NEW YORK: Social blogging platform Tumblr has launched a partnership with technology, creative, advertising, and media agencies to help brands enhance their use of the site.
Tumblr has invited a group of firms, including Social@Ogilvy, to join its “A-List Partnership Program.” AKQA, AllDayEveryDay, BBH, Carrot Creative, Deep Focus, Droga5, Horizon Media, Poke, Watson Design Group, We are Social, and 360i were also invited.
The agencies will help brands connect with their target audiences and tell stories on Tumblr in strategic and innovative ways.
Representatives from Tumblr were not immediately available for comment.
Carrot Creative will help Tumblr improve its user experience and make it more valuable for brands, which will ultimately lead to monetization options, said Nick Perold, VP of strategic development at the agency.
“Social networks form partnerships with agencies and develop groups because they are looking for extra firepower to develop the platforms,” he explained. “They're looking for brands to look at the platform and say, ‘What else can it do?' and the agencies are often the execution partners for those improvements.”
Perold added that Carrot, which launched its own “EveryDayWeTumbln” page on the site on Tuesday, will work with the other firms in the program to share best practices and to learn from one another.
Social@Ogilvy, Ogilvy & Mather's cross-discipline social media practice, has worked on Tumblr with client IBM on its “Smarter Planet” initiative, said Irfan Kamal, SVP and head of partnerships for Social@Ogilvy.
“We think Tumblr has a unique, very visual approach toward content, and it's one that we think has a lot of promise,” he explained.
Social@Ogilvy is focusing on figuring out the best way to use the social platform for its clients, rather than working with other agencies.
“It's not out of the question that over time we'll find opportunities to work with the other [agencies] in the program, but at this point, we're looking at it as a great opportunity for us to work with Tumblr to create unique experiences for our brands,” said Kamal.
