Word on the Block Aims to Unlock the Full Power of the Creator Economy
Word on the Block, the proprietary technology platform, is on a mission to make it easier and more efficient than ever for brands and creators to execute influencer campaigns.
Co-created and led by Seth Girsky, the company’s chief executive officer, Word on the Block, in its original iteration, was a New York-based advertising network for local businesses that relied heavily on foot traffic. With consumers primarily working from home, the company faced the need to pivot during the pandemic. Like many, Girsky began spending more time watching YouTube videos at the time and quickly saw the need for a new process within the creator economy.
As it stands, Girsky told WWD that he sees the creator economy to be inefficient. And that’s where Word on the Block comes in. Put simply, the company helps brands find the best creators at scale while managing the process and removes barriers that prevent brands from engaging with content creators on the market. Brands are connected with top creators without the manual work of discovery, negotiation, contracting, logistics, oversight and analysis. For creators, Word on the Block empowers turning passions into careers with more brand deal opportunities, easy execution, transparent pricing and fast payouts.
“Given the nuances of each creator and each campaign, it is still hard to find the right creators,” Girsky said. “Between getting data that is up to date, working with creators to understand their price for the desired campaign, and going back and forth negotiating the final rate, the time it takes for a brand to work with one creator makes it hard for them to justify working with a broader group of smaller creators.”
These smaller creators, he said, are willing to work for better prices and often have even tighter engagement with their audience, but the effort of scaling those campaigns is almost always too high to justify it. “Our goal is to change that, so that brands can run better campaigns, more creators can find opportunities and the whole economy becomes a little easier to access and execute.”
Seth Girsky, cofounder and chief executive officer of Word on the Block.
In the early stages of Word on the Block’s pivot, Girsky quickly realized “that the biggest creators were oversaturated with ads all over their stream while the smaller creators had zero even though their content felt more authentic. As the company became the creator economy platform that it is today, the goal is to “aggregate creators of all sizes to help them make extra money by partnering them with like-minded brands so they can earn a living doing something they love and are already doing.”
For brands, he said, it became clear that running a creator program is a heavy lift and can be difficult if creator relationships and platforms are not already in place. Brands are also faced with negotiating prices with selected creators. And that’s where Word on the Block comes in. The solution platform offers a free tool for brands to access pricing before committing to deals to maximize ROI.
“As we continue to build and launch more tools to enable more creators and brands to drive value within this market, our hope is that both brands and creators are able to make more money and we can be the platform to help drive everyone to have more success and be more efficient with every dollar they spend,” Girsky said.
Today, Word on the Block is working with companies across industries including retail, health and wellness, music and law. Since its launch, the platform has managed hundreds of influencer programs with companies including Morgan & Morgan, Soundraw, BrandsMart, Baselane and Bark, among others.
“When you look at the brands that have used influencer marketing to build a huge company, you realize how powerful this channel can be,” Girsky said. “Manscaped and Liquid Death are two of my favorite examples. These products couldn’t be more basic, but the brands are creative and emotional, which allows them to fit well on social media and making it easy for creators of all types to lean in and drive connections with the audience. If advertisers can let creators have fun while promoting their brand, that is when we see influencer marketing work best.”
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