The number of creators worldwide is growing exponentially. Pearpop is. serving that market
While the “Creator Economy” is experiencing hockey stick growth, the sad reality, is only about 1% of creators earn a living from their content. Social media platforms have been the primary beneficiaries. That’s starting to change, and an entire eco-system is emerging to help creators:
– Monetize their content through subscriptions like Patreon & Substack, podcasts, livestreams, and e-commerce
– Get benefits like health insurance
– Manage contracts, finances, and payments
The Creator Economy Index developed by payment platform Stripe, pegged the median creator income in 2021 at only $2,000. The Wall St. Journal reported the top 1% of streamers on Twitch earn more than half of all streamer revenue, and the majority made less than $120 each in the first 3 quarters of 2021. In spite of that, the number of creators increased 48% in 2021, fueled by:
Influencer Marketing Growth Will Continue, Exceeding Most Other Marketing Forms
Brand expenditures on Influencer Marketing will continue to grow
All projections are that Influencer Marketing will keep growing in terms of marketing investment and the percent of brands utilizing it. By 2025, it’s projected that 86% of brands will include Influencer Marketing in their plans.
The “Fairer Pay” Void Pearpop Fills
Pearpop, started in 2020 by Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree Cole Mason (a self-professed “failed YouTuber and failed Model”), is focused on “helping creators earn a living doing what they love”. Through his experiences, Cole was struck by how little creators were being paid, even those with millions of followers, so he devised a way to help them. Flash forward one year and Pearpop now has nearly 200,000 creators registered in its marketplace and it’s the fastest growing community of creators in the world. Creator followings range from only 200 up to 20 million. It’s a two-sided marketplace that’s been described as the Uber or Airbnb of the creator economy.
Two of Pearpop’s biggest customers are Netflix and Amazon. Recently, Pearpop facilitated the launch of the hugely popular Netflix Tinder Swindler TikTok challenge: “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for love?”.
According to TechCrunch, Pearpop’s early investors included The Chainsmokers, Alexis Ohanian (cofounder and former CEO of Reddit), Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, Mark Cuban, Marshmello, and Snoop Dogg. To quote Alexis Ohanian, “Pearpop is the marketplace for brand deals for anyone with an audience. I love my agency, UTA, but the traditional agency model cannot support the breadth and diversity of internet creators. There’s no way you can have agents in an office doing all those deals, nor should you. You want a marketplace for that, and that’s what Pearpop has built.”
The Pearpop name came from the idea of pairing influencers to create a “pop” of growth for brands and creators alike. Many of the first users were successful artists/creators who wanted smaller influencers with highly engaged followings to share their content to extend their reach and awareness.
The Attraction For Brands: Influencers On-Demand And More Accountability
As Pearpop has grown, brands have been drawn to its ability to execute influencer activations directly in a quick, targeted, frictionless, hyper-localized, economically attractive manner. Pearpop’s self-serve marketplace is a win/win for creators and brands because it’s as simple for brands to find creators as placing a Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn ad.
Brands enter creative briefs with the desired platform, audience, location, content or challenge, … [+]
Brands develop creative briefs – or as Pearpop calls them, “Challenges” – that span all social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, with filters for desired demos, geographic radius, specific verticals, types of videos, and challenge content. The briefs go out as a type of casting call and brands are instantly/automatically paired directly with relevant creators. Brands can accept all that apply or specify to approve each influencer before they post.
Once a campaign is live, creators are paid based on their performance/engagement, with payout milestones and a cap per post. What’s novel and valuable is that brands can accurately predict the reach and frequency their expenditure will generate. An added benefit for brands is that further reach can accumulate after the cut-off, and they don’t pay any extra.
According to Denise. Dresser, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Salesforce, “Now more than ever it’s critical that brands are able to directly engage with and nurture the relationship with audiences. So the first time I saw the Pearpop app I knew I was witnessing the future of how brands and creators would collaborate. It’s quite simply a more direct, streamlined, accountable way for brands to partner with creators — in other words, exactly what the space needs.”
At the start of 2022, Pearpop recruited marketing veteran Alex Morrison (former president of Grey West, Global MD of R/GA Content Studio, and founder of R/GA’s Influence Studio) as chief marketing officer, whom I interviewed Alex for this article.
“Brands play an absolutely critical role in the Creator Economy, and technology has the power to streamline access to the most relevant creators for a brand in the same way Uber and Airbnb streamlined access to cars or home rentals. As just one example, Pearpop shrinks the average time it takes to launch an influencer program from 6 weeks to 6 hours,” said Morrison.
The Attraction For Creators: Better Payouts And Ability To Be Found
With Pearpop, creators receive 80% of the program placement cost vs. historical flat fee payments. Creator pay is exclusively based on performance, not follower numbers. If creators drive more views or actions for brands, they earn more, aligning incentives between creators and brands. Another aspect creators like is how easy it is to “get found” because of both the way they’re listed in the database, and how challenges are shared.
According to Kennedy Jardine, who has 2.4M followers on TikTok, “Pearpop’s monetization system lets me do what I love for a living: creating content. My interactions with Pearpop are always efficient with clear communication on both ends, and the ability to easily navigate their user-friendly platform.”.
Take-Aways For CMO’s
In my column I share new marketing related platforms, technology, tools, and marketplaces that are gaining traction and offer new benefits that have not previously been addressed successfully. Pearpop fits that description. Since marketing is about testing and assessing the ROI of new, promising options, Pearpop seems to be an easy, low risk new marketplace to experiment with. Given projections by all accounts, that creators will play an increasing role in brand marketing plans, it seems worth a shot.
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