Antonio Banderas and David Schwimmer star in NOVA campaign to celebrate company’s 1 year anniversary
Less than a year since its official launch, NOVA, a curated creative freelance network and marketplace celebrates the debut of its web product with a new ad campaign starring Antonio Banderas and David Schwimmer. Since its launch, NOVA has filled approximately 14,000 jobs posted in 550 cities around the world ranging from one-off freelance gigs to full-time staff positions, which has accounted for over $35M in paid work for creatives.
Available in the App Store and now as a web platform for desktop (itsnova.com), NOVA solves a core issue facing both creatives and companies in need of finding and hiring creatives. Intimately familiar with this flaw within the creative industry as discussed in their interview with Forbes last spring, NOVA’s co-founders Aidan Cullen and Alex Gruszynski created NOVA to serve as a centralized hub where creatives across multiple mediums can showcase their work as a portfolio and be solicited for job opportunities without having to rely on social media or word-of-mouth referrals.
The platform seamlessly connects top creatives with the job opportunities for which their expertise is an ideal fit. Its comprehensive marketplace aims to help creatives in search of employment opportunities – directors, photographers, videographers, gaffers, stylists, editors, VFX artists, graphic designers, web designers and more – to connect directly with creative executives in need of staffing projects. Although starting with a focus of connecting people with opportunities, networking and portfolio building, NOVA are currently building out additional tools so that NOVA can be the centralized “home” that facilitates all aspects of the hiring process for both freelance creatives and the client users who hire them. Examples of these tools include native invoicing features, tax organization for freelancers, transparent workflow processes, and a payment hub that allows freelancers to get paid without having to leave the platform and critically enables freelancers to be paid instantly after a shoot without waiting for Net 30 or longer payment terms.
NOVA’s core functionality for creative users includes the ability to display their portfolio, grow their network, post jobs so they can find crew (with the ability to target available positions to the location of the job), submit applications for posted job opportunities, and display contact information for their managers and/or agents. For client users, the platform’s unique JOBS 2.0 workflow allows them to filter and search NOVA’s intentionally curated, diverse directory of creatives, post jobs both publicly and privately, manage applications, and create/organize talent lists that they can continue to refer to when in need of filling future jobs. Everything inside the NOVA platform, from the features down to the design and user experience, was made with creatives in mind and now with its new web-based product makes it easier for client users to get matched with the best fit for the job. Cullen was integral in building out the product to work exactly as he would need it as an active member of the creative industry and now has shifted focus to streamlining the hiring process from the client’s perspective with Swipe View which brings the swipe functionality people have come to love from dating apps to the hiring process. Now, hirers can quickly swipe through applicants, reviewing their relevant work, including a curated portfolio for the specific job opportunity, in an engaging and efficient way, while also organizing top candidates effortlessly.
NOVA’s users include top creatives in the industry in addition to creative executives from companies like Adidas, Apple, Skims, Capitol Records, Interscope Records, Atlantic Records, Nike, KIND, Wieden+Kennedy, Raya, STAUD, Erewhon, Frankie’s Bikinis, Spotify, Miaou, Prodco, and more.
The company’s advisors include Troy Carter (Spotify, Q&A, Venice etc), Sam Teller (SpaceX, Tesla), Humberto Leon (Opening Ceremony/Burberry/Kenzo), La Mar Taylor (The Weeknd, XO), Tracy DiNunzio (Tradesy), Guillermo Andrade (424), Joe Grondin (New Balance, Aime Leon Dore), and Emmett Shine (Pattern, Gine Lane) among others.
Other notable investors include BWGTBLD, Gavin Dogan (Brain Dead, Garrett Leight), Media Empire Ventures (Grimes, Mac Boucher, Daouda Leonard), Billy Walsh and more.
NOVA’s creative ambassadors include Stillz, Ian Pons Jewell, Alana O’Herlihy, Atiba Jefferson, Noah Dillon, Conor Cunningham, Brianna Capozzi, Chloe and Chenelle Delgadillo, Jack Begert, Sam Center, Onda, Mara Weinstein, Clare Gillen, Dante Giani, Zamar Velez, Bijan Berahimi, Lauren Leekley, Daniel Prakopczyk, Roger Guardia, Daniel Vignal, Eva Dubovoy, and Vivian Kim.
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