Influencer marketing, I’ve discussed it continuously on this site in regard to entertainers, athletes and social media influencers working with sneaker companies. Brands take enormous chances in aligning themselves with influencers in the hope that someone can help them reach their target audience. Often those chances culminate in very little interaction and engagement, but because influencer marketing is a qualitative tool and it can’t be measured with certainty, brands continue to collect relationships for marketing purposes.
What if there was a way for brands to really verify the person with 200,000 followers on Instagram? What if a brand gave an influencer, or a creative, a chance to make a shoe in the colors that they choose? There isn’t a general release of the shoe, but any person who decides to share in the vision of the creative can get a pair of shoes styled by their favorite influencer or artist. The artist gets 10% of the sales. What if there was a platform that protected the brand and didn’t require an upfront investment on an unproven person or project?
Cultivator, formerly Sneakerlab, is currently in Beta testing, but they have created a platform for creatives to actually benefit from creating colorways. I know I’ve spent countless hours attempting to make my own color of certain models of shoes on every personalization platform. I went one step farther by creating my own shoe for my point guard who was murdered in San Diego. His name was Courtney Graham. I donated proceeds to my old school and created a scholarship in his honor. That’s a story someone can get behind and support. Cultivator has taken that concept and given the power to creatives and in return the creative can also earn money.
AMPLIFY YOUR STORY
You have something important to say, and an audience that is primed to hear it. Get your message out in a powerful new way, add a new dimension to your personal brand, and build your social following.
MAKE AMAZING SNEAKERS
Your Cultivator collection is the new canvas for your creativity. Cultivator’s relationship with Nike gives you access to a constantly growing selection of world-class sneaker styles, colors, and materials. This is the real deal.
MAKE MONEY
For every pair of shoes you sell through Cultivator, you’ll earn 10% of the total price. The more you sell, the more you make.
It’s an interesting concept as a platform. What’s even more interesting is that this is another vehicle for Nike to move towards a “bespoke” personalized relationship with creators and fans. The platform only utilizes Nike footwear. What I find interesting is this isn’t even a part of Nike’s CDO, but by default it is. Cultivator could expand scale simply by opening their site up to every business looking to verify influencers. There is a unique opportunity here, but as of right now it’s only for Nike. Could other brands create their own platforms? Right now customization of footwear is available on almost every major sneaker company’s website, but the people who are creating the designs, don’t have the benefit of actually earning from their creations. There is an interesting opportunity here.