Greta Dunne’s Marker Video Targets Entrepreneurs In search of True Client Voices

Marker Video connects manufacturers with customer-generated video critiques by means of a market that verifies and authenticates actual individuals’s opinions. Based in April 2024 by Greta Dunne, the platform permits manufacturers to buy 30-second unscripted testimonials from verified product customers whereas giving on a regular basis customers the chance to monetize their experiences.

The Dublin-based startup serves each enterprise firms comparable to Unilever and HelloFresh in addition to smaller companies searching for genuine advertising content material. Marker Video distinguishes itself by focusing solely on “customer-generated content material” (CGC) quite than conventional user-generated content material (UGC), using strict verification know-how that rejects roughly 60% of submitted movies for failing to satisfy its requirements.

“In a world of AI slop, authenticity will reign supreme. That’s the place the worth is,” says Greta. “I questioned if individuals may simply open their make-up bag or kitchen cupboard and discuss a product they genuinely love. Actual individuals, actual opinions.”

With a pre-seed funding of $250,000 already secured and a $2 million funding spherical presently underway, Marker Video is positioning its “assured human” strategy as a direct response to the proliferation of AI-generated advertising content material.

A Profession Constructed on Real Voices

Greta’s advocacy for genuine content material started lengthy earlier than the present AI growth, although. In 2012, Greta based Faculty Instances, a web-based journal concentrating on 18-to-24-year-olds that eschewed the patronizing tone widespread in youth-oriented media. The publication rapidly gained traction, finally reaching 4 million month-to-month customers. 

Greta adopted this success by launching Teen Instances, additional increasing her media attain. Each publications have been bought in 2016, however not earlier than offering Greta with an understanding of content material monetization by means of native promoting.

“We made some huge cash by means of ads and native articles,” Greta recollects. “Manufacturers like Purple Bull and Netflix would say, ‘We would like our product in 5 of your best-performing articles.’ It was such a intelligent solution to promote with out compromising tone.”

This expertise led Greta to launch Marker Content material in 2018, a market the place bloggers may monetize their again catalogs by promoting genuine articles to manufacturers. “It was a weblog market the place you possibly can add your outdated posts and companies may purchase them off the shelf,” she says. As Greta shares, the platform attracted 100,000 customers inside its first yr.

Greta talking on the “Elevate Efficiency Advertising Summit”

The AI Disruption and Pivot

Greta reveals that the emergence of ChatGPT threatened the inspiration of her enterprise mannequin. Buyers started questioning the worth of a written content material market in an period the place AI may generate weblog posts immediately.

“I used to be making an attempt to lift cash, and traders have been like, ‘That is nice, however corporations will simply use ChatGPT now,’” Greta says. “I believed, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do? Sink or swim?’”

Somewhat than abandoning her dedication to human-generated content material, Greta noticed her personal altering conduct as a client. She seen her growing engagement with unscripted product movies that felt real quite than manufactured.

“The info confirmed influencer advertising labored extraordinarily effectively, however it was costly,” says Greta. “There needed to be one other solution to get content material.”

This perception immediately led to the creation of Marker Video in early 2024, a platform designed to harness actual buyer experiences whereas differentiating itself from each conventional influencer advertising and AI-generated content material.

The Marker Video Ecosystem

Marker Video operates as a two-sided market with a streamlined course of for each content material creators and types. For on a regular basis individuals within the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or Eire, participation begins with a gamified registration on the platform. Customers can then add 30-second movies reviewing or showcasing merchandise they genuinely use and personal. Content material might be review-style, however uploaded movies also can take the type of ‘get-ready-with-me’ movies, tutorials, ‘day in my life’ vlogs, cooking demos, and so forth.

“Anybody can add a video speaking about one thing they love, something of their rest room, kitchen, or a restaurant they go to,” says Greta. “As soon as uploaded, our tech runs it by means of authenticity and high quality management checks to verify they’re actual individuals.”

The verification course of is rigorous, with roughly 60% of submissions rejected for failing to satisfy requirements. Movies that move verification are tagged and categorized, making them immediately discoverable by related manufacturers.

On the model facet, corporations can both uncover movies organically by means of the platform or implement Marker Video’s QR codes on packaging, in electronic mail advertising, or at bodily places to encourage buyer participation. This strategy eliminates the necessity for manufacturers to barter with particular person creators or handle complicated licensing agreements.

“Our clients place QR codes of their emails, receipts, or on-site,” Greta explains. “We encourage them to inform their clients, ‘Hey, we’re working with Marker Video, share your expertise.’”

When a model purchases a video, the creator receives fee on to their checking account – at all times 50% of what the model paid, whatever the creator’s social media following or standing.

