Back in 2017 the nascent practice of influencer marketing had problems. Stuck on the idea of a quick buck, agencies seemed to lack a real understanding of online content creators or their audiences, or the power available to branded content campaigns when done well.
Put simply, not enough care was going into treating creative partnerships as partnerships with creatives. So Fourth Floor was founded to fix that, by improving the way brands and creators can work together, for their mutual benefit.
Our mission is simple: to support creators. We understand that if you get that part right, all stakeholders prosper. If a brand partnership enables a content creator to produce more of what their audience love, while maintaining their authenticity, everyone succeeds.
Content made like that builds genuine connection and goodwill between brand and consumer. It means that our clients don’t have to push their way into conversations, but are invited in and welcomed. The right partnerships allow creators to increase the ambition of their output, the size of their platform, and their connection to the industries and cultures they work around. At the same time, brands gain new, vibrant, more effective and genuine ways to talk to existing and potential customers.
That brings us to the other part of the Fourth Floor approach, because philosophy and ideals are just half of how we drive success for our partners. The rest is in our push to constantly improve the standard of science underpinning the creative.
Insight fuels everything we do. From audience demographics and channel growth, to content engagement rates and cultural fit, we refine every partnership with quantifiable data. Using our proprietary AI-driven Insight Engine we can determine the likelihood of brand/community affinities, gauge the audience-blending potential of channel collaborations, accurately predict performance and drive the discovery of new voices.
On the other end of the process, we use social listening analysis and deep, real-time campaign reporting to keep our clients up to date on their results as they happen, both in the vicinity of their campaign, and in the wider online conversation around their brand, This empowers their initial decision-making, supports in-flight optimisation, and enhances their future plans with a new level of nuance and understanding.
Our mission to evolve the breadth and depth of partner services also continues into our merchandise and commerce work. Fresh Merch is our bespoke, full-service, next-generation ecommerce and fulfilment platform, stocked with product collaborations between our clients and in-house designers. It gives every brand and creator on the platform not just a store page, but the scope for an interactive, personally themed, multimedia community hub to showcase their products from.
What we’re most proud of, however is that our fast rise has been underpinned by a set of core values and a culture that values empathy, diversity and inclusion – reflected in a 3* accreditation from Best Companies for the past two years.
We have big plans for the next few years as we build out the tools and services that will enable brands, creators and audiences to be part of the growing creator economy. It’s a big and exciting undertaking, but like everything we do at Fourth Floor, it’s really about designing better solutions through empathy.
