In the digital age, brands and individuals have become familiar with finding freelance creatives to work on various projects through platforms like Fiverr, Instagram, TikTok, and X. However, the game has changed with the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Text-to-image generators such as OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, Ideogram, and text-to-video and image-to-video products like Runway’s Gen2 and Pika Labs have rapidly become standard creative tools. These advancements have resulted in widely-viewed and groundbreaking creative projects on the web, leaving brands uncertain about where to find creatives with a command over GenAI.
Forum3, a two-year old digital tech startup based in Seattle, Washington, aims to address this problem. Co-founded by Adam Brotman, the former Chief Digital Officer at Starbucks, and Andy Sack, a former innovation consultant for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Forum3 has developed an online platform called Hive3. Unveiled in the summer of 2023, Hive3 gamifies the process of connecting brands with experienced and dynamic AI creatives.
Hive3 offers time-boxed challenges where creatives compete to create the best assets for a given brand in exchange for cash prizes, essentially turning the process into a game. The community members and a panel of judges select the winners. Over the past few months, Hive3 has hosted 10 “community-driven challenges” for brands. Now, the platform is launching to the public, introducing “Season One” consisting of approximately 30 back-to-back competitions for different brands held weekly.
To qualify for the playoffs, a creative needs to place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in one of these challenges. The top three AI creatives in each brand challenge will receive a portion of a $5,000 pot, while playoff winners will be awarded grand prizes ranging from $10,000 to $50,000, according to the Hive3 site.
Despite the potential and promise of GenAI as a creative tool, some brands remain cautious due to the unresolved legal issues surrounding the data used to train the AI models. Additionally, the U.S. Copyright Office has consistently ruled that GenAI artworks cannot be copyrighted. These concerns may deter brands from actively seeking out GenAI for their creative needs.
The first challenge on Hive3 is for the renowned dessert brand, Crumbl Cookies. Beginning later this week, on Friday, November 3, 2023, the challenge deadline is Tuesday, November 7, 2023. The total prize pool for this challenge is $5,000. The assignment for the challenge is open-ended, requiring participants to “Create an innovative ad campaign for a fast-growing cookie company.”
Adam Brotman emphasizes the significance of brands understanding how to utilize AI in the new digital transformation playbook. As the co-founder of Forum3, Brotman believes that his team is uniquely positioned to guide brands as they navigate this technology, often for the first time. He looks forward to partnering with forward-thinking brands like Crumbl Cookies to generate new creative output, activate a community of customers, and elevate brand marketing using AI.
The Hive3 community has already gathered a roster of influential AI artists and designers who offer tutorials and further evangelize the platform. Esteemed individuals in the field, such as Heather Cooper, Tatiana Tsiguleva, Nicolas Neubert, and Ben Myhre, actively contribute to the growth and development of Hive3. Creators now have opportunities on platforms like Hive3 to employ their new skills in generative AI technology and produce full projects with different tool stacks that emulate real-world activities, all while fostering a competitive spirit.
Forum3’s Hive3 platform enters the market as a solution for connecting brands with AI creatives. With its gamified approach, time-boxed challenges, and cash prizes, Hive3 offers both creativity and competition. However, concerns surrounding legal issues related to GenAI remain. Nevertheless, as the platform launches, brands like Crumbl Cookies have an opportunity to unlock the potential of AI-driven creative campaigns and revolutionize the way marketing is approached in the digital landscape.
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