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Creative Brief: Valentine’s Cards


USE THIS SPECIAL CODE IN YOUR KEYWORDS: VALENTINEP5BRIEF

Start the year with love! As we are re-adapting to work after the holidays and tackling our New Year’s resolutions, our buyer community is planning for Valentine’s Day and creating campaigns around this beautiful holiday.

This month, we’re calling out to artists of Illustration, After Effects, and templates. Get one step ahead in planning your next production and let your work hit the hearts of buyers.

 

Valentine After Effects

Go digital! Valentine-themed After Effects are in high demand. People are looking for lower thirds, transitions, slideshows, social media frames for Instagram stories and posts and alpha mate/alpha channel elements with transparent backgrounds layered over footage of all kinds.

There’s nothing better than a physical Valentine’s card, but nowadays, with social media, it’s more common to send cards by email or on social media. Even e-shops use the cards in their marketing activities.

 

Submission Ideas

  • Change your graphics to 2023 – If you’ve previously uploaded anything that displays a year, update them for 2023.
  • Motion graphics – Any motion graphics containing hearts, emojis, turtledoves, red lips, Amor (Cupid) and his bow, and other typical elements of Valentine’s Day – People use gifs as one of the forms of Valentine’s cards.
  • Transitions – For video editing software, the gifs, Valentine’s Card short videos posted on TikTok, Instagram, and other social media, etc.

 

Valentine Transitions Pack by polygonmotions.

 

Valentine’s Templates

People want to make their cards as personalized as possible. Templates give them space for their own creation and create graphics as a base for their work. Buyers will also use your templates in their email campaigns.

 

Submission Ideas

    • Isolated Valentine’s elements on Green Screen – A card, hearts, sparkles, red lips, etc.
    • Alpha matte/alpha channel – Make the editing process more user-friendly and upload your work with a transparent background.
    • Social Media Graphics – Instagram stories, YouTube ending screens and Shorts, TikTok frames and filters, Twitch overlays, etc. Try making an Instagram story frame that looks like a Valentine’s Card.

 

Valentine Instagram Stories by polygonmotions.

 

Valentine Illustration

Valentine’s Day is perfect for Illustration artists. Their work is suitable for blog posts, YouTube thumbnails and overlay templates, static social media graphics, Twitch and Facebook broadcasts, profile picture frames, social media stickers, and much more!

 

Submission Ideas

  • Actual Valentine’s Cards – With cute and lovely themes.
  • Isolated Valentine’s traditional themes – Envelopes and cards with hearts, arrows, Amor (Cupid), a flower bouquet, roses, chocolate, pralines, etc.
  • Isolated Valentine stickers – For scrapbooking and DIY.
  • Valentine’s seamless patterns – To use as a background for Valentine’s cards.
  • Profile Picture Frames – Rectangle/circle shapes themed around Valentine’s Day.

Valentine Banners With Cute Animals by frenta.

 

Keyword ideas

Valentine, Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Card, Love, Amor, Cupid, bow, arrow, lover, sweet, sweetie, sweetheart, boyfriend, girlfriend, partners, marriage, love, heart, bouquet, chocolate, pralines, etc.

 

Target audience

All kinds of customers – especially ad agencies, digital artists, bloggers, influencers, content creators, etc.

 

Submission Checklist

  • Check out our marketplace for visual reference and inspiration
  • Try to stand out and create something that pops out among the other search results
  • USE THIS SPECIAL CODE IN YOUR KEYWORDS: VALENTINEP5BRIEF
  • Make sure your submission falls under commercial use.
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Music Briefs: Japanese City Pop

USE THIS SPECIAL KEYWORD IN YOUR METADATA OF YOUR JAPANESE CITY POP TRACKS SO WE CAN PROMOTE YOUR CONTENT: JapaneseCityPopP5BRIEF

Japanese City Pop, AKA City Pop or Shiti Poppu, is a loosely-defined Japanese pop genre featuring American influences. The sound emerged in the ’70s and grew as technology boomed. Thanks to the introduction of the Walkman and car tape players, it reached its peak popularity in the ’80s. With innovation in its musical DNA, Youtube algorithms and TikTok have once again reawakened City Pop’s relevance and fame. So, we’re calling for hot new City Pop tracks!

In short, it’s Western music adapted by the Japanese. Most Japanese City Pop artists sought inspiration from American soft rock, funk, or boogie rather than Japanese tradition.

 

Why City Pop?

Thanks to social media, music-sharing blogs, notable artists, and Japanese reissues, it’s in demand. The genre has also become a touchstone for the sample-based microgenres known as vaporwave and future funk.

Get inspired by the most influential artists in Japanese City Pop. These include Tatsuro Yamashita, Toshiki Kadomatsu, and Mariya Takeuchi. More recently, Miki Matsubara’s “Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)” became a fan sensation on TikTok in 2020 when Japanese users recorded and shared their parent’s responses to the song.

Pond5 Library Examples of Japanese City Pop

Submission Ideas

  • Upload tracks that are between 3 and 6 minutes long
  • Use a tempo between 80 and 120 BPM.
  • Play with typical instruments for Western 80’s pop, such as synth, electric (triggered) drums or regular drum sounds, bass guitar, and affected guitar sound (e.g., fusion jazz, where some use saxophone)
  • Experiments with Japanese vocals or without vocals
  • City Pop is a mix of genres, overlapping R&B, jazz, or 80’s pop. Whatever the influence, the result oozes a glamorous, urban feeling.

 

Summary

  • Take advantage of the 50-keyword limit and add both broad and specific keywords. On the other hand, do not use recognizable band or artist names, please!
  • We encourage you to submit separate :15 and :30 versions of these tracks for social media use.
  • Moreover, please note you can apply tags to existing tracks in your portfolio.

Top Image: OSAKA, JAPAN – NOVEMBER 21, 2016: Night city lights of Dotonbori street in Osaka, Japan by citylife.