Monday, January 7th, 2019

10:15 – 11:15 AM

Session II

LVCC, North Hall, N253

The Future of Brand Partnerships and Influencer Marketing

In a world of social and 24/7 media, the relationship between consumer and brand has been forever altered. Star Power has been usurped by Influencer Marketing and major brands are implementing all-media strategies integrating social and influencer content and advertising concepts.

Beau Avril, Global Head of Business Operations, FameBit By YouTube

S. Scott Burnett, Managing Director, Consumer Electronics, IBM Electronics Industry

Stacy Minero, Head of Content Creation, Twitter

Natasha Vaquer, Vice President of Talent Partnerships & Influencer Strategy, Refinery29

Adam Puchalsky, SVP/Managing Director, UM Studios

Ed Romaine, Bleacher Report Chief Brand Officer, Bleacher Report

Moderator - Andrew Solmssen, Managing Director, POSSIBLE, Los Angeles

Natasha Vaquer, Vice President of Talent Partnerships & Influencer Strategy, Refinery29: Natasha Vaquer is the Vice President of Talent Partnerships & Influencer Strategy for Refinery29 out of Los Angeles. Her focus is on developing branded content with influencers and talent across social platforms. Prior to joining Refinery29, Natasha was the Head of Talent Acquisitions at StyleHaul, the largest fashion and beauty multichannel network on YouTube. Natasha signed over 2,000 creators and 100 million monthly views to the network and worked with leading creators on brand and strategic partnerships. Prior to StyleHaul, Mrs. Vaquer was part of the business development team at United Talent Agency working on strategic partnerships for the agency. She joined UTA after spending several years as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank and Bear Stearns.

S. Scott Burnett, Managing Director, Consumer Electronics, IBM Electronics Industry: Scott leads business development for the IBM Global Electronics Industry specializing in the consumer electronics segment. He’s focused on strategic transformation & partnerships, product & service innovation as well as brand management & marketing. Scott has served in numerous capacities at IBM from executive roles in the Media & Entertainment industry, Strategy & Planning in GBS and Business Development within IBM research. He is a member of the IBM Industry Academy. Prior to joining IBM, Scott served as VP, Strategy & Marketing for Liquid Audio, a pioneering start-up in internet music distribution. With an extensive background in the media & entertainment industry, Scott also served as VP International Operations, Warner Bros. and Director, Disney Character Voices, The Walt Disney Company. Scott is an active member of the CTA, Consumer Technology Association Board of Industry Leaders, IoT Working Group and serves on the CTA Foundation Board of Trustees.

Stacy Minero, Head of Content Creation, Global Content Partnerships, Twitter: Stacy leads Twitter’s Content Creation team which helps brands earn attention and build credibility through premium content. The team includes Niche, a service that connects brands with Social Creators to develop creative ideas for brand campaigns and event activations. In 2017 Stacy helped launch a creative service focused on video optimization for brands that need post-production support. Stacy previously led the content strategy practice at Mindshare and Communication Planning for American Express. Earlier in her career Stacy worked as a Strategic Planner on P&G, Coca-Cola and Hershey. In 2013 Stacy was named by Adweek as a Media All-Star and was a recipient of 212 NYC's award for industry thought leadership. In 2017 Business Insider named her one of the best business people to follow on Twitter. You can follow her on Twitter at @sminero.

Adam Puchalsky, SVP/Managing Director, UM Studios: Adam Puchalsky is the business operations leader and managing director of UM Studios for North America. Puchalsky is media matchmaker, facilitating unique relationships with production, talent and media partners to deliver modern media solutions that lead to better outcomes for our clients. Puchalsky brings a wealth of expertise from his experience working with sophisticated digitally centric brands throughout his career.

Beau Avril, Global Head of Business Operations, FameBit By YouTube : As Global Head of Business Operations, FameBit By YouTube, Beau manages all aspects of FameBit’s revenue generation and business operations, from direct sales to the self-service marketplace. In addition to sales and revenue oversight, Beau manages FameBit’s end to end go-to-market strategy and core offering.  This includes FameBit’s connection to Google and YouTube ads products, measurement tools, pricing, and packaging as well as partnerships with talent agencies, MCN’s, and creators. FameBit was acquired by Google in October 2016 and is now YouTube’s in-house branded content arm, offering 100% creator driven branded content at scale and leveraging the best of Google data, measurement, and analytics to drive results for brands. Prior to his role leading FameBit By YouTube, Beau was the Global Head of Product Commercialization for Google Preferred where he was responsible for bringing Google’s premium video solutions to global markets. This included partner inventory and O&O (YouTube) as well as oversight of YouTube’s “Partner Sales Program” which enables shared inventory sales between Google, traditional media companies, and YouTube’s multi-channel networks. Previously at Google, Beau led YouTube sales development for priority accounts in the Finance, Auto, Entertainment, and Travel industries. Before joining Google, Beau worked in programming distribution for CBS Television Distribution Group. Beau attended Cornell University and lives in Los Angeles.

Ed Romaine, Bleacher Report Chief Brand Officer, Bleacher Report: Edward Romaine is a proven sales and branded content lead executive with more than 15 years of experience overseeing the development and implementation of advertising solutions across digital, mobile, video, social, experiential and print platforms. Ed sets himself apart not only the through his curation of great agency and client-direct relationships but also through core competencies including team building, ideation, monetization, detail-oriented sell through and execution as well as overarching brand strategy.

Andrew Solmssen, Managing Director, POSSIBLE, LOS ANGELES:  As Managing Director for POSSIBLE (WPP), Andrew runs the Los Angeles office and serves as part of the executive management team that directs1500 staff across 26 offices in 14 countries. Prior to POSSIBLE, Andrew co-founded Schematic where his clients included Target, Comcast, ABC, Viacom, and Microsoft. He grew the company from 3 people to one of the world's top digital agencies and its sale to WPP in 2007. Before Schematic, he served as Executive Producer at KPE (a division of Grey Advertising) in New York and Los Angeles. At KPE, Andrew spearheaded major initiatives for Variety, Turner, Nielsen, and AOL. Andrew has been a leader in digital since the mid-1990's. His work has received a 3 Gold Cannes Lions, 3 Emmys, OMMA, BDA, W3, Ad:Tech, and many other awards, and he is a regular columnist in trade publications. Recent speaking engagements include International CES, Ad:Tech, Digital Hollywood, OMMA, and NATPE. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.