ContentGrow aims to flip the editorial and content industry on its head in Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Jan. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- As the media and marcomms content industry continues to see growth and agency consolidation across the board in Asia, new and innovative tech solutions have begun to emerge that empower content teams to simplify operations, while also cutting out a string of traditional and unnecessary middlemen.

ContentGrow is a media talent provider and workflow management software for editorial departments and content teams in Asia. The platform isolates and streamlines a variety of painful key process that teams usually are forced to cope with manually. Building story briefs, curating talent, assigning contributors, harvesting pitches at scale, imposing quality control guardrails, and handling payments all take place in ContentGrow's digital environment.

Recent studies show that 40% of executives worldwide expect freelancers to account for an increased share of their organization's workforce over the next five years. Meanwhile, 50% agree that corporate adoption of gig platforms will be a highly significant trend, and 38% claim to already using on-demand e-marketplaces.

ContentGrow positions itself as the place to source experienced and project-appropriate English media talent. Buyers may sign up directly, while sellers on the platform currently may only enter via invite. The platform's talent pool consists solely of pre-screened professionals with published work samples from blue-chip media outlets and top-tier marcomms organizations.

According to the team, ContentGrow differs from other freelancing platforms in the sense that buyers should not expect to use it to source cheap labor for inconsistent or one-off content jobs. Instead, they should expect to work with highly skilled professionals with proven track records on recurring projects.

ContentGrow is also a tool that can be used in-house if needed. The software's project organization and workflow functions are designed to help team members collaborate in a step-by-step process -- one in which stories flow from content creator to editor and ultimately to project manager for final check before publishing.        

ContentGrow was launched by the team behind one of Indonesia's top PR and content creation agencies Content Collision. Helmed by co-founder Leighton Cosseboom as CEO, ContentGrow is designed to be the natural productization of the agency's business. Cosseboom claims that the same quality control principles that apply to media organizations should also apply to all content teams.

"Having already built our own agency from the ground up, we noticed that working with a large team of content professionals wasn't as easy as it sounded. We needed a simple and efficient tool to keep our work separate from messy email chains and untenable spreadsheets. We also needed a multi-step editing and quality control process," explains Cosseboom. "The answer was ContentGrow, an organized place for content creators, editors, and project managers to commission assignments end-to-end, from sourcing talent and story ideation to execution and cross-border payments."

Co-founder and COO of Content Collision Enricko Lukman adds,"In Southeast Asia alone, online media will become a US$31 billion industry in gross merchandise value by 2025. An increasingly large portion of digital content will come from out-of-house teams, as China, India, and Indonesia are now positioned as the top freelancing markets in the world. ContentGrow is designed to help catalyze this industry shift."

ContentGrow is currently used by multiple prominent media organization and marcomms agencies throughout Asia Pacific (buyers), while the majority of its talent (sellers) currently exist in the less tapped markets of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The platform facilitates payments via credit card, bank transfer, and PayPal balance in USD, HKD, SGD, and IDR. Sellers on the platform are able to receive payments and convert to their home currency if needed. Current buyers on ContentGrow include media outlets like South China Morning Post, e27, KrASIA, and more.

Cosseboom adds, "The content industry has an organizational problem and our software helps keep everyone on the same page. We invite teams across the region to help overhaul Asia's media landscape."

About ContentGrow

ContentGrow is an Asia-based media talent provider and workflow management software for editorial and content teams around the world. The workflow-marketplace hybrid zeros in on and streamlines a variety of key but painful process that teams usually handle manually. Curating talent, building briefs, assigning contributors, harvesting creative pitches at scale, imposing quality control guardrails, handling payments, and more take place on ContentGrow.

SOURCE ContentGrow