Calling all creators: YouTube’s Open Call lets brands request custom sponcon

Something new is coming to BrandConnect. Nearly a decade after YouTube acquired the brand x creator matchup marketplace, and after a couple years of waffling about whether BrandConnect is best geared toward self-service or not, YouTube is making a serious effort to expand its offerings (and its team).

Some of those expansions were revealed in March, around the time YouTube appeared at South by Southwest. Now it’s using its time at Cannes Lions to announce Open Call.

This new feature lets brands put out open calls for creators (as the name would suggest) to make UGC for their latest campaigns.

To do that, companies just go to BrandConnect’s creator partnerships hub and publish a brief with their campaign details. Interested creators can scroll through opportunities in their half of the hub (which you can see in our header image) and respond with potential video content. Companies receive those videos and approve or deny them within BrandConnect. Videos selected for campaigns can be deployed across YouTube as official ads.

“Open Call gives creators of all sizes the opportunity to pursue new relationships with brands,” YouTube said in a company blog post. “Lean on the relevance and trust of YouTube creators to get more from your social strategy on YouTube.”

“With the thriving creator economy, we’re greatly investing in ways to help brands tap into the influence of YouTube creators,” Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, a Director of Product Management at YouTube, said in a statement. “With our new Open Call feature, we are making it even easier for brands to identify and partner with the right creators that resonate with their audiences at scale.”

This method of matching brands and creators isn’t new for digital marketing. Many outside agencies and marketplaces have tried it before. For brands, there are lots of pluses: they get a swath of creative, ready-made content that could help shape directions for their campaigns, connect them with creators’ enthusiastic audiences, and expose them to new ideas for creative and the creators behind them.

It’s also similar to how many traditional and non-creator brand campaigns work: companies often ask multiple agencies to pitch creative ideas or campaign concepts before deciding which one to move forward with. But just like the ad agencies whose concepts aren’t chosen for campaigns, creators whose videos aren’t selected won’t be paid for their work. YouTubers who respond to Open Calls might put in hours of effort–the same amount of effort they’d put into any other sponcon–and receive no financial compensation or relationship with the brand.

That being said, Open Call could give smaller creators the chance to work with brands they normally wouldn’t be able to contact. A nascent beautyfluencer could have their Short accepted for a multinational cosmetics brand, and a booktuber might get a spot with a Big Five publisher. For these creators, it could be worth shooting their shot, even if they might not get a paycheck.

Some brands and creators have already used the beta version of Open Call, and have found it a positive experience. L’Oréal‘s Global Director of Social Media, Karla Vélez, said using the feature to partner with creators “allows us to drive deeper brand engagement through authentic, entertaining content that resonates with their communities and extends our consumer reach.”

“At L’Oréal, YouTube creators are a powerful force—shaping cultural moments and forging meaningful connections with our audiences,” she added.

And model/actress/creator Haley Kalil, who’s used Open Call from the creator side, said she’s had partnerships with “as much creative freedom as possible,” which resulted in “authentic content that truly resonates with my audience.”