BBDO Worldwide announced today the launch of Flare Studio, a new, curated crowdsourcing initiative developed to meet the agency client’s rising demand for diverse and authentic video content for an online audience.
Flare Studio is a crowdsourcing service that will draw on the global talents of freelancers, filmmakers, influencers, videographers, production companies, established directors and others, who will be invited to compete for briefs posted on behalf of BBDO agencies and their clients. The model is built on a system of tiers (Open Studio, Studio Plus and Studio Pro) which can deliver content to fit different solutions and budgets.
Flare Studio is expected to roll out across the BBDO network in 2017.
The evolution of AMV BBDO’s content arm Flare
Flare Studio builds on the digital and social content work that has already been implemented by AMV BBDO via its in house content arm “Flare,” and takes it to a whole new level. Flare launched two years ago and has now extended into 12 BBDO offices, delivering hundreds of films per year to its clients. Producing both in house, as well as running an outsource model, Flare has already won over 80 major awards.
Giving back to the content making community through NTFS partnership
Mars and AMV BBDO will be partnering with the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) as a way to give back to the content-making community. Together, these organizations will offer two £25,000 scholarships to the National Film and Television School. The activity will form the basis of Flare Studio launching The Flare Foundation, which will put a portion of its sales revenue to training those who are active on the platform. From scholarships to leading film schools, to grants for equipment, training courses and work placements, The Flare Foundation will invite active members of the community to apply to win the various training awards being offered. The Foundation will go live in 2017.
Mars Signs On As Inaugural Client Partner
“We are very pleased to be partnering with BBDO to contribute to a massive transformation of content production. Flare Studio will give Mars unprecedented access to a global pool of creative talent and we are excited about the unique ideas that this crowdsourcing collaboration will generate.”
“There is an insatiable demand for video content,” said Ian Pearman, CEO, AMV BBDO. “Flare Studio has been created to help our clients meet this exploding demand, and to demonstrate how BBDO can handle this increased volume, quickly, efficiently and with the highest level of creativity on a global scale. We call it curated crowdsourcing. It makes sense for AMV BBDO to serve as the pilot for the program given our strong track record in creating content and attracting best-in-class talent who are used to working in the discipline.” He added, “We are thrilled that Flare Studio will be launching with Mars as our inaugural client partner.”
“We are now able to offer our clients a unique model that provides a different approach for every type of content that any one might ever need,” said Nick Price, Head of Content at AMV BBDO and Founder of Flare. “Flare Studio is a bold undertaking – bringing the benefits of the crowd but also injecting it with the right amount of agency know how to make sure the work reflects an understanding of our brands and can work for them within the crowd source model. That’s a very different approach from anything else in the market.”
“This is a demonstration of our belief in uncommon collaboration both internally and externally with the goal to create the most relevant and impactful content for our brands,” said Leonid Sudakov, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Mars Petcare.
