for what’s hopefully an even more impactful 2026 with some of our creator partners!
Now for a few final, fun questions:
Favorite product from Microsoft?
Copilot. It’s genuinely changed how I work day to day, helping me move faster without losing the thoughtful and creative part.
Book, podcast or music on your morning commute?
Aspire with Emma Grede, the ultimate morning motivation podcast.
If you were on the other side of the business as an influencer yourself, what brand(s) would you want to partner with?
Of course, Microsoft 😊 I’m also passionate about travel and admire how Airbnb and Delta have strengthened their cultural relevance through experience-led storytelling. I’d love to partner with either brand.
Can you also share the last item you bought based off of an influencer's post and who the influencer was?
toni bravo singlehandedly influenced me to buy FishWife and I’ve been obsessed with them since. My pantry is full of their items, down to the tinned fish tongs. 10/10 influence.