The OneOff team is also very clear about this, so they chose not to develop AI models from scratch, but to connect large language models such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, and recommend them through “AI Assistant”. “AI still has blind spots to capture people's style and taste,” Talu admitted. So they designed the last “manual check”, and each recommendation must be reviewed by real person before it is put on the shelves. “I would say that AI is doing well 90% of the time,” he said. “But that 10% of the risk is left to people.”
Create a new type of alliance marketing model
Talu believes that celebrity style is OneOff’s “return-to-study superpower”. “That's why people are willing to come back,” he said. “When you want to imitate a person's outfit, you track him and pay attention to what he wears every day.”
OneOff also has another innovation, which is to enable creators to “certify and go online”, so that they can benefit from their outfits even if they don't want to run an affiliate marketing account by themselves. The first wave of certified creators that have joined include Suki Waterhouse, Emma Roberts and Winnie Harlow. They can review AI recommendation results themselves and even give back to suggestions for improvements.
Alliance marketing is a big business. In 2024, creators' revenue through alliance links is expected to exceed US$1 billion, with an annual growth of 23%. However, opening an account on ShopMy or Amazon, continuously updating products, and posting articles and promotions is time-consuming. Maylack said time is the hardest resource to be obtained – especially for top creators. “We are not competing with other AI platforms,” he said. “Our opponent is time.”
The biggest gap in the traditional alliance marketing model lies in the lack of “top of the funnel” – the most influential celebrities usually do not run their own alliance accounts, and they will not be willing to post a link “Click here to buy my jeans” when promoting movies, which is a burden on the image and brand. But it is precisely what this group of people wear that is most likely to drive consumers to buy.
OneOff solves this pain point. Creators can easily make money without promotion. “What we’re building is a truly passive income model,” Maylack said. Rather than stuffing the link into an introduction or limited time dynamic, OneOff’s recommendations look more elegant and more intuitive to operate. Of course, if the creator is willing to post a few posts, the benefits will naturally be higher.
What will happen after searching?
At present, OneOff is still in the stage of observing consumer behavior and is expected to start a new round of fundraising in June. “Our goal now is very simple, to let everyone know this product first, to have a relaxed and high participation,” Talu said.
After the fundraising is completed, OneOff will be further upgraded from a “search tool” to a personalized recommendation platform. Determine which creators should be added, which brands should be cooperated with, and which functions should be developed based on user behavior. Currently, each creator has about 30 items in its recommendation list, which will be added in the future. It is also planned to add new functions of filtering by price and category.
