The Digital Hollywood Experience

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"The Conference that Defines the Future of the Industry"

PDF of Summit Program

Wednesday, March 4th, 2015

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

Session A: Grand Ballroom (4th Floor) - Live Webcast from This Room

The Power of YouTube: Unlocking the Power of Programming, Premium Content and Advertising

Drew Buckley, Chief Operating Officer, Electus

Stephanie Horbaczewski, CEO, Stylehaul

Rob Donnell, Founder and CEO, Brand Arc

Kathleen Grace, Chief Creative Officer, New Form Digital (Venture Formed by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Discovery & CAA)

Mark Allenbach, Vice President, Frank N. Magid Associates, Moderator

Drew Buckley, Chief Operating Officer, Electus:  Drew Buckley is a founding partner of Electus, as well as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and head of Digital, where he is responsible for overseeing finance, acquisitions, and all transactions within Electus and their partner companies.  In addition, Buckley oversees a team of digital executives focused on creating new content experiences for Electus Digital which is comprised of website properties CollegeHumor.com, Dorkly.com and WatchLOUD.com; YouTube channels WatchLOUD, Nuevon and Hungry; and production companies Big Breakfast and dumbdumb.  In January 2014, Electus announced the formation of Electus Digital, which merged select Electus digital and studio properties with IAC’s CollegeHumor Media. Under Buckley’s leadership, Electus Digital continued to break new ground in digital advertising by combining forces with Cracked.com in a strategic advertising partnership.  Prior to Electus,

Buckley served as Executive Vice President of Windsor Media, a holding company of controlling assets in the Media, Entertainment and Luxury brand Industries. He has also served as the founding executive and General Manager of Yahoo! Originals within the Yahoo! Media Group, joining Yahoo! for the launch of Yahoo!’s first entertainment original content program, THE 9.   During his tenure, Buckley developed and launched a number of original content productions within Yahoo! Entertainment including, Nissan Live Sets, Pepsi Smash, Answers on the Street, Buzz Sessions, along with promotional events like the MTV Movie Award Spoof Contest.   As the General Manager of Yahoo! Originals, Drew managed a talented team of more than 35 creative, development and production professionals who produced compelling content and experiences for Yahoo! Entertainment properties, including Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! TV, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Video.

Kathleen Grace, Chief Creative Officer, New Form:  Kathleen Grace is Chief Creative Officer at New Form, an independent venture between Discovery Communications, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and leaders in the entertainment industry formed in April of this year. Grace is charged with driving the next generation digital studio’s mission to develop high-quality, scripted and unscripted programming for today’s digital audiences.  Before assuming her current leadership role with New Form, Grace served as Head of Creative Development for YouTubeSpace LA, a 41,000 square foot facility dedicated to YouTube content creators and collaboration. Prior to joining YouTube, she was Vice President of Production and Programming at Next New Networks, which was acquired by YouTube in 2011. In this capacity, she oversaw the production of original series and spearheaded work with emerging online talent. Grace also has created several notable web series, including the critically acclaimed The Burg and Vuguru’s mockumentary The All for Nots.   Grace attended McGill University and is based in Los Angeles, California.

Stephanie Horbaczewski is the co-founder, president and CEO of StyleHaul, the leading multi-platform marketing solution for global fashion and beauty brands with scale. The StyleHaul network on YouTube has more than 199 million network subscribers and attracts more than 60 million monthly unique visitors to the content being created and curated by StyleHaul’s 4900 channels, across 62 countries, making the company the largest within these categories.  A fashion industry alumnae with more than a decade of experience working with iconic brands like Saks Fifth Avenue, Horbaczewski established StyleHaul in 2011 with the vision of translating the fashion editorial space, at scale, to digital, social and multi-platform trends. StyleHaul speaks directly to the influential and engaged 18 to 34-year old female demographic.  Horbaczewski has expanded StyleHaul to more than 70 employees and offices in New York, Chicago and London, with programming also being executed in South East Asia and Brazil.  StyleHaul’s headquarters are in Los Angeles.  Under her leadership, StyleHaul has partnered with marquee global beauty brands like L’Oreal and Maybelline, on premium branded content programs, spearheaded global industry trends and shifts, executed successful rounds of funding and recently announced an unprecedented deal with FremantleMedia to develop 10 original content series over the next two years. Lisa Kudrow and the Showtime Networks’ “Web Therapy” made its digital debut on StyleHaul in September via new webisodes, one of which features one of YouTube’s brightest stars, Caspar Lee, who was also part of the cast of “The Crew,” the first original content series produced by StyleHaul and FremantleMedia.  Stephanie was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in 2013 and has been featured in leading publications like: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. She holds a BA in Classics from Trinity College and a JD/MBA from Suffolk University.

Rob Donnell, Founder and CEO, Brand Arc:  An award-winning veteran of the advertising industry, Rob Donnell is Founder and CEO of Brand Arc (www.brandarc.com), a Los Angeles-based firm responsible for developing groundbreaking product integrations for Toyota, Lexus and other major brands across TV, film, video games, mobile and digital platforms.  Brand Arc is a three-time winner of Madison & Vine’s “Five Best Integrations of the Year,” a 10-time winner of iTVX’s “Featured Placement of the Week” and a frequent highlight of the ANA’s “Best Practices in Branded Entertainment.” In 2012, the agency was honored with a One Show Entertainment Gold Pencil in the Television Scripted Series category for its Toyota Prius integration on the HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”  Donnell’s deals for longtime client Toyota include all six seasons of highly visible integration into ABC’s Emmy-winning comedy, “Modern Family,” and eleven consecutive seasons in Bravo’s hit competition show, “Top Chef.” In 2013, he brokered an integration deal with the CBS series “Under the Dome,” in which the Toyota Prius Plug-in played a key “hero” role.  Donnell has found ways to innovate in the branded content space. Brand Arc created the first-ever co-promotion between a pharmaceutical marketer, Roche, and a feature film, Warner Bros.’ blockbuster “Happy Feet” in 2006 when the animated penguins were used in a multimedia campaign for the vaccine Tamiflu and a website offering flu facts.  In other firsts, he helped integrate the Toyota Yaris into five separate sketches on Fox’s late-night comedy, “Mad TV,” created the first brand-financed “mobisodes” with Sprint for the action thriller, “Prison Break,” and initiated the first-ever brand-sponsored DVD prequel for Fox’s hit drama, “24.”  While Donnell launched Brand Arc in 2004 primarily to service Toyota, he has worked with an impressive list of clients including Lexus, AT&T, Roche and GSW. Other Brand Arc services include strategic brand development, creative development, media planning, co-promotion and event marketing.

Mark Allenbach, Vice President, practices qualitative research and consulting in the games industry. Mark’s extensive knowledge of gaming includes 11+ years practicing games research as well as 25 years of gameplay experience.  As a member of the Magid Game Group, Mark's work covers virtually every gaming genre and platform.  He has personally conducted thousands of hours of focus groups, in-home interviews, in-game ethnographies, one on one interviews and other forms of consumer research.  Over the last decade Mark has become a console expert, working closely with traditionally console-centric companies like SCEA, EA, 2K, WBIE and Ubisoft.  During that time he has also worked extensively in the world of new media exploring the fast adoption of Netflix on new consoles, the rise of Twitch and the ever increasing importance of YouTube as both entertainment and information source.  Mark is a 2003 graduate of the Georgetown McDonough School of Business and is currently a candidate for his MBA at the Darden School of Business at UVA.