Lumanu is building the first universal Content Rights and Distribution Platform for digitally native creators and the marketers they work with. We envision a world where every content creator - from everyday consumers to influencers, publishers, celebrities, and athletes - can trust Lumanu to ensure their content is being used appropriately and distributed in a way that respects their personal brand while maximizing results for their marketing partners.

Why are we doing this?

In working with some of the top consumer brands in the social media era, we've observed a powerful shift in consumer behavior and how marketers have reacted. Gone are the days of using the same agency, the same assets, and the same distribution channels for every campaign. Consumers today have grown up in an increasingly diverse world, and they expect the same diversity from the content that brands put in front of them. Content that sells a sunscreen to a college graduate in NYC differs vastly from content that resonates with a new mom in Chicago. Consumers are tired of repetitive brand ads and mass-audience messaging that was the natural outcome of centralized content production and cheap distribution.

As a result, marketers are turning to digital creators to power the future of marketing, a future that is more diverse and relatable. The boom in creator content has led to a democratization of content production, helping to combat issues of ad fatigue, one-size-fits-all messaging, and consumer distrust. However, it's not all sunshine and roses. While the industry around digital creators has blossomed over the past few years, it has the same issues that most early industries have. Lack of transparency, information asymmetry, and inability to measure tangible results have led to a Wild Wild West for brands, agencies, and creators alike.

A number of great companies and tools exist to automate some of the workflows around identifying creators and getting content created, but there is a glaring problem that no one is addressing: transparency around how content is distributed.

Our Mission: A transparent and fair industry for creators and marketers

There is a monumental disconnect today between creators and marketers on how content is used, where it is shown, how it can be modified, and what a successful return on investment looks like. There is no standardized way for creators and marketers to discuss how the content can be distributed and modified. This is an even bigger issue when creators are often featured in the content they produce. Creators don't have visibility into how their content and their likeness are being used. Advertisers, on the other hand, don't have visibility into the data and permissions required to maximize the effectiveness of creator content.

Lumanu is building a modern solution to this problem by creating a universal platform for content rights and distribution. We are initially building the solution to support creators on Facebook and Instagram, supporting content distribution via brand ads and whitelisted ads on the same channels. Whitelisted ads in this case is when an advertiser puts paid media behind a creator's post, while ensuring the consumer sees the content as coming from the creator's likeness.

As we build out our initial solution, we're also building a structured way to understand and solve the problem of content ownership, rights, and distribution in the modern marketing landscape. Lumanu is poised to support the inevitable world where creator content is used in ALL channels - from brand channels, like email and webpages, to out-of-home (OOH) and even new channels yet to be invented.

The advent of platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok has fully democratized the creation of branded content. Now more than ever, we need a structured way to ensure content is used responsibly and transparently in a value-maximizing way.