Multinational companies are struggling to connect to consumers because the way we consume media has fundamentally changed.

The rise of smartphones and the internet has revolutionised marketing, leading to a massive disconnect between companies and their consumers. Today, consumers expect targeted, authentic content on their mobile devices, but meeting these expectations comes at an enormous cost.

Most brands simply cannot keep up with the demand for millions of personalised pieces of content – and they are losing market share to those who can.

Australian tech company TRIBE has spent the past nine years and over $20 million building a technology platform that connects content creators and companies, enabling them to produce the content they need to reach their customers in a targeted and authentic way.

They are already serving global brands like Unilever, Nike, Mars, and LG among many others and are poised to solve a massive challenge facing the $1.5T advertising industry and the ~$230 billion creator economy.

CEO Anthony Svirskis is excited – “We are the leading content creation solution for several billion dollar brands and provide authentic, targeted, high-quality content – at scale and for a reasonable cost. We have used this technology to launch two new products which are gaining rapid traction and the attention of C-level executives. I’ve never been more excited about the opportunities we have in front of us.”

From TV to TikTok – Brands are Falling Behind

Over the past 15 years, media consumption has radically changed.

Traditional media like TV, radio, and print ads once dominated advertising, but the rapid rise of digital platforms, mobile technology, and social media has transformed how consumers engage with content.

With over 4.3 billion smartphone users globally, constant access to branded content through mobile devices has become the new normal, leaving traditional media struggling to keep up.

Generation Z exemplifies this digital-first shift, spending an average of nine hours a day consuming content through platforms such as Instagram, Youtube and Tiktok. In contrast, TV viewing among this group is rapidly declining, with more than half no longer watching TV at all.

Changing Media consumption since 2011 (Source: Zenith Via Recode)

This shift has transformed content creators—such as vloggers, influencers, and podcasters—many of whom began as everyday users, into powerful advertising figures with larger followings than traditional media networks. Consequently, 66% of Gen Z and Millennials now make purchases based on recommendations from these creators.

However, even with millions of people sharing everyday moments, like photos of their pets or meals, companies struggle to tap into this vast pool of user-generated content for advertising. As a result, they miss numerous opportunities to engage with potential customers and adapt to the fast-paced landscape of digital marketing.

The dynamic nature of social media demands real-time, targeted, authentic and high-volume content creation delivered directly to consumers’ fingertips.

But brands haven’t adapted, which has created a widening chasm between them and their audiences. Companies who cannot solve this problem risk falling behind.

This is where TRIBE steps in.

We have a webcast coming up this week with TRIBE, a leading technology platform that helps companies master scalable, cost-effective, and authentic content creation for social media advertising. Click here to book into the webcast.

TRIBE’s technology platform – the “Missing Link”

Over the past 9 years, TRIBE has managed to build what they state is the “only scalable, cost-efficient and user-friendly platform connecting companies and creators – allowing brands to master content creation for social media advertising in a digitised world.”

Partnering with major companies including NIKE, Unilever, Mars, Tiktok, Meta and more, the company has built an end-to-end platform that is designed to streamline how brands discover content creators, build and launch a campaign – and measure the results.

Following $20 million in investment and nine years of development, the platform now hosts over 100,000 opt-in content creators who have to date produced over 2 million authentic and diverse digital content assets.

Their technology offers brands an efficient and cost-effective alternative to traditional marketing agencies which, according to TRIBE, enables clients to rapidly scale up campaigns and produce thousands of content assets at a 100x lower cost.

As TRIBE put it – their technology does the hard part, streamlining campaign management and simplifying the content creation and management process, while brands do the fun part, designing briefs and submitting creator and campaign requirements to work with their favourite creators.

TRIBE’s Platform (Source: TRIBE investor presentation)

This technology has delivered powerful outcomes to clients, with Founder Jules Lund stating: “TRIBE’s strength lies in its ability to scale content production without compromising quality. Whether it’s a global brand like Nike or Mars Petcare, our platform enables brands to generate thousands of high-quality assets with minimal resources, delivering significant cost savings and efficiency that traditional models simply can’t match”

In the case of NIKE – without TRIBE, they require a 300 person content team that produces 4,000 content assets per quarter. This team and assets come at an enormous cost of approximately US$240 million per quarter, equating to US$60,000 per asset – the company wants to produce far more content, but it is currently not possible within traditional creative production processes.

This compares to MARS Petcare, who with TRIBE have produced a comparable volume of content (1,000’s of assets) but with a 3 person TRIBE content team at an average cost of US$500 per asset, 1% of Nike’s cost.

This content has also delivered MARS conversion rates of +180% compared to agency-produced content – demonstrating the economies of scale TRIBE’s platform can offer to brands and proving how quality content drives advertising performance.

Via their partnership with Pinterest, TRIBE also commenced working with Nike under a small initial contract, and used the opportunity to showcase the power of the technology by delivering quality content with speed and efficiency, showing up some of their incumbent agencies.

With an increasingly growing record pipeline of $42.5 million, TRIBE’s FY25 core business revenues are projected to increase 57% to $17.8 million and positive EBITDA – with further growth potential coming from a number of emerging blue sky opportunities.