The French parliament recently passed during first reading a bill that defined a legal framework for child labour, regulating the commercial use of the image of children under 16. Receiving full bipartisan support, the text was adopted unanimously by French members of parliament. France is thus becoming a pioneer, breaking new grounds around this subject.
A few months later, we got in contact with the mother of the Solomon family (200 million views on their youtube channel) in order to better understand how we should tackle partnerships with (very) young talents.
How did you react to this bill and what does it change concretely in your business partnerships with brands ?
We were a family of child actors before being on social media, and especially before the creation of our youtube channel. So our children have worked regularly on film sets, always under the supervision of competent authorities. We were actually waiting for this legal framework from the very beginning of our social media ventures.With this new legislation, we had to adapt to pursue our collaborations with brands, simply by including agencies in our partnership process. Before the bill, we had started working with the modeling agency that has been casting our children for TV commercials and movies for ever.
How do you choose your collaborations with brands ?
Most of the time, brands come to us because our profile matches the image that they want to convey. They usually appreciate the sense of belonging in our family and the numerous artistic abilities of our children (singing, dancing, acting, dubbing…).
As a parent, what do you particularly pay attention to before committing to
a project ?
Precisely, this image compatibility. The project must reflect our values, appeal to us and make us want to talk about it.
What is your children’s pace of work ? And how much time does it take to produce one video ?
Between 30 minutes and 1 hour for the filming, depending on the project. We always insist with our clients on the fact that everything must be planned beforehand, because we never go back and shoot new footage. We want the act to be fluid and our children to be spontaneous in front of the product.
Most importantly, we exchange with the client or the brand beforehand to reach an agreement about the project. Then comes the time of creating the set, the plot, clothing, lighting… After the shoot, the schedule should also include logging and adding the artistic touch (sound design, visual effects, voice-over, subtitles… if necessary).Some clients ask for a final review and the right to add a few changes to the edit. Others give us a free hand and discover the final result along with our community.
All this work is done by an adult in a week’s time, between the preparation, the filming and the editing.
©Lévanah SALOMON’s family
What is the brand’s place in your creation process ?
Brands often target one video that they appreciate on our channel and then ask us to produce a similar kind of content for their product. When it comes to creation, they totally trust our process because they’ve been reassured by what they’ve seen and what they know about our channel.
What advice would you give to a brand that wants to offer a collaboration deal to young children on social media ? How do you approach them ?
Stay as close as possible to your targets. Pick influencers if you appreciate their content and their style, and trust them.
