身披毛皮围巾、脚边放着个Celine大手提袋的斯蒂芬妮•霍巴克祖斯基浑身散发着时髦的气息。但曾担任美国大型零售商萨克斯百货（Saks）营销总监的霍巴克祖斯基绝不仅仅是位时髦女郎：还不到两年，霍巴克祖斯基的初创企业StyleHaul就将时尚生活类内容和视频融入了一个可能利润丰厚的网络。

    StyleHaul的视频十分轻快、包装鲜明且制作精良，而最值得注意的是，这些视频都是由外行制作的。现年34岁的霍巴克祖斯基及其团队管理着由800名视频博主、又名播客作者，运营的1,100个频道。时尚初创公司StyleHaul于今年1月完成了首轮融资，共筹得440万美元，RezVen Partners公司是其主要投资者。过去9个月里，StyleHaul的规模增长了一倍，目前每月独立访问数达到了4,100万。据了解StyleHaul的人士称，到今年年底，该公司的收入可能达到1,000万到1,500万美元。

    时装和化妆品公司大都精于营销，但它们往往不会利用新技术来获得丰厚利润。赫斯特出版公司（Hearst Publishers）今年四月推出了Hello Style频道，发布来自《时尚》（Cosmopolitan）、《时尚芭莎》（Harper's Bazaar）以及《嘉人》（Marie Claire）等杂志的内容。（据称，为了让赫斯特出版公司推出这个频道，YouTube向其支付了1,000万美元。）媒体网络公司Glam Media在四年前推出了Brightcove页面。但调研公司康姆斯科（Comscore）最近的一份报告显示，美国12至34岁人群每月在StyleHaul上观看的视频总时长大大高于Hello Style和Brightcove。今年七月，赫斯特与Glam的用户在这两个网站上观看的视频总时长分别是大约10万分钟和60万分钟；而StyleHaul的用户观看的视频总时长长达1.09亿分钟。

    成功的秘诀在哪？StyleHaul的运营模式乍看起来和Machinima.com很像。后者是一家受到核心玩家热捧的游戏网站，经常播放一些热门游戏的试玩录像，有时则是像“洛克人最后完蛋了”这样的讽刺视频。Machinima拥有超过1,500万订阅用户，每月观看数突破10亿。有件事并不令人意外，那就是，Machinima的联合创始人艾伦•德贝沃伊斯和亚伦•德贝沃伊斯同时还和霍巴克祖斯基一同创立了StyleHaul。

    两家网站都把重心放在了社区参与上，而不是仅仅关注于吸引眼球。同时，他们还为外行制作人充当服务平台。StyleHaul吸引了许多深谙时尚的“大腕”，或者说是制作人，他们为StyleHaul网络制作了许多时装和美容系列短片。StyleHaul在2010年刚刚成立时，霍巴克祖斯基频频接触YouTube上的知名制作人，希望他们能加入StyleHaul，成为会员。不过仅仅过了一年，StyleHaul席卷全球，无数才华横溢的制作人希望能投身其中，为自己的专属频道添砖加瓦。霍巴克祖斯基称：“我们的社区充满激情。我们正在寻找志同道合的人。”StyleHaul目前有34名员工，其中8人专门负责筛选合适的合作伙伴。

    Stephanie Horbaczewski, a fur shawl draped over her shoulders and a Celine tote propped at her feet, radiates chic. But the former Saks marketing executive is much more than an impeccable fashionista: in less than two years, Horbaczewski's startup StyleHaulhas fused lifestyle content and video into a potentially lucrative network.

    StyleHaul's videos are crisp, cleanly packaged, well-produced and, most notably, created by outsiders. Horbaczewski, 34, and her team manage a community of 1,100 channels, run by 800 video bloggers -- or vloggers. The fashion startup closed its Series A in January, raising $4.4 million with RezVen Partners taking the lead. The company has doubled in size over the past nine months and now serves an audience of 41 million unique viewers a month. It could bring in between $10 million and $15 million in revenue by the end of this year, according to a person with knowledge of the business.

