Company will maintain its video and audio sites as Videoblocks by Storybocks (videoblocks.com) and Audioblocks by Storyblocks (audioblocks.com)
Videoblocks, the first subscription-based stock media company, announced today the launch of its new brand, Storyblocks, to make way for expansion into new content categories. Storyblocks added an image Marketplace with millions of photos in tandem with the rebrand—furthering its path of industry disruption. The new name exemplifies the one-stop-shop for digital storytelling that the company has become, bringing together its libraries of high-quality, affordable stock media. This new identity and image Marketplace advances the company’s mission of supporting the mass creative class.
As part of the rebrand, the company has moved its former sub-brand, GraphicStock, completely under the new Storyblocks identity, but will maintain its video and audio sites as Videoblocks by Storybocks (videoblocks.com) and Audioblocks by Storyblocks (audioblocks.com).
Building on the evolution of its brand and responding to the high demand for photos, which make up 70 percent of the stock media industry, the new image Marketplace from Storyblocks is home to millions of photos, vectors and icons. This addition follows the success of its video Marketplace, which has already paid out over $6 million to artists. The new image Marketplace continues the unprecedented 100 percent commission to contributors and cements the company’s position as the most artist-friendly and affordable stock media offering in the industry.
"For us, introducing Storyblocks and the image Marketplace were the next logical steps on our journey to becoming first and last place creatives go when working on a project,” said TJ Leonard, Storyblocks’ CEO. “The new Storyblocks brand captures our vision of bringing our libraries together into a more unified experience, allowing our members to find the right content quickly, without having to blow their budget or sacrifice quality.”
Founder and Executive Chairman, Joel Holland added, “Eight years ago, I started a stock media company with a single vision: to provide creative content that everyone could afford. This is still our mission as Storyblocks. Along with our new name, we are now offering our members 60% savings on millions of photos in our new image Marketplace and passing 100% of the earnings on to the original artists. There is a lot of great change happening, but our business model is staying the same. The creative community comes first every time.”
A transformative adventure, Storyblocks has evolved from a small, upstart content service, into a sophisticated platform with over 100 million downloads by creators worldwide. Along with this growth, the company recently moved to a new office in Arlington, VA to support its expanding roster of over 100 employees. The office, which is 22,000 square feet and overlooks the Nation’s Capital, is equipped with an Airstream RV room and “gym” game room—all part of a design effort to encourage employee collaboration. As a result of this and other initiatives, the company was recently awarded one of Washington. D.C.’s greatest places to work by Washingtonian magazine.
Creative COW asked Leonard if there were any nerves accompanying a rebranding effort on this scale. “Any time you make a big change, there are always nerves,” he replied, “but I think that’s good. Nerves keep you honest. They make you think, and they force you to make sure that the reasoning behind big changes is sound.
“So sure, you’re always nervous about how members, contributors, and the world will react when you introduce something as new and big and bold as our new photo product and the new Storyblocks brand.
“But more excitement than nerves, I’ll say that!”
More than an answer to the simple question of “Why?”, we wanted to know how Leonard feels that the shift to Storyblocks reflects a change in the company's own understanding of itself.
“The biggest change is around the way we think about our job,” he says. “Our mission from the beginning has been, how do we take great, hgh-quality stock media and make it affordable and accessible for artists, regardless of their budget or backgrounds. That’s not changing, but in the beginning we also thought about media types – we thought about video, then about graphics, then about music. Today I think we orient our thinking, and our business around the Member, the Artist. It’s about what they’re using our content to achieve.
“As we go out and talk to these people, more and more of them are telling us that they self-identify as digital storytellers. They’re using our content to create a narrative, and they want that narrative to be authentic, they want it to be compelling, and they’re looking for help from anyone who’s willing to help them do so.
“For a long time, we did everything from organize the teams, to the way we talked about the products through our marketing, we talked about video, and images, and music as three very distinct things. Today, we see it as one big member experience, in pursuit of empowering our customers to go out and tell better stories.”
This change in how customers see their own missions is true not just for individual artists, but for creative enterprises of every size, Leonard continues. “Rewind all the way back to the beginning of the production industry, most of the time, you might have the production team buying video on one coast in LA, and the people responsible for branding buying photos in New York. There just wasn’t a ton of overlap. Now, they’re digital agencies, and they’re mixing media all the time.”
Leonard feels that credit for the changes at Storyblocks should be shared between founder Joel Holland and the company’s customers. “When we ask ourselves ‘What should we do next?’, Joel never wanted to sit for a room for 6 hours and stare at each other. He always said, ‘Go out and talk to the customers.’ Especially when we talked to new creators, the millennial generation, it was resounding. ‘We don’t think about just video or just photos. We think about it all together – and by the way, we appreciate what you’ve done for video, but legacy options for photos stink. How about you come shake that up, too?’
“We don’t mind being agitators,” Leonard laughs, “so we were more than happy to oblige.”
About Storyblocks:
Storyblocks makes it easy to find amazing stock media at a fraction of the usual cost. As the first subscription-based stock media company, it disrupted the industry by empowering the mass creative class with studio-quality digital assets. The ever-expanding Storyblocks library provides a broad range of creators with HD videos, templates, images, music, sound effects, and more. From hobbyists to major TV networks, anyone can access the latest formats on its platform, including VR and 4K. Storyblocks always puts artists first—rewarding a global community of content contributors with 100 percent commission on sales through its Marketplace, which is unheard of in the industry. The company has paid out $6 million to artists and members have made over 100 million downloads to date. Storyblocks has been listed on the Inc 5000 list six consecutive times and was recently named one of Washington. D.C.’s greatest places to work.
Founded as Videoblocks before rebranding in 2017, Storyblocks is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. For more information, visit www.storyblocks.com and follow Storyblocks on Twitter (@storyblocksco) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/StoryblocksCo).