GloMotion Studios is a new venture in the digital content space founded by Dominic Smales and Simon Goodman to bridge the widening gap between creators, brands, and audiences. 

Dominic has been at the forefront of the industry’s transformation, with a career that spans traditional media and digital content. 

He began in media sales, working for newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. His time at Global Radio, the UK’s largest independent commercial radio network, showed him how audience engagement works. 

In 2010, Dominic founded Gleam Futures, a consultancy that helps brands navigate the emerging world of social media. This venture led him to connect with early content creators known as bloggers. 

A pivotal moment came when Dominic met Sam and Nic Chapman, sisters behind the YouTube channel Pixiwoo. He recognized their potential and became their manager, strategically introducing them to brands and advising on content growth. 

“They became the first channel in the UK to breach a million subscribers on YouTube,” Dominic reveals.

This experience propelled the entrepreneur to manage other top-tier digital creators. Gleam Futures expanded internationally, opening offices in Los Angeles and Australia. The company’s portfolio grew to include licensing deals, book publishing, movie production, and extensive brand partnerships.

In January 2021, Dominic sold Gleam Futures to advertising conglomerate Dentsu Inc. Reflecting on the industry’s growth, he observes that “the influencer business, the creator economy, the influencer marketing business, had become a multi-billion dollar business.”

Now, with GloMotion Studios, Dominic and his team are focusing on the next phase of the creator economy, a unique content creation approach, and a vision for purifying the creator economy.

Bridging the Entertainment Gap

Before the GloMotion launch, the team identified a crucial market gap: the dilution of engagement as the creator economy expanded.

“When I first started working with Sam and Nick Chapman and Pixiwoo, they would have a video that did 100,000 views, and 80,000 of those views would come from subscribers,” Dominic recalls. He notes that engagement levels were once so high that a video might receive 30,000 comments.

However, the playing field has shifted dramatically. “I saw the industry go from that level of engagement… right the way up to the point where the average engagement rate for an influencer post might be 0.2%, 0.1% of the views,” Dominic explains.

He believes this decline in engagement stems from the meteoric growth of the creator economy. 

As more people entered the space, attracted by potential earnings, content quality became inconsistent. Simultaneously, brands eager to reach growing audiences often prioritized reach over entertainment value.

“Audiences are being less and less entertained and more and more advertised to,” Dominic observes.

By focusing on premium, creator-led content powered by brands, GloMotion Studios seeks to rekindle the high engagement levels that once characterized social media and “reintroduce entertainment.”

Drawing on the creative expertise of co-founder Simon Goodman, an award-winning and BAFTA-nominated showrunner, GloMotion is perfectly positioned to do this.

To ramp up their efforts, the company has hired digital branded content and marketing expert Chris Davis as Commercial Director.

Simon Goodman Chris Davis

GloMotion’s Content Strategy

As GloMotion Studios looks to expand its operations, sticking to core principles is a must for Dominic and the team. 

“We will always adhere to our vision and mission of being audience first,” he states.

Dominic highlights the need for originality and the importance of “coming up with new formats and entertainment IP for digital distribution on social and streaming platforms.”

The industry veteran envisions diverse expansion opportunities. 

“I can imagine us bringing physical products to life through our entertainment IP [and] finding and launching brand new talent in the space through our formats and IP,” he says.

However, Dominic acknowledges potential challenges, particularly in balancing entertainment with brand messaging. 

“The brand has got to get used to not selling to an audience,” he explains. “Audiences are bored with having brands waved in their faces on social media.”

Drawing a parallel to the origin of soap operas, Dominic suggests a return to a model where brands fund entertainment without overt product promotion. 

“We believe that brands and creators can be the new Hollywood,” he states, pointing to the shifting nature of content production and distribution.

Promising Reception

Despite initially being nervous about launching a new venture after the success of Gleam, Dominic reports an overwhelmingly positive response to GloMotion Studios, attributing this warm reception to the company’s timely entry into the market.

He notes growing fatigue among creators, audiences, and brands with standard influencer marketing formats. 

“Creators are saying, ‘Yes, we are bored of having to create this. We want to scale up, evolve the quality of our content, and entertain audiences better,'” he shares.

The studio’s approach has resonated with creators, brands, and platforms. 

According to Dominic, “Brands are seeing the need to engage with audience interest,” while media owners and platforms recognize the need for better audience engagement.

While GloMotion Studios is still in its early stages, Dominic hints at a bright future for the venture.

Purifying the Creator Economy

After careful consideration, Dominic offers a thought-provoking response when asked about the one change he’d make to the creator economy. 

“I’d love to wave a magic wand and give every content creator the superpower to produce amazing content,” he says.

Dominic envisions an industry populated solely by dedicated, creative, talented content creators. He expresses concern over the current state of social media, where genuine creators struggle to reach audiences amidst algorithmic clutter and less committed content producers.

“We’d be left with a much cleaner, purer, engaging, talented space that we had back in 2012,” Dominic muses, referring to the early days of high engagement and quality content.

This perspective reflects his background as a talent manager and his enduring fascination with creators who can genuinely connect with and entertain audiences. 

“I started managing talent, but I was so excited by the people I met and their ability to connect and entertain audiences back in 2010 when I founded Gleam Futures. That’s what drove me, and I was fascinated by it and still am,” Dominic concludes.