Tumblr announces platform to link upcoming artists and brands
Tumblr, at 420 million monthly uniques, has announced a new program today called Creatrs. Tumblr describes it as a art-meets-content collective but it feels a lot like an ad agency. There are two different pieces to the Creatrs program. The first, and most important, is the Creatrs Network. It’s an advertising platform from Tumblr that curates user artwork and artists to offer brands and advertisers for syndication and use in their own broader campaigns.
Hundreds of artists will be able to get into the action with brands who are increasingly demanding awesome digital content for their campaigns. The Creatrs Network will eventually allow Tumblr artists to sign up and try to sell their art, with proper attribution and licensing, to a brand who will syndicate that content across multiple verticals, from t-shirts to OOH advertising to commercials for the Super Bowl. Right now, though, Tumblr is choosing its own artists to participate in the new program.
This makes a lot of sense. Tumblr has users that sprout up from the masses to find fame or fortune all the time. There are over 100 different Tumblr blogs that have turned into published books. Advertisers are hungry for content, and regular customers are happy to consume this new digital media, whether it’s a blog, a portfolio of gifs or digital art, videos or music.
The platform is well-know to be a space where creativity runs wild on the web and it's imaginable how the tumblr mojo would work to bring social metrics of smart brands up. Let's hope this is the year where social media advertising finally gets organic and reaches out to the web artistry.