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This week Twitter announced the release of Vine, an app (currently only available on iOS) that allows users to create six-second videos which can be easily upload to Twitter accounts.

It sounds simple. And that’s the point. But why only six seconds?

“Like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine (six seconds or less) inspires creativity,” said Vice President of Product Michael Sippey. “Now that you can easily capture motion and sound, we look forward to seeing what you create.”

In one week, we’ve seen everything from stop motion to cute cats, to awkward office videos. We’ve also seen serious censorship issues once users realised they could use the service to upload offensive video loops (Twitter has since censored searches).

Critics are already calling Vine the six second version of Instagram. The simplicity of the service combined with the fact that it’s backed up by Twitter means it’s going to be huge. It may even “revolutionary,” as Jack Riley of the Independent claims, changing the worlds of photography, video, social, and mobile all at once.

What’s really caught our eye is how Vine is already having an effect in the world of marketing.

Big brands have already assembled creative videos including GAP’s quick journey through the past, Urban Outfitters’s use of the pooch, and General Electric’s stop motion sketch. Others are just purely amusing, like this BuzzFeed employee dancing. Cardiff based cancer research charity, Tenovus even compiled a quick campaign video asking for clothing donations.

But this is just the beginning. As Vine grows, we’ll be seeing a lot more of these videos, forcing through what should be eye-watering combination of simplicity and creativity.

The famous quote “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one,” has never rung more true.