    As savvy as fashion and beauty firms have been with their marketing, many have struggled to adapt emerging technologies to turn significant profits. Hearst Publishers' launched its Hello Style channel, which features content from brands like Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, and Marie Claire, in April. (YouTube (GOOG) reportedly paid the company $10 million to launch the channel.) Glam Media launched a Brightcove (BCOV) page four years ago. But both ventures trail StyleHaul drastically in the minutes of video viewed per month among 12-to-34 year olds in the U.S., according to a recent Comscore (SCOR) report. In July, Hearst and Glam viewers watched about 100,000 and 600,000 minutes of video, respectively; StyleHaul kept users watching for a staggering 109 million minutes.

    How? The model for StyleHaul's success seems, well, unlikely: Machinima.com. That site, on which one can watch a trailer of the latest Halo game or the satirical show "Mega Man Dies At The End," is beloved by hardcore video gamers. Machinima has more than 150 million subscribers and over a billion monthly views. Not surprisingly, Machinima co-founders Allen Debevoise and Aaron Debevoise also co-founded StyleHaul with Horbaczewski.

    Both sites focus on community engagement over merely attracting viewers. They also serve as networks for outside producers. StyleHaul hosts fashion-savvy "influencers," or producers, who create style and beauty series for its network. When the company first launched in 2010, Horbaczwski and her team reached out to popular YouTube users in hopes of convincing them to be StyleHaul members. By 2011, the company was overwhelmed with the number of talented applicants hoping to create content for their network. "We're a very passionate community. We're looking for people who share the same, for lack of a better word, ethical standards," says Horbaczewski. Of its 34 employees, eight are dedicated to reviewing StyleHaul influencer applications.

    StyleHaul的下一步计划是帮助合作参与者获得成功。就拿EleventhGorgeous频道来说：虽然目前它的（月度）视频浏览量已接近200万，但它并非一开始就顺风顺水。来自塔斯卡卢萨的特蕾西和斯蒂芬妮姐妹一道创建了EleventhGorgeous。初创伊始，该频道的月度访问量就达到70万，可谓成绩斐然。特蕾西和斯蒂芬妮希望能全职投入，但数千美元的经济负担迫使她们无法放弃工作。她们于是制订了一份三个月的发展规划，并向StyleHaul的社区负责人提出申请。StyleHaul接下来向她们发放贷款，并约定，如果特蕾西和斯蒂芬妮能达成目标，那么StyleHaul将把贷款一笔勾销，并将其作为EleventhGorgeous的种子投资。

    霍巴克祖斯基称：“四个月过去了，她们不但达成目标，而且让所有人大吃一惊。”通过图片分享网站Instagram和Pinterest等社交平台的推广，EleventhGorgeous的浏览量在上月已接近200万。“如果想让我们投资，你必须拿出做生意的样子。她们制定了一份周密详实的计划，而且一一落实。”StyleHaul的投资并不总是资金方面的。有时一些制作人只需要营销建议；另一些人则需要产品和搜索引擎优化方面的培训。StyleHaul还向制作人提供视频的财务分析报告，并列出详细的用户数据。

    雅芳（Avon）致力于帮助销售人员成长为企业家，StyleHaul也在做类似的事。YouTube按照每千人点击成本（CPM）等指标向特定制作人支付稿酬，StyleHaul的支付方式同样如此，不过数量要稍稍多些。霍巴克祖斯基称：“我们认为这是一项投资。视频的好坏决定你的收入。这种感觉很棒。能驱动人们不断努力，我相信这种激励很管用。”

