72andSunny is launching a social media influencer division called Sundae, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Sundae works by asking social media influencers with over 10,000 followers to sign up via an app going live next month and select which brands they’d be interested in working with. When those brands then express the desire for social content, Sundae will ask creators to submit ideas. Essentially, Sundae allows 72andSunny to crowdsource social content from influencers in a way similar to BBDO’s recent-launched Flare Studio. Sundae will start with around 100 influencers, with plans to grow in the future, providing its content creators with compensation ranging from $50 to $10,000, depending on the assignment and size of the audience reached.
The program will allow 72andSunny to “harness” the talents of social influencers while providing “strategic rigor” and ensuring the content has a positive impact on “brand equity,” 72andSunny CSO Matt Jarvis explained to The Wall Street Journal.
72andSunny CEO John Boiler added that creative disintermediation from social media firms and publishers like Vice and Buzzfeed was “a very significant threat,” adding that such competitors “are moving up in the food chain and are putting together yearlong plans.’
A client reportedly even asked the agency if it should hire Vice for its social media content. We’re guessing they said “no.”