What’s Tumblr mixing up now?
While it’s true that the social media site has been a boon to millions of artists and creators who’ve used the platform to build followings, now Tumblr “wants to help those people become commercial successes in the real world, too.”
“Today, Tumblr announced the launch of the Creatrs Network, a sort of creative agency for Tumblr bloggers that will help connect them with brands and other organizations that want to use Tumblr artist content in their ads and marketing,” according to a post at Wired. “The new division, which Tumblr has been testing with a hand-selected cohort of artists, has been in development for a year.”
Word is that early adopters of the idea include AT&T, Universal Pictures, and Gap, which have worked with Tumblr artists to create original content to be featured on their Tumblr pages. Graphic illustrations created by Trace Loops, for instance, were recently featured in the background of an episode of The Voice.
“The appeal for artists is obvious,” explained Wired. “This network gives them access to potentially gargantuan audiences they probably never would have reached otherwise, and Tumblr pays the artists their regular rate for the work. And for brands, Tumblr is promising access to the very artists who have helped make Tumblr a user-engagement powerhouse.”
Can creative change the world?
“We think the creative class is really the next generation that’s going to come up and change the world,” says Tumblr Head of Creative Strategy David Hayes, “and we think we have the largest creative class of any platform.”
This comes on the heels of recent YouTube initiatives. YouTube recently announced it would begin running ad campaigns highlighting YouTube stars — and hopefully transform them into mainstream celebrities.
Hayes is super proud of what he thinks is — well — a super idea.
“We’re super super proud of the fact that Tumblr powers the world’s best content,” Hayes says. “The idea that Tumblr will power the best advertising campaigns on Tumblr and on Facebook an on Instagram and on YouTube and on display banner campaigns and their websites, it totally makes sense to us. Coming up with a structure that allowed us to do that took a little bit of time.”
“Creators who Tumblr selects for the network get more than just publicity, too,” explains Hayes. “Creatrs promises them access to legal assistance as they develop contracts and broker licensing deals. We will take a much more aggressive stance, as far as protecting artists’ work.”
And this will be music to the ears of creative types: Tumblr says it will pay the artists for their content and guarantee they’ll get credit for their work, no matter where it appears online or in the real world.