MOST LARGE AGENCIES work with influencers, but not in a way that’s efficient. They don’t even think about talent until a campaign’s strategy is defined.

“But young people today are so inundated with ads that we’ve become hypersensitive to inorganic content,” Eswein says. “We can tell when someone posts something they didn’t create — it usually feels inauthentic to their individual brand.”

Eswein believes bringing talent in to collaborate during the creative process results in better content.

“Take someone like Ryan Sheckler, a skateboarder with more than 1.7M followers,” she explains. “He’s extremely influential, and agencies want to work with him all the time. But who could have better insight into Ryan’s audience than Ryan himself? He can help create content that doesn’t feel overly produced and is attainable to his audience.”

Bringing Scheckler in earlier, while strategy is still being determined, is good for the community, the talent and the brand.

Cycle’s talent community has a combined 300M followers, offering brands more than 4B content views per month. But the best thing? Their disruptive approach also gives brands more bang for their buck.

“Our network is global,” she explains. “So, when a traditional agency would charge their client to send an entire crew to shoot a commercial in Taiwan, we already have creators and influencers on the ground.”

In fact, Cycle estimates they can film 10 international campaigns for the price of an agency’s one.

“But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that our content is beautiful,” Eswein concludes. “If it isn’t, no one will care. I, however, inherently trust our talent. Their ability to create good content is the reason they gained traction in the first place.”

Visit Cycle or Eswein’s Instagram feed for some seriously stunning, totally organic content.