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LinkedIn runs two separate B2B creator tools. Creator Marketplace, launched 10 June 2026, is a discovery tool inside Campaign Manager for finding and vetting creators — still in alpha, US and Canada only. Thought Leader Ads, live since 2023, is an ad format that turns someone's own organic LinkedIn post into paid Sponsored Content without resetting their name or engagement. They solve different problems: finding a creator, and amplifying a post you already have.
LinkedIn runs two separate B2B creator tools, and it's easy to conflate them. Creator Marketplace, launched 10 June 2026, is a discovery tool inside Campaign Manager for finding and vetting creators — it solves "who do we work with". Thought Leader Ads, live since 2023, is an ad format that turns someone's own organic LinkedIn post into paid Sponsored Content, keeping their name, avatar and existing engagement intact — it solves "how do we amplify a post we already have". A brand can use either on its own, or use Creator Marketplace to find a creator and then Thought Leader Ads to amplify what they post.
Creator Marketplace is a discovery surface, not an ad format. It sits inside a new "Content and Assets" section of Campaign Manager and lets a marketer search for vetted creators by topic and content expertise, then assess a profile for audience size, audience composition and reach before reaching out. Creators opt in themselves through a Monetization tab on their own profile; once listed, they retain control — they choose how brands can reach them and approve how any of their sponsored content actually gets used.
Two limits matter before you rely on it: Creator Marketplace launched in alpha, restricted to the US and Canada, English-language content only, with a global rollout planned but not yet live as of this writing. A Danish or Nordic brand searching Creator Marketplace today will not find it populated with Danish creators.
A Thought Leader Ad sponsors an existing organic post so it runs as paid Sponsored Content — without reposting it from the brand's own Page. The mechanism is permission-based: a marketer with Super Admin, Content Admin or Sponsored Content Poster access on the company Page requests permission to promote a specific post through Campaign Manager, the poster gets notified, and they approve or deny the request. Nothing runs without that approval, and it can be revoked at any time.
The "thought leader" doesn't have to be an employee. LinkedIn's own documentation confirms eligible posters include company employees, 1st, 2nd or 3rd-degree connections, or any member who grants permission — a customer, an industry analyst, an independent voice with no formal tie to the brand at all. That's a wider net than it first sounds: this format launched in June 2023 restricted to verified employees only, and was expanded in March 2024 to cover any member's post.
What can be sponsored, per LinkedIn's own eligibility rules: member posts, LinkedIn Live Events, articles and newsletters. What can't: celebrations, documents, polls, multi-image posts and reshared posts. The ad itself can't carry an added headline, intro text or a call-to-action button — it runs the poster's original content, unedited, exactly as it appeared organically. You also can't duplicate the same Thought Leader Ad twice, though there's no limit on how many sponsorship requests you can send out to different creators.
| Creator Marketplace | Thought Leader Ads | Standard Sponsored Content | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Discovery tool for finding and vetting creators | Ad format that boosts someone's own post | Ad format that runs the brand's own content |
| Who's the "sender" in the ad | N/A — not an ad format itself | The original poster — name and avatar are theirs | The company's own Page |
| Solves which problem | Finding the right creator to work with | Amplifying a post you already have access to | Distributing the brand's own content directly |
| Requires a person's permission | No — creators set up their own profile | Yes, always, per post | No — it's the brand's own content |
| Status as of writing | Alpha, US/Canada only, English only | Fully launched globally since 2023 | Fully launched globally |
The two tools don't depend on each other, but they can be used in sequence. A typical flow: use Creator Marketplace to find an industry expert or customer who already has a relevant profile and an audience matching your target market. Agree what the person will post about (see what to put in an influencer contract for what a written agreement should cover, even though LinkedIn's own tool doesn't require one). Once the post is published organically and has gathered its first engagement, request permission to turn it into a Thought Leader Ad and put a media budget behind it. You don't need Creator Marketplace for that last step — any existing contact or employee willing to grant permission can be sponsored directly through Campaign Manager, whether or not they're listed in the Marketplace.
If you've already worked with whitelisting on Meta or TikTok, Thought Leader Ads will look familiar — see creator whitelisting, Spark Ads and Partnership Ads explained for the full mechanics on those two platforms. The underlying idea is the same across all three: sponsor a post that keeps running under the original poster's identity with organic engagement intact, instead of starting over as a brand-authored ad. The differences are platform-specific:
| LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads | Meta Partnership Ads | TikTok Spark Ads | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who can be sponsored | Employees, 1st/2nd/3rd-degree connections, or any member who grants permission | Any creator who grants content-level permission | Any creator who generates an authorization code |
| How permission is granted | Approval per post via a Campaign Manager notification | Content-level permission per post/Reel/Story in Partnership Ads Hub | A code the creator generates themselves in the app |
| Duration | Not time-limited at the source, but revocable at any time | Not time-limited at the source, but revocable at any time | Creator chooses 7, 30, 60 or 365 days |
| Can the ad be edited? | No — no headline, intro text or CTA button can be added | No — the approved version runs as-is | No — the approved version runs as-is |
LinkedIn's own product mechanics are one question. Danish and EU advertising-identification law is a separate one, and it doesn't care which platform tool was used. The moment the poster receives a benefit — payment, product, or simply knowing the company will spend media budget promoting their name to a targeted audience — the general disclosure duty covered in influencer marketing disclosure rules in Denmark and the EU can apply, the same way it would to any other paid partnership. An employee getting their own post about their own employer sponsored sits closer to the question in employee advocacy vs influencer marketing than to a classic paid collaboration — but an external creator, analyst or customer paid specifically to have their post boosted is a different case, and should be treated with the same care as any other compensated collaboration.
The numbers below are hypothetical and for illustration only. This is not a real Make Influence customer case, and none of the figures are benchmarks.
A B2B SaaS company's Head of Product writes an organic LinkedIn post about a new feature. It reaches 15,000 people organically within their own network and gathers 180 likes and 40 comments over three days. The company requests — and receives — permission to sponsor it as a Thought Leader Ad, and runs it for two weeks at DKK 400/day (DKK 5,600 total), targeted at job titles matching the product's buyer persona.
Because the sponsored version is the same post, not a new one, it keeps the 180 likes and 40 comments already earned — the paid reach adds to that base rather than starting from zero, which is the structural difference from posting the same message as a brand-authored ad. Whether the extra DKK 5,600 in spend produces measurable pipeline is a separate question — see does influencer marketing work for B2B? for how to measure that further down the funnel.
Make Influence's core model is built for direct-to-consumer ecommerce with tracked links and discount codes leading to a Danish webshop — LinkedIn and B2B creator partnerships sit outside what we offer or track ourselves (see the broader view in does influencer marketing work for B2B?). What we can say with confidence from LinkedIn's own documentation is the structural point that holds regardless of industry: a Thought Leader Ad isn't a new ad, it's an already-existing post with a media-budget amplifier attached to it — and that distinction is worth knowing before comparing its cost to a standard ad built from scratch.
No. The tool launched in alpha on 10 June 2026, restricted to the US and Canada, English-language content only.
The LinkedIn product itself doesn't require payment — permission is the only technical requirement. Many brands still pay external creators, analysts or customers as part of the negotiated relationship, and that payment is what can trigger a disclosure duty.
No. Per LinkedIn's own ad specs, no headline, intro text or call-to-action button can be added — the ad runs the original post exactly as it was published.
The ad stops. Permission can be revoked by the poster at any time.
Conceptually yes — sponsor a post that keeps the original poster's identity and engagement instead of starting over as a brand-authored ad — but the mechanics, eligible content and platform-specific rules differ; see the comparison above.
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