Dear Jacky:
Does every artist need to become a content creator?

I’m Delaney, an Agent/Producer based in NYC at Jacky Winter. I’ve been very close to the development of our recently launched agency Capital Virtues, which is a new venture from the Jacky Winter Group designed to support visual artists in the expanding world of creator-based marketing.

My previous role before joining Jacky Winter was working in content creator project management, where I was an account coordinator for a host of creators in the tech and knowledge niche, running their paid partnerships. When Jacky Winter decided to build this new branch of our agency, I already had some experience working with social media commissions at an influencer agency. But we didn’t set out to build yet another influencer agency. Capital Virtues is something completely different.

Jacky Winter has been around the block. We’ve seen all types of briefs under the sun in our nearly 20 years in the biz. In recent years, we’ve recognized a trend of more social-forward inquiries coming in for our artists. During COVID, the advertising industry fully pivoted to accommodate people being home and, for better or worse, on their phones. Brands are leveraging this movement as well, as more and more are looking to connect a broader range of creators on socials to help promote their products. Brands can no longer rely on a single television commercial to hit the right audience demographic for their product, so social media marketing has become a way for them to position themselves in the right niche. Our way of responding to this shift is to launch Capital Virtues. Capital Virtues is all about combining the two worlds of traditional illustration commission and creator marketing to create one ecosystem that supports both workflows.

When a brand partners with a creator, they’re really saying “we love the world that you’ve built. How can we plug into it?” Rather than a prescriptive brief, these types of partnerships are more collaborative between partner and artist. Clients recognize that the creator’s audience are the target market for their product, and that’s what they want to tap into.

When a brand approaches a creator for work, they're looking for a one-stop shop. The creator conceptualises, films, and edits the content. Depending on the project, that can extend to styling, sound, and anything else you'd find on a traditional film set. Think of a creator as a mini advertising agency, production company, and media platform all in one. Capital Virtues is built to support this workflow from end to end.

No! Absolutely not. Remember when suddenly all illustration artists were questioning if they needed to also become animators? We see this rise in artists becoming content creators as similar to artists moving into the animation space; it becomes an extension to the practice, not a replacement of it. We don’t see this as a black-and-white all-or-nothing situation for artists. Rather, we see the content creator landscape as something that artists can opt-into if they wish to. Being online, and building an online presence, is not for everyone and we recognize that.

If you’re feeling the pressure to put a camera on yourself right now, you’re not alone. We really want to emphasize that the traditional illustration world is not fading away. We also want to highlight that entering into this space doesn’t mean that you have to start making UGC product reviews with a ring-light on your face. Some of the artists we work with under Capital Virtues never even get on camera, and that’s totally fine.

Jacky Winter is still very much alive and well, and we see the addition of Capital Virtues to our portfolio as a strengthening overall. Artists still need production support, career guidance, and advocacy. This is true more now than ever as we see the advertising landscape shift. We’re here to sustain creative careers in whatever niche our artists want to settle themselves in.

We’ve really built Capital Virtues to be an arm of support for artists to utilize if they wish to. As we’ve seen the digital environment change, our priority is to always have the tools and infrastructures in place so that artists can plug in and have what they need to succeed. If this isn’t the right tool for you, that’s okay too.

A hallmark of Jacky Winter’s mission has always been to create great work, and this is still true for Capital Virtues. It’s our mission to champion artists, and this is an added platform for us to do so.

Capital Virtues is different from other influencer agencies because we understand an artist's creative practice beyond socials.

Throughout our conversations with artists as we were developing our philosophy, we kept hearing the same pain point from artist-creators: working with traditional influencer agencies was not a good fit because these agencies didn’t understand the art side of their creative practice, and therefore couldn’t properly value and advocate for their work. This is the problem that Capital Virtues has been built to solve.

Capital Virtues still offers artists the same support that Jacky Winter has been providing for nearly 20 years; advocacy, protection, and production support as the main pillars. Beyond that, it’s built to navigate the additional, difficult pieces of creator brand partnerships like negotiating whitelisting and usage terms, exclusivity, content planning, and creative pitching to clients.

Living under the Jacky Winter umbrella, Capital Virtues is also able to tap into the wide network of folks we’ve partnered with over the years to expand the work that we do, bringing in an animator, for instance, when a project calls for it. We’re not operating in one single lane, and we have the tools needed to grow any initiative. As we’ve done with our other ventures, if there is something in the creator economy that warrants an arm of support for our artists, we can build it.

If you’re an artist that is keen to expand your practice into social media, it could look like many things! The coolest part about artist-creators is that there is no single way that you could work. Artist-creators are telling their story on the internet through their many mediums, may it be through how-to videos, appearances at brand events, testing out different artist tools, or even creating new products themselves.

For us personally, when we started building the CV launch roster, we were looking for two things in equal measure: a distinct, recognisable art style and a naturally personable presence on socials with an engaged following.

Another key characteristic that we see as valuable in an artist’s work in this space would be diversity and authenticity in the content they’re posting. Their posts feel refreshing and witty, and it’s clear that they’re naturally speaking to their audience and engaging in work that excites them.

If you’re interested in expanding into this space, don’t feel like you need to start making UGC ads for a protein powder brand. Start simply by recording your process. Play with on-screen graphics, music, or whatever feels interesting to you.

What makes the creator economy different from the world of traditional illustration is that rather than a single commission-based project, we see a trend of more long-term, larger-scope, partnerships that are built upon an authentic match of creator and brand. Since creator work is so dependent on an artist’s individual personality and aesthetic, it’s more imperative to be intentional with client work so as not to alienate viewers by something that feels inauthentic to the artist. We believe the best brand partnerships amplify an artist's practice, not compromise it.

The internet is full of content, and we’re not interested in imitation or slop. Our belief is that there is actually a taste for real, practical, artwork that can live within social media and maybe even make it a kinder place for everyone’s eyes.

Our goal is to connect brands with the creator that they feel like they’ve dreamt up, someone who tells the stories that they feel align with their product, and has tapped into an audience that they want to speak to. These partnerships tend to be longer-term and more collaborative than your typical one-off commission.

Above all, we’re here to inject creativity, authenticity, and truly wonderful work into this avenue of online advertising, not just to create more noise in the machine. We see Capital Virtues growing into a wider ecosystem of full-scale artist support for content creators, alongside the growth of Jacky Winter as a whole.

So no, we don’t think every artist needs to become a content creator. In all honesty, at times we’ve also questioned whether it’s right to enter this space at all. However, we know that artists are already out there doing this work without the much-needed support that it requires, so we’re here to offer that.

We hope to hear from you soon. View the Capital Virtues website here.