Twitter launches in-house creative initiative, ArtHouse

Announced yesterday at VidCon — an annual event that bills itself as the “world’s largest celebration of digital video and online creators — Twitter ArtHouse aims to bring creators and consumers together.

In an attempt to boost the profits of brands looking to cash in on the fact that their audiences simply cannot tear themselves away from social media, Twitter will be recruiting ‘Creators’ (which in this context means either influencers with huge followings or artists who, y’know, create things) to “develop ideas and assets on behalf of brands”.

The creators will then work with Twitter’s in-house content strategists, digital producers and “influencer marketing specialists” (aren’t modern job titles fun, eh?) in order to produce the sort of shareable content that makes perma-scrolling consumers want to hop over to their nearest online shop, debit card in hand.

Twitter points to recent creator-led ad campaigns for American fast food chain Wendys and Google Brazil as proof that the concept works.

Over on Twitter’s company blog global head of Twitter ArtHouse Stacey Minero summarised the offering succinctly: “Our mission is simple: to help brands design Twitter first content that moves people.”

By ‘Twitter first’ Minero is referring to content — primarily original video material — that lives natively on the platform and is created specifically for Twitter as opposed to being plastered everywhere from Ello to Bebo.

“Brands are continually looking for smarter ways to develop feed-first content that brings something unique to the Twitter platform,” Minero says. “When content connects with Twitter’s influential, receptive audience it can make a product launch land, and even become a part of the cultural zeitgeist.”

ArtHouse, she explains, will unite Twitter’s creator management, video editing, and live broadcasting teams under one roof, connecting brands with “the creative capital and talent of influencers, artists and editors”.

The ArtHouse team will work with “Creators,” which Minero divides into two strands: “Influencers with broader reach, and artists with creative craft. Influencers offer brands the ability to tap into unique voices and built-in fan bases, while artists represent the slate of illustrators, animators, and videographers who bring craft to content and start with the mobile canvas.”

The move comes after a study — commissioned by Twitter — shows that Twitter users spend “24% more time with ads that come from Creators, as opposed to those posted directly by brands.”