“Everybody’s paid the identical,” Greta emphasizes. “A man reviewing a lawnmower with out Instagram ought to earn the identical as somebody reviewing L’Oréal. It’s value the identical to the model.”

Outcomes for World Manufacturers

Although comparatively new, Marker Video has already attracted important purchasers. Greta reveals that HelloFresh applied Marker Video QR codes of their supply containers, producing quite a few buyer movies inside only a week and a half.

“They might obtain movies and get quantity quick,” says Greta. “They stitched 20 totally different movies into one marketing campaign. Such a variety of customers.”

This variety, she provides, represents a key benefit over conventional influencer advertising. By Marker Video, manufacturers can entry genuine testimonials from varied buyer segments – households, single professionals, pupil households, creating extra inclusive and relatable advertising supplies.

Unilever, one other early consumer, leveraged Marker Video to gather testimonials for Dove and Vaseline merchandise. “We went into schools and requested college students in the event that they owned Dove or Vaseline,” Greta recollects. “They’d return to their dorms, make a 30-second video, and earn some cash. It labored extraordinarily effectively.”

The platform is increasing into new classes, together with QR codes on alcoholic beverage cans (“a brand new drink referred to as Kombeara”) and pet meals packaging. “Individuals love filming their pets,” Greta notes, highlighting the platform’s versatility.

‘Assured Human’ in an AI World

A good portion of Marker Video’s present fundraising effort is devoted to creating what Greta calls “assured human know-how.”

“Manufacturers know each video is verified and confirmed to not be AI,” Greta explains. “It’s getting more durable to inform, and it’s enhancing each second, so manufacturers want proof of authenticity.”

This authentication know-how addresses rising client skepticism towards digital content material. Greta references a psychological mistrust of entities that seem human, however aren’t fairly proper, as a elementary problem for AI-based advertising.

“People have an evolutionary worry referred to as ‘uncanny valley’. We’re uneasy about issues that look human however aren’t,” she says. “It’s unusual that manufacturers use AI influencers when promoting is about belief, connection, and authenticity.”

Whereas Marker Video makes use of AI in its operational know-how, Greta is adamant that it’s going to by no means be used to create the video content material itself. “AI might help join creators and types,” she says. “However assured human content material would be the Most worthy.”

Inclusivity and Equal Worth

Past customer-generated content material, Marker Video is dedicated to facilitating participation within the creator financial system. Greta believes that the platform’s equal fee construction creates alternatives for individuals who would possibly by no means think about themselves “influencers” to monetize their opinions and experiences. It additionally ensures an assortment of voices are represented within the advertising ecosystem.

“Range is tremendous essential to me,” she says, recalling a dialog with a wheelchair consumer who struggled to search out accessible motels. “If somebody in a wheelchair shared their expertise in a video, he’d have booked instantly.”

This expertise bolstered Greta’s conviction that each one views deserve equal illustration and compensation. Marker Video’s app, developed based mostly on consumer suggestions, permits creators to supply details about themselves, comparable to “relationship standing, pores and skin tone, zits, hair texture,” serving to match them with manufacturers searching for particular views or higher perceive their clients.

“It helps individuals really feel like, ‘I’m a person. My opinion is efficacious as a result of my experiences are distinctive, and that makes my suggestions precious to corporations,’” Greta says.

Greta Dunne & Alison Keogh

Progress and Imaginative and prescient

With the pre-seed funding of $250,000 already secured, Marker Video is now elevating an extra $2 million to scale globally. The funding will help each know-how growth and buyer acquisition methods, together with campus outreach packages throughout a number of nations.

Early traders embody tech trade insiders who acknowledge the necessity for verified human content material. “One investor is a Meta software program engineer in San Francisco; one other works for TikTok in New York,” Greta says, noting that each approached her after seeing the dangers of inauthentic content material.

Working alongside Greta is Alison Keogh, the Head of Advertising, whom she describes as “the spine of the enterprise.” Collectively, they’re constructing towards a imaginative and prescient the place Marker Video turns into a universally acknowledged image of human-generated content material.

“I’d love for the Marker emblem to be as recognizable as TripAdvisor or Trustpilot,” Greta says. “When individuals see it, they assume, ‘Let’s take a video. We’re having a good time.’”

This ecosystem, she provides, would create a virtuous cycle: customers earn revenue from genuine opinions, manufacturers achieve reliable content material, and various voices have a platform to share experiences.

“I would like manufacturers to be proud to make use of Marker Video,” Greta concludes. “To say, ‘We reward clients. We use human reviewers. No scripts. We’re assured sufficient in our model to make use of Marker.’”