Under the title “Work In Progress” WeTransfer launched on 27th March a new documentary series exploring the creative process of some of the world’s most groundbreaking artists.
The four-part documentary series celebrates the type of collaboration central to WeTransfer’s role as a conduit for creatives to share and workshop their projects with one another.
The series will premiere on WeTransfer’s recently launched editorial platform WePresent with new episodes to be posted throughout 2018.
WePresent start off followed the launch of the new WeTransfer mobile app and is part of the evolution of WeTransfer “..towards becoming an indispensable service in the creative process; from getting inspiration on our editorial platform This Works to sharing and presenting the final work via WeTransfer,” Nalden, co-founder and CIO WeTransfer said.
The “Work in Progress” content series
The series was commissioned by WeTransfer and created by Amsterdam-based entertainment company Pi Studios. Part of We are Pi family, this company’s aim is connecting the dots between broadcasters, digital publishers and brands to create and leverage original IP and content franchises.
The first episode of the “Work in Progress” profiles the creative dynamics between iconic Icelandic musician Björk and London-based artist Jesse Kanda, who creates surreal visuals for her music videos.
The series explores how iconic collaborations are inspired by and how they influence political, geographical, and cultural factors in today’s world. From high-profile collaborations between generation-defining artists such as Björk, to grass roots ideas exchange shaping the world around us, Work In Progress gives a snapshot of how the creative process works in 2018, and beyond. Future episodes will explore activism, cross-cultural exchange, the internet and travel.
Jamal Dauda, Global Head of Music WeTransfer: “Our mission at WeTransfer is to enable the effortless transfer of ideas. With 75% of our users being creatives, we are constantly striving to empower creative minds to find inspiration and create, share and present new work. With this series we wanted to look at how collaboration really works. We want to go beyond the standard ‘behind-the-scenes’, and tap into what creativity looks, sounds and feels like. We don’t claim to explain it, but we believe that by showing how creative minds see the worlds around them, and understand each other, we’ll open a window onto some of the magic and the mystery.”
The launch of WePresent
WeTransfer has always gone beyond just being a leading platform to share heavy weighted files through e-mail. On 29th January 2018 the company launched WePresent a a bespoke editorial platform designed to tell unexpected stories about creative minds and spark inspiration. The site – designed by WeTransfer’s in-house creative team and the agency Cartelle – is the latest addition to its constellation of creative tools. It completely reimagines and redesigns This Works, WeTransfer’s existing content blog, in order to provide bespoke content pages tailored to tell individual, in-depth stories.
Since the founding of the company in 2009, WeTransfer has prioritized highlighting the work of creatives on the wallpaper backgrounds of its file-sharing platform, which serves as a digital billboard for its 40 million active monthly users. WeTransfer donates five billion WeTransfer.com advertising impressions each year to promote creative work from around the world, often with a click-through to a story with additional insight on WePresent, the editorial arm. These are presented to visitors to the site not as targeted advertisements, but by pure serendipity, creating a unique opportunity to discover creative work that site visitors may otherwise never encountered.
Damian Bradfield, President of WeTransfer, notes: “Our mission at WeTransfer is to enable the effortless transfer of ideas. With 75% of our users identifying as creatives, we are constantly striving to empower creative minds to find inspiration and create, share and present new work. We realized early on that the enormous reach we have – with our background wallpaper images shown to over 40 million users – provides an opportunity to champion the work of artists we believe in. WePresent, our growing editorial platform has evolved around conversations with our community to share the stories behind these images.”
Rob Alderson, WeTransfer’s Editor-in-Chief, says: “I believe the site we are launching stands alongside the best creative content sites in the world. Because we have the luxury of publishing fewer articles than those other sites, we have designed a set-up where every part of the way we present content can be customized. This makes for hugely engaging and considered experiences for readers, as well as respecting the amazing creative minds whose work we are lucky enough to showcase.”
WePresent launched with a new podcast series created by WeTransfer and ICP.
The WeTransfer new mobile app
Launched on 11th October 2017, WeTransfer extended its offerings with the new WeTransfer app, a simple way to express and share creative ideas, providing the user tools to collect pictures, movies, documents, or songs from any app; organize and view the contents on beautiful boards from wherever the user happens to be; and then easily share boards of unlimited size with colleagues, friends or family.
WeTransfer has a dual revenue model, split between advertising and premium subscriptions. With WeTransfer Plus, customers benefit from bigger transfer sizes, storage and personalization options. WeTransfer also works with the world’s biggest brands, including Google, Samsung, Netflix and Squarespace, to develop and deliver beautiful, full-screen advertisements on our background wallpapers.
Nalden, co-founder and CIO WeTransfer, says: “At WeTransfer we are all about enabling people to share their creative ideas in the most effortless way. The new WeTransfer app removes any hurdles to collect & share different file types and facilitates a beautiful and easy workflow on mobile.”
The launch of the new app marks an important milestone for WeTransfer, as the company is evolving from a file-sharing service to one that provides a wider set of tools for creative minds.
The new WeTransfer app is available for free in the App Store, replacing the previous WeTransfer app.
Image over the headline.- Frame from Work in Progress video featuring the collaboration between Björk and Jesse Kanda. © WeTransfer.
Related external links:
Link to “Work in Progress” on WePresent platform
Link to Work in Progress Björk-Jesse Kanda episode on You Tube
