Brands can build their own designer social network with Behance

Since I like design, a few years ago now, I had an idea that a niche social network could be created for designers to showcase their work and connect with one another. I then stumbled upon Behance.net when it just launched. I’ve also met the founder, Scott Belsky in Beijing before.

Behance.net is a

platform for creative professionals to showcase their portfolio of work, get discovered, get connected and find jobs. Designers can upload and share typography, images, video and audio. It is a curatted site whereby the site owners will approve designers to be members of the site to maintain quality and relevance. Behance.net also socially integrates with SNSs like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to create viral exposure. A new feature I just discovered on there is the ability for people to sell their work on the site.

As an example of how people can get discovered and land cool projects, a Light Graffiti team called Lichtfaktor based in Germany was discovered on Behance,net and hired to do projects for Sprint, Absolut Vodka and Speedo.

So how do brands leverage this platform? Behance has a product called Custom Creative Networks which means a brand can utilize the existing technology framework and swap in their logo and unique branding elements. The major benefit of building a social network of designers around a brand is that it creates a community of people who associate themselves with the brand and can be tapped into for insights. One prominent example is SwatchMTV Playground, a partnership with Swatch the watch brand and MTV, the popular music channel, implemented a Custom Creative Network. They used the platform to build a community of strong creative designers and reach out to them to participate in competitions like creating the next Swatch watch design.

Would this suit brands in China? For sure. I think China is a hot-bed of really creative and talented people. People I sit next to at work or even my friend’s girlfriend are examples of this. I think brands in China like Li-Ning, Anta and Peak could build their own Custom Creative Network and grow a legion of creative fans to communicate with them, analyze them and help them.

If you are a brand in China or Asia and would like to more about Behance or how you could use it, you can ask me at jason.lim at technode.com