Popular Orlando-based influencer Kervo Dolo shot to internet fame on TikTok making skits where he embodies his Haitian relatives and more — and soon after, brands looking to reach his 10 million-plus audience of followers came knocking.
That led to paid offers to promote businesses and products via branded content — a lucrative revenue stream for influencers.
However, there’s only one Kervo, and the demand to partner with brands exceeds the available content and time an influencer can supply.
Until now.
That's because this year Izea Worldwide Inc., an Orlando-based influencer marketing firm, rolled out a virtual answer to help address a real-world problem.
Dubbed "Mixers," the tool uses generative AI and allows users to train AI based on faces, characters, objects and styles. The technology is based on Izea’s FormAI — a digital platform for influencers and the brands who hire them.
Influencers can share Mixers with brands to support an iterative content development process. That can be instrumental when an influencer is pitching ideas for a campaign. By sharing a Mixer, the influencer gives the brand creative power to weigh in on the visuals. An influencer also can revoke access to a Mixer.
“When an influencer actually lands a brand deal, we're just giving them a quick way to communicate with the client. It's like, ‘Oh, for this campaign, I could be at the beach. I could be in the mountains. I could be in this crazy magic mushroom field.’ It's a new way to come up with ideas for a campaign,” said CEO Ted Murphy of Izea in a Jan. 22 call with Orlando Business Journal.
In a nutshell: This allows influencers to provide their image or likeness to a brand for promotions, while saving the influencer time from creating that content in real life.
For example, Mixers can create a static visual asset (an image, not a video — for now) for brands showing the influencer in a setting with a person or life-like creature.
Until the tool is more sophisticated, images containing specific products — like an exact replica of a Crown Royal bottle or a Nike shoe — won’t be publishable because certain details like lettering won’t be exact enough. Murphy said that a year from now, Mixers likely will be able to more perfectly replicate those kinds of objects.
In 18 to 24 months, the tech should be able to produce video content that includes a realistic likeness of an influencer, and that’s a giant step forward for creators like Kervo who typically post videos.
Kervo, who isn't an Izea client, couldn't immediately be reached for comment about the company's new offering, but OBJ found another player in the influencer space to weigh in on how AI could change the industry.
CEO Rich Brown of Orlando-based influencer and modeling agency UTG Agency, who also isn't an Izea client, said he thinks it's a good idea to welcome new technology and find ways to use it to one's advantage, noting that an influencer shouldn't give up the rights to their identity.
"A platform like this is a great addition to the influencer space because it allows content creators to empower themselves and take control of their likeness rather than having it used in nefarious ways by bad actors. It also will allow creatives to be even more ambitious and experimental with their content creation moving forward."
Murphy said the “vast majority” of his company’s revenue comes from managed services rather than platform subscriptions. But, the tools in Izea’s platform all are used by Izea staffers and their clients to create campaigns around the world.
Izea, which has been publicly traded since 2011, lost its compliance with Nasdaq in 2022 because its share price had dropped below the required threshold. Compliance was regained in July 2023, and since then, the company has made a series of announcements about new product rollouts and more.
For example, in September, Izea announced a new seven-figure managed services contract. In October, new platform features were announced. In November, Izea reached the 1 million users milestone for its platform. And in December, Izea acquired Hoozu, an influencer marketing company headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
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