    广告业务能有效推动公司发展，于是霍巴克祖斯基打算发掘一条创新的广告之路。诚然，像YouTube这样的传统广告模式肯定可行。但StyleHaul的策略是和制作人合作，发布和广告品牌相关的视频。Gap旗下的老海军服饰（Old Navy）就和StyleHaul布鲁克•彼得森合作，发起了名为“Rock What You Got”的推广活动。视频中出现了很多老海军服装，彼得森则在一旁提出搭配建议。StyleHaul在广告主和制作人之间牵线搭桥，获得经济效益，随后其销售团队管理所有的产品、人员和营销成本。

    霍巴克祖斯基解释说：“我们正试图在诸多方面（与Machinima）区别开来，因为14-34岁的男性显然与14-34岁的女性截然不同。”StyleHaul目前正在与一家没有透露名称的公司合作，开发一种技术，能使观众“无缝”购买StyleHaul视频中展示的产品，而且不影响观看体验。这种体验将不会基于YouTube平台，而会放在定于2013年推出的扩充版StyleHaul网站上。

    眼看明年一月就是StyleHaul两周岁的生日，它需要做出一些重大的决定：是发起第二轮融资？还是干脆卖了算了？该网络（[视频）观看数环比增长15%，而传统纸媒出版商、媒体大亨以及风险投资家都渴望在跻身在线视频领域。不过目前，StyleHaul首席执行官称，这家公司将继续保持独立。

    译者：项航

    StyleHaul then tries to amplify the success of its contributors. Take one of the network's channels, EleventhGorgeous, for instance. It has almost 20 million video views in total. But it wasn't always so viral. Hailing from Tuscaloosa, sisters Tracy and Stefanie had a significant following, getting about 700,000 views per month. They wanted to work on their channel fulltime, but needed a few thousand dollars to quit their day jobs. They submitted a proposal to StyleHaul's head of community that outlined a three-month plan. StyleHaul loaned them the money with the promise that, should Tracy and Stefanie reach their goals, StyleHaul would wipe the debt clean and cite it as a seed investment in EleventhGorgeous.

    "In four months, not only did they get there, they completely blew all expectations out of the water," Horbaczewski claims. Last month, EleventhGorgeous' views hit almost two million, using social platforms like Instagram (FB) and Pinterest to market the channel. "If we're going to invest in you, treat it like a business. And they brought me a terrific plan, and they executed on everything." StyleHaul's investments aren't always financial. There are some users who simply want marketing advice; others need production or search engine optimization training. They also provide the channels with monthly reports on each of the monetization of their videos, providing influencers with helpful viewer data.

    Much like Avon (AVP) helps salespeople become entrepreneurs, StyleHaul pays its influencers based on their success. YouTube pays certain users a CPM per thousand views and StyleHaul takes that model but pays a slightly higher CPM. "We consider that an investment. What you're viewed determines how you get paid. It makes perfect sense, it causes you to drive your business and we believe in that method," says Horbaczewski.

    Ad sales are fueling the company's growth and Horbaczewski is determined to think creatively when working with advertisers. Interested parties can, of course, by traditional ad units served by YouTube. Another approach is partnering with StyleHaul influencers to create content based on the brand. Gap's (GPS) Old Navy division worked with StyleHaul's Brooke Peterson on a "Rock What You Got" campaign, which features various Old Navy products. Peterson advises how to style them. StyleHaul brokers the relationship between the advertiser and influencer, reaping the financial benefits and the sales team then manages all of the production, talent, and marketing costs.

    "We're trying to differentiate ourselves [from Machinima] in a lot of ways, because obviously the 14-34 year old male demo is very different than the 14-34 year old female demo," explains Horbaczewski. StyleHaul is currently working with an unnamed company to create technology that enables viewers to seamlessly purchase products featured in StyleHaul videos without ruining the viewing experience. This experience would not be based on the YouTube platform, but on an expanded StyleHaul website slated to launch in 2013.

    As StyleHaul heads toward its second birthday in January, the company has some big decisions to make: Does it raise a Series B or look to sell? The network is growing 15% in month over month views, and traditional print publications to media moguls to venture capitalists are dying to get a bite of online video. For now, the CEO says StyleHaul will stay independent.