With social media platforms filled with similar content styles, Linqia introduces a specialized network of Visual Effects (VFX) creators. Keith Bendes, Vice President of Strategy, explains how the initiative shifts from traditional influencer content toward high-production, effects-driven storytelling designed to capture viewers’ attention.

Creating Distinctive Social Media Content

“There’s a sea of sameness happening on social media,” says Keith. “Even MrBeast has made recent statements about ‘trying to get away from the short-form, quick-cut, text overlay content’ he popularized.”

“When you look at brand partnerships with creators, they all follow a similar flow. VFX has something unique and different and takes a much higher degree of talent from the creators’ production perspective,” Keith explains.

Linqia’s network was launched with carefully selected creators who excel in VFX technical skills. 

“We’ve launched creators networks before,” Keith shares. “We launched an on-the-street network, which includes talented creators making entertaining, casual, interview-style content. We also launched a healthcare creator network of HCPs. We always debut with about 50 to 100 creators in an initial shortlist, vetted and available quickly in case our customer has a fast turnaround.”

The selection process prioritizes quality and brand safety. 

“Brand safety is always a huge component; making sure that they as individuals are brand safe and that the content they produce is brand safe,” Keith notes. “And then, of course, we factor in performance – engagement, view-through rate, etc. They have to have strong engagement with their audiences.”

Capturing Attention Through Visual Innovation

VFX content creates unique viewing experiences that traditional content cannot match “because it’s done through computer-generated effects,” Keith says.

For companies seeking differentiation, VFX provides compelling solutions. “For most brands and creators, stopping the scroll is a big goal,” Keith observes. “[VFX] stops you and makes you think, ‘How are they doing this? This is cool.'”

“As a brand person, it’s interesting that I can create a world without a camera,” Keith explains. “From a brand partnership perspective, it’s so open-ended because you’re creating worlds, and a lot of brand storytelling and visuals is about world building.”

Success Through Brand Partnerships

The network demonstrated its capabilities through Bona’s “scentportation” campaign, achieving a 99.5% positive sentiment rate. 

“The motto and theme was scentportation. It’s very difficult to visualize scent in the real world and create an immersive experience that helps the consumer ‘smell’ what the scent is. So for us, again, it was such a no-brainer to transport the consumer to a world that doesn’t exist,” Keith explains.

The campaign excelled at visualizing scent – a peculiar marketing challenge. 

“If you think about your senses, like creating a new world that taps into your senses, it just makes so much sense to have people who can do things that are beyond the abilities of cameras,” Keith notes. “Scent is something that’s not visual in essence, but it is visual because of what a scent translates to.”

VFX creator Caleb Natale’s work showcased seamless product integration with compelling storytelling. 

“If you look at Caleb’s post, you are transported into the content, and he creates this entirely other universe. Then his ability to effectively bring it back to the product and bottle is genius,” Keith shares. 

Technical Demands and Creative Support

VFX content creation requires extensive planning beyond traditional influencer partnerships. 

“Something important with VFX creators is how much of a lift it is to achieve some of these scenes,” Keith says. “We do a lot of storyboarding with the creators so that before they start putting in that level of effort, we’re helping to facilitate a full concept for a brand to approve.”

This pre-production process proves crucial for complex VFX content because they’re doing “otherworldly things,” Keith explains. “Sometimes you need to see how that is written out over a storyline that says, ‘I’m going to do this across this post and over the 30, 60 seconds, here’s what I’m envisioning is going to happen and aligning that with the brand and making sure they’re on board before anything is produced.’”

Revisions present greater challenges than traditional content. 

“If I have to reshoot a testimonial of why I love [a product], that isn’t the end of the world. When we’re talking about visual effects and how much goes into the models and the effects, it’s not that easy to reshoot a bit of a scene,” Keith points out.

The VFX network shows solid engagement metrics. “At Linqia, we see really strong view-through rates and high engagement on these posts,” Keith reports. “View-through [is] at the point of stopping the scroll. People are just curious to see what’s happening and how.”

Success requires more than impressive effects: “Like any campaign, I still think you need the right connection to the brand, the right message and call to action, the right authenticity of the creators.” 

“As a content style, you have a better shot at having something disruptive and engaging, but it is also still about picking the right creator, including their demographic profile and audience profile,” Keith adds.

Innovation Through AI and Technology

Keith notes that new AI tools will reshape VFX creation. 

“When you think about video models from text prompts, like Sora… It will enable many more people to do this style of content through prompts and AI systems,” he predicts, adding that even the advanced content will get “better, more differentiated, and unique.”

“If you take people like Caleb or Zach King, they’re still limited by what they’re physically able to shoot and accomplish themselves,” Keith notes. “Their imagination is boundless, but resources limit them. If these tools get as advanced as it seems they will, that limitation gets lifted to a certain extent, and now everything they envision can become a reality.”

Creating Compelling Brand Stories

Keith feels that VFX content addresses common marketing challenges and encourages creative expression. 

“With typical influencer campaigns, many brands defer to a testimonial piece of content,” Keith explains. “But when trying to build equity, brands are still hit or miss on how to do it effectively. The question is how you make fun, entertaining, engaging content that is branded but isn’t claim-based or product-based and is more about culture and fun. That is not easy to do.”

“Every creator conference you go to, you hear the same thing – just let creators do their thing,” Keith says. “In this world, taking the reins off is easier because they’re world-bending. They’re creating another ecosystem, environment, and universe; therefore, our universe’s rules don’t apply as much. And you can let them get more creative.”

“Right now, this is a unique, really interesting content style,” Keith concludes. “I think for most brands out there who want to tell a story, and that story extends beyond the realm of human possibility, I don’t know a more effective type of creator to work with than VFX.”