AOL and Kanvas launched a verified accounts feature and a new partnership with Guess. Verified accounts, called “Kanvas Official” are aimed at brands looking to make a name for themselves on the live streaming network. For launch, Guess and Kanvas are collaborating on an #GuessAllAccess campaign and a livestream at an event they are throwing with Flaunt Magazine in Miami tonight. A spokesperson for Guess says that:
Guess is partnering with Kanvas because the mobile app provides a unique platform where users are able to customize and animate their livestreams with a broad range of animation options in real time, which many of its competitors cannot do.
Kanvas 5.0 launched last month in the iOS app store. Kanvas is a Periscope competitor and allows users to live stream, but also add filters, create themes, and edit in real time. There are also options to chat and use stickers and GIFs to comment on streams. Kanvas is different from other live-streaming apps in that it is targeted at a youth market (hence the stickers and themes).
According to VentureBeat, there are live themes where cash falls from the sky and users can watch doodles being drawn as they’re sent. Founder Vic Singh told VentureBeat last month that he’s all about owning the hashtag “bored” because that’s what kids are doing when they’re playing around with messaging apps:
The way that I think about it is if you look at Periscope and Meerkat and the market to get an audience there, you have to be an entertaining person because all you’re doing is like talking or showing them something, whereas with this the bar is a little bit lower, because with this you could do stupid, fun stuff and maybe not be entertaining yourself, but you’re visually entertaining.
If brands like Guess are feeling the silly themes and GIFs, then who’s to judge?