Miami-based influencer marketing platform Mavn has partnered with the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF) to manage creator applications ahead of the event’s 25th anniversary on February 19-22.

As Axios reports, the partnership addresses operational challenges the festival faced after working with content creators for nearly a decade, during which organizers previously sifted through hundreds of manual applications submitted via online forms.

Creators now apply directly through the Mavn app, which vets influencers and compiles their data and statistics for festival organizers to approve or deny entry. The dashboard displays required deliverables for each event, such as two social posts during an event and one afterward, before creators apply to specific events.

“It allows [organizers] to pick the right people for the event, so they’re not just giving away thousands of dollars of tickets to people” with the wrong audience, Mavn founder Olivia Ormos told Axios.

The platform aggregates all creator posts in the dashboard, enabling organizers to track metrics and reach out to each influencer.

“The creator economy is the modern-day word-of-mouth,” Andrea Moreno, the festival’s Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, told Axios. “I think we’ve reached a point where instead of hitting Google search, [consumers] first go to their favorite content creator” to research restaurants or bars.

The festival launched creator-centric events, including FoodieCon, four years ago. This year’s festival will feature Naughty Bites, a new tasting event hosted by Miami-based creator Samantha Schnur of The Naughty Fork. Schnur was among the first creators to apply for festival credentials in the mid-2010s, according to Moreno.

Ormos founded Mavn in January 2023 after running OO & CO, a full-service marketing agency specializing in events and influencer marketing since 2009. OO & CO has organized programming for Art Basel, Miami Swim Week, and the Food & Wine Festival.

Mavn positions itself as a concierge luxury partner that connects content creators with brands, offering both basic and premium membership tiers at no cost to creators.

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